Predatory marriage? Not so fast, rules the court

Not long ago, I blogged about the concept of predatory marriage. This phrase refers to a marriage in which a vulnerable person is being taken advantage of, usually for his or her money. It happens more than people perhaps realize, given that there are a lot of seniors out there who are alone and vulnerable to this kind of scam.

Also recently, www.thestar.com carried a story about a predatory marriage and it was interesting to see how our court reacted to the case. In that case, Kim Kevin Hunt suffered an accident that resulted in a horrible head injury and several months in hospital. Three days after he was released, his former on-again, off-again girlfriend, Kathleen Anne Worrod, whisked him away and married him in secret. This happened in Ontario, where a marriage revokes a will, so the girlfriend became entitled to at least some share of Hunt's significant wealth and possibly the expected million-dollar settlement from the accident.

Hunt's sons took the matter to court and eventually the court agreed that Hunt had not mentally been able to understand the nature of the marriage contract. The court declared the marriage void. The court also declared that all of the property that had been put into joint names between Mr. Hunt and Ms. Worral actually belonged to Mr. Hunt. A good result of course, but it took a full six years for the matter to wind its way through our court system.That's a lot of time, money, and heartache because of one predatory person's greed.

Click here to read the news story, which contains a lot more detail.

If you'd like to read the judge's decision in full, click here.