A woman won a secret injunction to block her elderly father from marrying his partner of more than 20 years and leaving her the bulk of his £1.7million fortune.
The daughter of a retired insurance broker in his 80s went to the High Court last year in search of a secret court injunction that would ban her father from marrying.
Her father had given her power of attorney before developing Alzheimer’s – but had previously said he wanted to marry his partner.
The daughter of a retired insurance broker in his 80s went to the High Court (pictured) last year in search of a secret court injunction that would ban her father from marrying
The daughter was set on preventing the marriage which would mean her father’s new wife, known only as SD, would inherit most of his money when he died.
The father, known as DMM, drew up a will in 2013 leaving £300,000, most of his pension and the right to live in his home for two years to his girlfriend.
His three daughters would share the rest of his £1.7million estate.
But if he were to marry, his will would become obsolete and, unable to write a new one because of his dementia, his new wife would inherit almost all of his assets.
The rules of intestacy dictates his wife would get almost £1million while his daughter’s shares would shrink to about £250,00 each.
Outraged, his daughter contacted the south of England register office and put a caveat under the Marriage Act 1949.
Her father had given her power of attorney before developing Alzheimer’s – but had previously said he wanted to marry his partner (stock image)
This meant that the pair could not marry, reported The Times.
The daughter also called in an independent mental capacity assessor who concluded her father lacked the capacity to make a proper will or to marry.
However, a consultant psychiatrist disagreed, saying he had the capacity to marry but not to make a new will.
Senior family law judge Stephen Wildblood granted an interim injunction stopping DMM from marrying his wife on July 26 last year.
He ordered the case be transferred to the Court of Protection – a court which makes decisions for people who ‘lack mental capacity’.
That injunction ran out after a week.
Now, after a third hearing, Judge Nicholas Marston has ruled the man has the capacity to marry, and urged the other parties involved to ‘find a way of moving forward together after this very bitter dispute’.
He refused the daughter’s permission to appeal.