Family Friend Annulment /divorce query/ settlement query

[MadJohn]

Okay.

A man and Woman got married shortly after the mans brother, Womans husband died.(less than 3 years I would suspect)

The man has a medical condition pre marriage from my understanding meaning the marriage could never be consummated.

They have pretty much lived apart the entire time they have been married, with the man having has own room and wardrobe at a house that is in joint names, but to which he has provided no capital and does not pay any bills for.

They have a joint bank account, but for all intents and purposes she pays in the money and pays bills for the house out of this account, he hasn't taken anything from the account and hasn't put anything in either.

I suspect that they will try and resolve this amicably first, however these things can get out of hand and wondered what the womans rights are wrt to this marriage and the financial arrangements that have been made.

There are no dependant children, they have familes of there own now,

My concern before they get a solicitor, are:-

1. annulment of marriage

a) on what grounds given they may have known it could not be consummated
b)the close relationship between them, although I understand that because the deceased husband/ brother occurred before they got married the wedding was legal to start with but believe the relationship was close due to deceased dying of terminal illness and them both spending a lot of time together and may have been mislead due to grief.

2. Division of assests
a)mainly the house that hasn't been contributed towards and hasn't long since been purchased as she moved out of the deceased martial home. However he appears to own 50% of the house with no contribution being made,
b)car, not sure on the eact arrangements but lead to belive that she purchased this and is the registered owner/ keeper.
c)other valuables within the home from previous marriage

The way I see it is it would appear he has taken advantage of her at a time when she was vulnerable, to the point where family were not informed of the marriage and any details of arrangements until recently for concerns how the family would see things. To the point where close people and family were only notified when she thought she may be dying, which doesn't appear to be the case after basic medical treatment.

There appears to be very little affection or compassion between the couple, this became most apparent when they became ill and needed support and comforting,,

Any advice or guidance would be appreciated, for amicable divorce/ annulment and if things get heavy and requires solictors to divide things up.

Marriage in UK, not sure which part though.

Thanks
John

[Peridot]

Hi MadJohn,

Sorry I am a little confused. Can we give them a 'letter' so I can get it clear what the situation is here:-

Is the individuals British nationals and would they class this country as their domicile and or country of residence?

My interpretation if you would clarify:-
Mrs A married to Mr A - Mr A died (assume Mrs A inherited his estate?)
Mrs A then remarries Mr B (who may or may not be the brother of Mr A and which is probably not relevant here in any event)

Mr B has now died and you wonder whether on the basis the marriage could not be consummated whether it could be annulled?
Did Mr B leave a Will? What happens to his estate under the Will (if there is one)
Does Mrs A inherit his estate under the Will? Under intestacy rules she would inherit a significant share even if no Will but we can explore this once we have your response to the queries so far.

Joint assets such as the bank account (and possibly the property if they hold as joint tenants) will automatically pass to the survivor so Mrs A in this situation. If they held the property as tenants in common then Mr. B's share would pass to whoever is stipulated in his Will or under the intestacy rules if he did not have a Will.

Is Mrs A wanting to try and annul the marriage? How long were they married for. This link may help understand how a marriage could be void although you will note the comments about time for bringing the application:-https://www.gov.uk/how-to-annul-marriage

Considering an annulment may not be needed (see comments about jointly owned property above) or wanted by Mrs A in any event. I anticipate she would have been well aware of Mr. B's condition before they entered into the marriage?

Hopefully once we have your responses we can point you in the right direction.

[MadJohn]

Mr B is very much alive and is the brother of Mr A. however Mr A has passed so nothing illegal about the marriage its self.

To my knowledge less than 3 years married. Mr A passed away maybe 5 years ago ish and would have to get that confirmed for exact dates.

The issue is Mr B, may have deliberate mislead Mrs A to making him financially more secure than he was previously with no financial input by Mr B.(proving it may be difficult?, but consider the marriage was kept secret initially, until Mrs A was unwell, and has now recovered.
Lets say my knowledge of Mrs A is considerable and she could be easy be misled into making a decision without suspecting any bad will, not saying there is but an outsider looking in would have serious concerns about what appears to have happened to date about arrangements.

