Fladgate LLP
By Rebecca Christie and Rosalind Hetherington
June 16th, 2025
An issue that is causing professional advisors increasing concern is how to protect the elderly and vulnerable from ‘predatory’ marriages.
A predatory marriage is a form of domestic abuse, specifically economic abuse. It’s where someone targets a vulnerable (often older person with limited mental capacity) to marry for financial benefit in the event of their death.
Comparisons have been drawn between predatory marriages and other emotionally abusive relationships, particularly those where the perpetrator of the abuse is coercive and controlling, as victims tend to be isolated from their family and friends.
In 2023, the Law Society reported that 21% of solicitors specialising in Wills and Estates were concerned that their clients have been the victim of predatory marriage. However, the prevalence of such marriages should be of concern not only for those solicitors who deal with Wills and Estates but also family lawyers, particularly those advising on nuptial agreements. A combined approach to prevent such abuse during the vulnerable person’s lifetime is therefore vital.
The current protections available and options to undo the effect of a predatory marriage are somewhat bleak. However, calls for reform are being heard.
On 16 May 2025, the Law Commission published its report on the reform of the Will regime in England and Wales. One particular point they focussed on is predatory marriage. The Law Commission proposed two reforms which would assist with some of the vulnerabilities outlined in this article.
First, they proposed to remove the rule that a marriage or civil partnership automatically revokes a person’s Will. This deals with one of the primary ill-effects of a predatory marriage in that, once made, a predatory spouse would no longer be automatically entitled to extensive provision from their spouse’s estate on their death – the existing Will would continue to have effect. The predatory spouse would need to persuade the vulnerable person to change their Will.
The Law Commission has also taken steps to make it easier for the relatives of the victim of a predatory marriage to challenge such Wills. As noted above, the most obvious challenge to a Will executed as a result of pressure by a predatory spouse is one of undue influence.
The difficulty has been that such claims have a high evidential burden which relatives have found difficult to meet. The Law Commission proposes to allow the Court to infer that there has been undue influence where the circumstances reasonably call for such an inference to be drawn. In that case, the burden then shifts to the predatory spouse (who would be the person seeking to give effect to the Will) to give explanations to show there was no undue influence.
The proposed reform does not change the high evidential burden but it does put the burden on the predatory spouse to explain their relationship with the deceased and their involvement in the making of the deceased’s Will. This should assist the deceased’s family to overturn a Will executed under undue influence.
