Inheritance Wars Channel 5

YoungBlueEyes

If I was the daughter living so close I'd have changed the locks. What was the daughter thinking let it go so far?

One of the things that surprised me is there's no safe-guarding or checks on people with dementia getting married. Is it beyond the wit of man to set up a database so that when a person is suspected or confirmed to have dementia a mark goes next to their name, then when they show id to get wed they can be checked and given the yay or nay? I wouldn't expect a vicar/registrar/whoever to diagnose it obviously, but couldn't something be set up that they could quickly check? 

IIRC at her wedding the mother was saying the wrong things and missing some answers entirely. If a couple tip up on a Tuesday morning with no family and then give vague/wrong/no answers then the ceremony should not go ahead. Imo. 

I don't how how common a problem this is. Maybe if it starts happening more and more something like a database will be set up.

Malthusian

I haven't watched the show, but "predatory marriages" are a real thing and none of the details described surprise me. The Guardian had a good article on them some time ago.

YoungBlueEyes said:

If I was the daughter living so close I'd have changed the locks. What was the daughter thinking let it go so far?

He'd have changed the locks back and said the mother asked him to. I'm guessing the daughter didn't live there? 
If the predator isn't openly physically abusing the victim, neither Social Services nor the cops are going to intervene.
If someone is still living independently then they can let whoever they want into their home, dementia or not. If you want a third party to control who visits them, they need to be in residential care.
If your relative is being exploited in this way then the only legal way to stop it (i.e. that does not involve rounding up the biggest family members to scare them off) is to move in with them yourself and hope the relative backs you over him. Not everyone can drop their work or the rest of their family to do that.
(Has to be done quickly as well. If the cops are called to a house where one person claims the other has no right to be there, one person claims the same about the other, the third has dementia and doesn't know what's going on, and the predator presents a phone bill in their name addressed to the property or some other "proof" they live there, the cops will throw you out and tell you it's a civil matter.)

One of the things that surprised me is there's no safe-guarding or checks on people with dementia getting married. Is it beyond the wit of man to set up a database so that when a person is suspected or confirmed to have dementia a mark goes next to their name, then when they show id to get wed they can be checked and given the yay or nay? I wouldn't expect a vicar/registrar/whoever to diagnose it obviously, but couldn't something be set up that they could quickly check? 

People with dementia are allowed to get married. It is not an automatic loss of capacity. And as you say it may not be obvious to a registrar (lots of people stumble over their answers).
One of the reasons why predatory marriage can be so successful is that a marriage which is invalid due to one party lacking capacity can only be invalidated in their lifetime. After they're dead it stands, which means an inheritance can't be challenged that way.

YoungBlueEyes

No they didn’t live together. They built a house in the garden very near to the house and did the daughter move into the original (bigger) house and the mother moved into the little new one, or the other way round? Their back doors were facing each other though, I remember that. 

The story was very one sided, just from the weepy daughter. 

And as for the rest of your post @Malthusian - Christ 

Pennylane

I watched a programme a year or so ago about dodgy marriages and it said that the registrar can stop proceedings if they have any concerns.  I think this should have happened in this poor old lady’s case.  The programme featured people from abroad who paid someone to “marry” them so they could stay here.  Some on the brides knew nothing about their grooms when questioned so they stopped the marriages.