If you suspect a ‘gold digger’, consider a pre-nuptial or cohabitants agreement
Having an elderly parent gives rise to many different worries for children, fearing for their health, well-being, and safety.
On rare occasions, the concept of a ‘gold digger’ — by no means a recent phenomenon — can also cause children and relatives great concern.
These are typically instances where an elderly man enters into a romantic relationship with a significantly younger woman who may be seeking to use such a status to acquire valuable assets owned by the elderly man.
This is possible under the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, and if they decide to marry, under the Succession Act 1965.
There are steps that can be taken to protect a vulnerable parent from situations like this, and it is important to look out for some of the different warning signs that may indicate this sort of financial exploitation.
It is always important to keep lines of communication with an elderly parent open, and where you feel that a new partner may be preventing this communication, and may be isolating the elderly parent from their family, it would be important to intervene and discuss this worry with your elderly parent.
Under the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, if the couple live together for five years or more, it is possible for a cohabitant to apply for redress through the courts, either in the event of the relationship coming to an end, or due to death.
Upsetting
A court would determine, based on a number of factors, how much she would be entitled to. This can be very upsetting for children or younger relatives who would have otherwise received these assets or property at a later stage.
The factors taken in account would be the length of the relationship, the degree of financial dependence on the person applying on the other party, the ages of the parties, etc.
It is possible for couples to effectively contract out of the terms of the 2010 Act, and if you father wishes to cohabit with a woman, this option may be something you could encourage him to look into.
Such a cohabitants’ agreement constitutes a contract, and must be signed by each party.
However, a court may set aside or vary a cohabitants’ agreement in exceptional circumstances, if its enforcement would cause serious injustice, and it would be important for anyone considering making such an agreement to seek independent legal advice.
If an elderly man decides to remarry a younger woman, any earlier wills would be deemed invalid, under the Succession Act, 1965, as marriage revokes a will, unless the will is made in contemplation of that marriage.
This is an extremely important point, so it would be important to encourage them to make a new will.
When a parent dies leaving a valid will, their legal spouse is generally entitled to one-third of the estate.
When a parent dies without a will, their legal spouse is generally entitled to two-thirds of the estate, with children entitled to the remainder.
If you find your father looking to marry a woman who you fear may be a ‘gold digger’, it would also be beneficial to encourage him to look into creating a pre-nuptial agreement.
This is a formal agreement which may be drawn up between parties to a future marriage, which sets out how they would like to divide their assets in the event of a future divorce.
It often provides that the property owned by each party prior to marriage will remain theirs, should the relationship end.
This agreement is not binding in an Irish court, but it will depend on the individual case and circumstances, and in situations where there is a properly drafted pre-nuptial agreement in place, the court will often look toward the agreement for dividing assets.
The agreement must be in writing, it must be signed and witnessed, both parties must be independently advised, there must be full and frank disclosure of all assets and liabilities from both sides in advance of signing, and there must be no duress on either party to sign.
No doubt, we all like to believe and hope that a parent has found someone who genuinely cares for and loves them for who they are, and not for their bank balance or road frontage, but it is something we need to be aware of, as parents age, and they can become vulnerable.
