Loophole allowing gold-diggers to marry the vulnerable

Loophole allowing gold-diggers to marry the vulnerable

MP and lawyers say “gold-diggers” are exploiting a legal loophole by marrying vulnerable elderly people and later inheriting their estates despite not being beneficiaries in a will. This is because few people are aware that marriage invalidates previous wills and once mentally incapable, only a Court can authorise the making of a new Will with all the difficulties that brings of having to show that the vulnerable person never wanted the new spouse to inherit. . Campaigners are trying to enact a law to prevent “putting marriages before wills”. Nigel Jones of JMD Law said “reform is urgently needed as the population ages and cases of dementia rise.  This is a situation which has led to unscrupulous suitors marrying vulnerable people knowing that they will be deemed mentally incapable of drafting an updated will”.

Categories: Deputyship, Wills & Probate