RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Commentary: Contested Wills and Will Contests
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 293
OP 297
VO 43
IS 3
A1 James R. Merikangas
YR 2015
UL http://jaapl.org/content/43/3/293.abstract
AB When disinherited heirs challenge a will drafted by a person suspected of having dementia, a legal battle may ensue. The “lucid interval,” a brief return to competence from a state of dementia, has been invoked in years past to establish the validity of contested wills. Shulman et al., having reviewed the medical and legal literature, make a convincing argument that no such period of competence occurs in the course of dementia. A neuropsychiatric autopsy is outlined in this commentary to provide a method of determining the validity of a last will and testament, by applying the clinical method described when witness statements do not provide accurate guidance.