An elderly man with established dementia executes a fresh will. His family challenges it, arguing dementia invalidates any will he makes. The challenge fails if the court accepts that:

• A Dementia automatically voids all subsequent wills
• B A lucid interval, a temporary return of sound mind, allows valid disposal of property ✓
• C Only doctors, never courts, decide testamentary capacity
• D Wills made within one year of diagnosis are void

Explanation

A lucid interval is a temporary restoration of reason during a mental illness, and acts done during such an interval, including making a will, are legally valid. Capacity is assessed at the moment of execution, not by diagnosis label. Option A is the common lay error the question targets: capacity is decision-specific and time-specific. There is no statutory window such as one year after diagnosis that voids a will.

Reference: Parikh's Textbook of Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, 7th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.