Marriage ruled invalid

Woman with bipolar married man two months after they met

A WOMAN who married a man two months after meeting him has had the marriage declared void because a serious medical disorder meant she was incapable of consenting to the 2016 marriage, the Family Court has ruled.

In his judgment handed down this month, Justice Robert Benjamin said the couple married in Hobart and separated about 11 months later, in July last year.

The marriage was the wife’s second. The court heard her husband of 34 years died in 2014, four hours after being diagnosed with a particularly aggressive cancer.

The wife’s second husband belonged to a religious order and a clergyman of that order married the couple.

Justice Benjamin said the clergyman told the court the husband was “determined” to marry the wife and knew that she had a psychiatric condition.

The wife gave evidence she married the man she had met two months earlier despite concerns of her family and friends.

“The wife also deposed that since the marriage she has undertaken further treatment and her mental health has greatly improved,” Justice Benjamin said.

In an affidavit, the wife said that at the time of the marriage she was “mentally incapable of making that decision and understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony, due to an exacerbation of my bipolar affective disorder” and that due to her mental health she demonstrat- ed poor insight.

Justice Benjamin said the woman also relied on evidence given by her general practitioner.

“[The doctor] expressed the view that the wife’s mental health was such that she often suffered severe manic episodes which adversely impacted upon her decision making, and that this in part may have arisen out of the death of her husband,” Justice Benjamin said.

“I am satisfied … the wife did not give real consent because she was mentally incapable of doing so and as such the marriage was void.”

Justice Benjamin said the husband raised no issues of fact in relation to the reliability of the material provided by the wife, and did not object to the application for a decree of nullity in respect of the marriage being granted.