Whilst I haven't seen either will, I am to understand that they protect each other if either one dies first.

The degree of Mr B's condition preventing the consummation as I am not medically qualified to asses I can not be certain if its a choice because it be uncomfortable rather than isn't physically capable, but I believe MrsA was aware of the condition pre marriage and while MrsA thinks it can be annulled on the grounds the marriage hasn't been consummated, I suspect knowing such a condition existed pre marriage would make annulment on these grounds extremely difficult at best.


In my opinion the marriage between Mr B and MrsA is a farce, and that Mr B took advantage of Mrs A at a time she was vulnerable, inevitably as time rolled on Mrs A has become aware the marriage wasn't actually working, but alas she has financially been bound to MrB without contribution from Mr B.

Th result being he owns half a property he hasn't contributed to and hasn't lived at, leaving Mrs A unable to afford a property should he be legally entitled to his share and there being no way out.


They are trying to resolve this amicably as it stands based on what hey both know t be true, but these things can often get out of hand and MrsA needs to protect herself best she can against any losses as a result of the marriage breakup. My concern is she losses half the house and can't afford another one as a result, never mind the other assets.

[Peridot]

Hi MadJohn,

Right sorry I thought Mr B had also died!

So when Mrs A and Mr B bought this new property together he didn't make any contribution whatsoever. Was the purchase funded from Mrs. A's previous assets from her first marriage? Did Mr B bring nothing whatsoever to the table, so to speak? What were his circumstances prior to the marriage?

I suspect you're right regarding annulling the marriage. If Mrs A was aware of the issues with consummation and was happy to go ahead then there may be difficulties on arguing this point in the Courts.

If annulment is not an option and Mrs A wishes to divorce Mr B then it would have to be on the basis of the irretrievable breakdown which is demonstrated by one of the following:- 2yr separation with consent, 5yrs without consent, adultery (doubtful on his part bearing in mind his issues), unreasonable behaviour (for which she would need 3-4 examples which may not be difficult to do) or desertion of 2 years (not an option here).

An unreasonable behaviour petition can be traumatic for all concerned irrelevant of the fact once a decree absolute is granted there is no reason for anyone to know what the reasons were.

Is Mrs A actually unsure of her decision to marry Mr B? Is she or was she content with the situation until some of the issues you have flagged were pointed out to her. Maybe Mrs A was well aware of what some people may think and that's could be a reason she kept it secret? Just playing devils advocate a little as these are all questions that a lawyer would be trying to explore with her if she sought advice.

I would suggest that if she is not happy with the situation she does need to obtain some face to face legal advice on the options open to her. It may be that a judicial separation could be considered, particularly with the home set up as it is. If ultimately they wished to divorce at a later point the separation agreement would be considered by the Court in dealing with the financial matters (although with the caveat that the Court doesn't have to follow the agreement if it doesn't believe it is fair).

This is a short marriage with no children (only independent adult children) so although the starting point would be 50/50, a number of other factors will be taken into consideration before any financial settlement is finalised. These are the sorts of factors that would be considered:-

Depending on the facts of a case some factors may be given more weight than others:

• the income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources that each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future, including in the case of earning capacity any increase in that capacity that it would, in the opinion of the court, be reasonable to expect a party to the marriage to take steps to acquire
• the financial needs, obligations and responsibilities that each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future
• the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage
• the age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage
• any physical or mental disability of either of the parties to the marriage
• the contributions that each of the parties has made or is likely in the foreseeable future to make to the welfare of the family, including any contribution by looking after the home or caring for the family
• the conduct of each of the parties, if that conduct is such that it would in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it
• in the case of proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage, the value to each of the parties to the marriage of any benefit that, by reason of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage, that party will lose the chance of acquiring.

Ultimately, if Mrs A wishes to separate or divorce from Mr B she should get some free or reduced fee legal advice on the options she may have, before making any decision.

[MadJohn]

Unfortunately like with everything in life there is only so much you can do with partial disclosure and knowledge and Mrs A has been advised as such to look at time lines and events to try and establish what happened when and why.

