Trusts and Estates
Ca. Trs. & Estates Quarterly 2023, VOLUME 29, ISSUE 1
Content
- Capacity and Susceptibility To Undue Influence: a Neuropsychiatrist's Perspective
- Chairs of Section Subcommittees
- Editorial Board
- Letter From the Chair
- Letter From the Editor
- Litigation Alert
- McLe Self-study Article 2022 Legislation: New Laws That Trust and Estate Practitioners Should Know
- Pipe Dreams Can Come True: Gifting Opportunities 2023 and Onward
- Tax Alert
- Tips of the Trade You Don't Always Need a Formal Appraisal
- MCLE SELF-STUDY ARTICLE ASSEMBLY BILL 1663 "PROTECTIVE PROCEEDINGS": LESS-RESTRICTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO CONSERVATORSHIP
- McLe Self-study Article Elusive Lucidities: Eyford V. Nord and California's Delusion Doctrine
MCLE SELF-STUDY ARTICLE ELUSIVE LUCIDITIES: EYFORD V. NORD AND CALIFORNIA’S DELUSION DOCTRINE
Written by Evan D. Winet, Esq.*
Having seen with what lucidity and logical coherence certain madmen (with method in their madness) justify their crazed ideas to themselves and to others, I have lost forever any real confidence in the lucidity of my own lucidity.1
I. INTRODUCTION
A will or other donative transfer that is shown to be the product of an "(insane) delusion,"2 as construed by law, is void. This principle, this delusion doctrine, has developed over the past two centuries alongside, or perhaps in the shadows of, the law governing mental capacity to execute donative instruments. The delusion doctrine provides an alternative rationale for invalidating donative transfers and instruments as not being valid expressions of the donor’s intent.