marriage of newlyweds, ages 96 and 95, questioned

[sio]

In some ways, Rebecca Wright doesn't understand all the fuss over her 96-year-old mother's recent marriage. After all, she says, "Anybody who wants to get married must have a little dementia

Comments

[shadwing]

Judge actually did the smart thing in this case, when you have somebody with mental impairments and others sharing PoA over that person along with disagreement between the parties, best thing to do it not take a side and appoint a neutral 3rd party to look into the situation then make a decision.

The Kasey Kassium nightmare mess comes to my mind

There are just too many cases of elder abuse and PoA abuse out there to take the chance and just dismiss the case outright, now if the decision is favorable to the couple and the money grubbing daughter still pitches a fit any judge after that deserves a side eye.

[maladaptive]

That actually jumped out at me, too, so I am not quite ready to jump on the "evil daughter" bandwagon--I've seen some shady, shady stuff with the elderly and people trying to fleece them. I mean, the daughter could be a greedy jerk AND her mother might be manipulated for the money (both stories are, unfortunately, pretty common), but NGL I think it's natural to be concerned about shifting rights when one property owner is legally incapacitated even if you're a-okay with mom marrying or not inheriting what you thought you'd get. Especially given how expensive elder care can be.

[anolinde]

That caught my eye, too. At first I thought the whole situation was BS, then I saw the part about her being legally incapacitated and thought it made more sense.

[tweedisgood]

Except it seems to me the term "legally incapacitated" is way too broad. The law in England and Wales (Scots law is a bit different) now recognises (Mental Capacity Act 2005) that someone can have the ability to make decisions about some things even if they can't about others. So over here a person with Lasting Power of Attorney can't make decisions over the head of the person they act for if on those specific matters they have been assessed as having capacity to make the decision themselves. If not,a decision has to made in their best interests, although some decisions are excluded and can only be made if the person can make them themselves(e.g. marriage as a matter of fact)

It has to be on a case by case and decision by decision basis and the courts do not necessarily have to be involved. Unsure if this likewise happens in the US.

[spiritoftherain]

What was the Kasey Kassium nightmare mess? Google tells me nothing.

[sio]

i think they mean Casey Kasem and just misspelled his name. though I'm not sure that really compares to this because he was dying and couldn't even communicate. this woman is not.

[ohmiya_sg]

IA