As for was Mrs A happy, I would have to expect not, because if you were truly happy why hide a dubious marriage.

I have been told Mr B has been involved in a similar matter previously, but know very little detail on the exact circumstances and hate to think what it would be dragged up if it was looked at in depth, but maybe that could provide evidential support to it being calculated advantage taking.

Separation is an interesting one as effectively they have always lived apart, again this relies on Mrs A divulging certain information, that I probably don't want to be privy to.

They are both retired and Mrs A retired relatively recently after being ill, the illness itself I feel made her look at the marriage and the lack of support from MrB and is the only reason why family and close friends found out about the wedding as she feared the illness was much more serious than it was.

The attitude of Mr A at the time of the notification of the marriage and financial arrangements at that point could have in my opinion been construed as he was letting everyone know to back off if she died, as no one gets anything unless both are dead.

I can't help but think the marriage was misguided as I don't see any benefits for Mrs A but only Mr B, but as I said to others that became aware of the situation, that its Mrs A decision and trying to convince Mrs A to come out of it ASAP would probably only isolate them from Mrs A, even if they had her best interests at heart.

Mr B does have his own residence which I am lead to believe is in his name only and is not a house in a conventional sense but it is where he lives.
Again here the concern is asset division, whilst not a conventional home it does have considerable financial value.

I would like to thank you for your advice and appreciate without some serious specifics its limited, but in the very least it makes complete sense to me and Mrs A is looking at solicitors just in case amicable agreement isn't made soon.

[Peridot]

It is really difficult. Slightly less worrying knowing that he does have some of his own residence so at least he wouldn't be homeless or could realise the asset value to rehome himself.

It is really difficult there are no doubt many reasons why Mrs A may have wanted to keep the marriage quiet particularly from those close to her first husband as it would no doubt upset some. That in conjunction with the other factors that you have touched on I wouldn't necessarily assume the marriage was kept quite due to its dubious nature but may have been to save others feelings too?

It sounds like Mrs A does have supportive friends and family which is good and hopefully this will enable her to make whatever decision she wants, knowing she has people's support.

If we can give any more pointers do re-post back.

[MadJohn]

well not sure how we can prove his intensions one way or another.

I know that some people raised concerns over Mrs A leaving the area and we all suspected that something was going on but it all seemed very strange and you can't do much until you know the facts.

Lets say Mr A wasn't as well liked as Mr B although some would still find it strange marrying Mr B so soon after Mr A's passing, more people were annoyed it was kept quiet and what had been done rather than whom she married as strange as it all was.

I have very strong belief she was manipulated, but not sure how that can be proved, hopefully trying to prove it wont be necessary.
I know she was manipulated by Mr A and how she was controlled by him, to say the least I was one of many that wasn't sad of his passing. Thankfully the children were a result of a previous marriage so there were little blood ties to Mr A. I don't think Mr B's tactics would be anything like Mr A's but I can't hlep thinking there was is a hidden agenda.

Is there any value in looking at the previous incident with Mr B and the other marriage of similar circumstances. To establish a character trait if nothing else?

[Peridot]

Hi again,

No harm in trying to find out any information about Mr B, from a supportive angle, if appropriate. Would Mrs A be receptive to this? Does she actually feel there is an issue here or is she comfortable with the situation irrelevant of other's views?

This is ultimately Mrs A's decision as to what she would wish to do. Getting all the ducks in a row so to speak as far as options that are available is always worth consideration but of course ultimately it is her decision, whether she wishes to extricate herself or stay with Mr B whatever the circumstances.
Ultimately if there is no option for annulment and she wishes to end the marriage she would need to go through the divorce process and all that entails, including settling the finances but I strongly suspect this would not be a situation where the assets would be split 50/50 following such a short marriage, but it will depend how the property was purchased and what assets they both have to set up again.

As you say a little difficult when the information provided is brief. I suspect there is a lot more background maybe but Mrs A will be able to explain this to any lawyer she sees for some advice on her options. It would be advisable to prepare a timeline of events before any appointment so that Mrs A can focus on the factual aspects, assets of each, pre marriage situation etc.

Here if you need us.

[MadJohn]

Thanks