The Risks of Predatory Marriage and Undue Influence

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Will Disputes

The recent Central London County Court judgement in Langley v (1) Qin & (2) Shi is a prominent case which highlights the risks of predatory marriage and undue influence.

The key facts of the case were that Robert Harrington (“the Deceased”), died in May 2020, aged 94 years old. In June 2019 (just eleven months earlier), the Deceased married his “carer”, Guixiang Qin (“the First Defendant”), when he was 93 years old, and the First Defendant was 54 years old.

The Deceased was pre-deceased by his first wife, Eileen Harrington, who died in January 2018, after 66 years of marriage. They had a single child, Jill Langley (nee Harrington) (“the Claimant”).

The Deceased’s will dated 24 March 2020 (“the Will”) is one of the key subject matters of this claim. The Will names the First Defendant as the sole beneficiary and executrix, and the First Defendant’s adult son, Mr Zhibin Shi (“the Second Defendant”) from her earlier marriage in China, in her place.

The Claimant brought proceedings against the Deceased’s estate on the grounds that:

  • the First Defendant and the Deceased’s marriage was a predatory marriage;
  • undue influence was exerted on the Deceased by the First Defendant to leave his entire estate to her; and
  • the Deceased lacked testamentary capacity when making his Will.

The Claimant was successful in proving undue influence, and that the Defendants did not discharge the burden on them to establish that the Deceased did know and approve the content of the Will. Accordingly the Will was set aside, and the Claimant therefore also succeeded on costs against the First Defendant. This meant that the Deceased died intestate, as his previous wills dated 10 June 1997 and 4 May 2012, were revoked by the marriage to the First Defendant. Under the rules of intestacy, the First Defendant, being the Deceased’s wife, would receive a lump sum of £270,000 together with half of the residue of the Deceased’s Estate. Evidently, the automatic revocation of a will by a later marriage can still cause lasting problems for families. Fundamentally, however, this case raises a deeper concern over predatory marriage, which the court did not make specific findings about.

Predatory marriage is a topical issue since there is currently no law in place which prevents the emotional and financial burden placed on the victims. In essence, a predatory marriage occurs where one party coerces and grooms the other party (who is often, more vulnerable) into marriage, in order to (usually) secure financial gains.

Further litigation is expected to follow since it was discovered at trial that the First Defendant may have already benefited by £230,000 from the Deceased’s bank accounts up to the Deceased’s death.

With the unfortunate ever-rising issues of predatory marriage, challenges to testamentary capacity and undue influences coupled with the current rule of automatic revocation of wills upon marriage, disputes are likely to arise.

The Dispute Resolution Department at PWW can certainly help navigate around these sensitive topics so please feel free to contact them today.