Dementia
1: Oliver (Deceased) & Oliver [2014] FamCA 57 | February 12, 2014
Court or Tribunal: Family Court of Australia
Catchwords: Marriage, Mental Incapacity, Nullity
Judges: Foster J
Background: This was an unlikely marriage, according to the Judge. The groom was 78, about to move into a nursing home and suffering from dementia. The bride was his 49-year-old former cleaner. Weeks earlier, she had accompanied her fiance to his solicitor to change his will to leave her everything. The details of this improbable union were recounted by Justice Garry Foster, who has been asked to declare the marriage void because of the mental incapacity of the husband.
[Legal Issue]Taking into account the likely ''financial motivations'' of the woman, the financial disparity between the pair and his cognitive incapacity and dementia, Justice Foster concluded the man did not have the capacity to understand the nature and effect of his marriage to the woman. Adding to the tiny number of decisions in Australia, Justice Foster declared the Olivers' marriage void in accordance with section 23B(1)(d)(iii) of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth).
[Court Orders]That the marriage of Mr Oliver and Ms Oliver solemnised on ... April 2011 be declared as void in accordance with section 23B(1)(d)(iii) of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth).
Catchwords: Marriage, Mental Incapacity, Nullity
Judges: Foster J
Background: This was an unlikely marriage, according to the Judge. The groom was 78, about to move into a nursing home and suffering from dementia. The bride was his 49-year-old former cleaner. Weeks earlier, she had accompanied her fiance to his solicitor to change his will to leave her everything. The details of this improbable union were recounted by Justice Garry Foster, who has been asked to declare the marriage void because of the mental incapacity of the husband.
[Legal Issue]Taking into account the likely ''financial motivations'' of the woman, the financial disparity between the pair and his cognitive incapacity and dementia, Justice Foster concluded the man did not have the capacity to understand the nature and effect of his marriage to the woman. Adding to the tiny number of decisions in Australia, Justice Foster declared the Olivers' marriage void in accordance with section 23B(1)(d)(iii) of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth).
[Court Orders]That the marriage of Mr Oliver and Ms Oliver solemnised on ... April 2011 be declared as void in accordance with section 23B(1)(d)(iii) of the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth).
2: DPP v Nestorowycz [2008] VSC 385 | September 29, 2008
Court or Tribunal: Supreme Court of Victoria
Catchwords: Assisted Suicide, Elderly, Euthanasia
Judges: Harper J
Background: Mrs Nestorowycz tried to kill herself and her husband who was suffering from dementia and diabetes and living in a nursing home. She was found to have been suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time and said to have had reduced capacity to make appropriate decisions.
[Legal Issue]As indicated by the Judge:
"At the time you committed these acts, you knew what you were doing. As you told the consultant psychiatrist Dr Lester Walton, you believed that you had inflicted a fatal wound on your husband, and intended that he would die. You held the same intention for yourself. But, as Dr Walton also records in his report of 3 June 2008, you believed that your husband was suffering by being kept in a nursing home. He had pleaded with you often over the eight years since his initial admission to take him home. His pleas caused you a great deal of distress because you wanted to have his wish fulfilled, but it could not be. So, feeling very sorry for him, you decided (as you told Dr Walton) to end his life and yours. You continued:
I didn’t do it out of hatred or becau
[Court Orders]Charged with: Attempted Murder. Could have been sentenced up to 25 years prison.
However received 2 years and 9 months wholly suspended sentence
Catchwords: Assisted Suicide, Elderly, Euthanasia
Judges: Harper J
Background: Mrs Nestorowycz tried to kill herself and her husband who was suffering from dementia and diabetes and living in a nursing home. She was found to have been suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time and said to have had reduced capacity to make appropriate decisions.
[Legal Issue]As indicated by the Judge:
"At the time you committed these acts, you knew what you were doing. As you told the consultant psychiatrist Dr Lester Walton, you believed that you had inflicted a fatal wound on your husband, and intended that he would die. You held the same intention for yourself. But, as Dr Walton also records in his report of 3 June 2008, you believed that your husband was suffering by being kept in a nursing home. He had pleaded with you often over the eight years since his initial admission to take him home. His pleas caused you a great deal of distress because you wanted to have his wish fulfilled, but it could not be. So, feeling very sorry for him, you decided (as you told Dr Walton) to end his life and yours. You continued:
I didn’t do it out of hatred or becau
[Court Orders]Charged with: Attempted Murder. Could have been sentenced up to 25 years prison.
However received 2 years and 9 months wholly suspended sentence