“Twilight marriages,” “predatory unions” also known as late in life marriages by persons suffering cognitive impairments such as dementia and other disabilities like depression who have other cognitive impairments are becoming more and more common. Usually it is a “black widow” or “Johnny come lately” worming their way into a family.
In general, the elderly are a vulnerable population. The wealthy elderly, however, are even more at risk to be targeted by fraud. Sadly, it is not uncommon to hear horror stories of an elderly parent who marries their caretaker only to have their life savings steadily funneled to unknown sources, discovered only by family members after the death of the elderly
It is often difficult enough to entrust an elderly parent’s care to someone you hire. Worse yet, what do you do when that “worker” uses an ill gained power of attorney or secretly marries their ward—and claims the inheritance? Twilight Marriages and Predatory Unions are becoming more common in Will Contest and Trust Disputes.
“Predatory Unions,” seem to be on the rise as life spans increase and dementia becomes more common.
Dealing with Twilight marriages can be difficult to avoid. What can the family do? The consequences can be devasting. Texas has no particular statutory method of unwinding twilight marriages. Placing an elderly parent under a guardianship before such a marriage occurs is an option, albeit expensive. Trusts can often work if trustee is not also the ward.
As a result of twilight marriages and predatory unions becoming more common, the ability to bring Will contest and Trust Disputes will become more and more important and so will ability to employ contingency lawyers to fight those that hold the power of the purse against the rightful heirs. There are many strategies we can employ to fight back but there are no easy quick fixes or “easy buttons” to solve this growing problem. The police and criminal courts rarely take interest in matters like this and will likely tell you this is a civil matter.
