Commission Consults on Changing the Law to Annul ‘Predatory Marriages’

The Law Commission consultation comes after dozens of families raised the issue of ‘predatory marriages’ over their inheritances.

A couple get married on Valentine's Day at the Old Orange County courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., United States on Feb. 14, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The Law Commission has launched a consultation on the risk of “predatory marriages” after dozens of families came forward to claim they had been cheated out of their inheritance by secret brides or grooms.

Earlier this year Labour MP Fabian Hamilton highlighted the issue in Parliament when he mentioned the case of his 91-year-old constituent, Joan Blass, a vascular dementia and cancer sufferer, who died in March 2016.

Mr. Hamilton said a few days after her death her family found out she had been “secretly married” five months earlier to a man who was more than 20 years younger than her.

Under English law a widow or widower is automatically entitled to inherit their spouse’s estate up to the value of £270,000 and any existing will, prior to that marriage, becomes negated.

The consultation also asks whether electronic wills should be valid.

On Thursday the Law Commission launched the consultation on changing the law, asking, “Should marriage or civil partnership automatically revoke a will given the risk of predatory marriage?”

Professor Nicholas Hopkins, the Law Commission’s commissioner for property, family, and trust law, said, “Our review of wills aims to ensure that the law is modern and as straightforward as possible, protecting the most vulnerable and giving greater effect to everyone’s last wishes.”

“In light of recent technological and societal developments, we are seeking views on electronic wills and the effects of predatory marriage on wills. We welcome a wide range of responses to our consultation paper,” he added.

The Telegraph claimed that after Mr. Hamilton, the MP for Leeds North East, raised Ms. Blass’s case in Parliament more than 70 other people from all over the country revealed they had also lost out on their inheritance in similar circumstances.

In 2018 Mr. Hamilton proposed a private members’ bill, the Marriage and Civil Partnership Consent Bill, and said more “robust procedures” were needed to protect the vulnerable and elderly. But the bill was not passed.

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He said at the time, “It’s not good enough for a registrar simply to say that because one of the participants in the marriage ceremony was smiling at the time, that meant consent was happily given.”