Page 9 - Community Living Magazine 35-2

legal: sex and relationships

She was stopped from having further
contact with him and given the extra
safety of a forced marriage protection
order, despite her strong and heartfelt
wishes to share her life with him.
The reason was that her condition-
related incapacity and possibly lifelong
loneliness since the breakdown of her first
marriage were found to prevent her from
considering the strength of the evidence
of his history and motives based on
his actions.
The woman’s daughters became
concerned when it emerged that NC had
attempted to acquire a fund owned by
their mother worth £700,000. Some of
her investment assets had disappeared,
and other assets had been realised to
fund the cost of acquiring a boat, a
caravan, a pick-up truck and a van, all
purchased in her name but seemingly Dementia may make a person vulnerable to financial abuse and coercive control in a relationship
used by the man in his business.
He had received various sums in cash aspect of her relationship with NC. If the The judge attached a penal notice to the
from BU’s accounts, estimated by the police court were to deprive her of his company, forced marriage protection order to
to be approximately £80,000. She had she saw her future as empty, bleak and ensure the man knew clearly that any
apparently been persuaded to underwrite devoid of all that she presently craved to attempted breach of the order could have
the entire wages bill and paid for materials, salve her long-term loneliness. severe consequences, including
equipment and the hire costs related to this Her rights to a family life under imprisonment, were he found to be in
business as well. He maintained she now article 8 and her rights to marry a person contempt of court.
had a 35% interest in a business but could of her choosing under article 12 were The court held that in any future
provide no written evidence of this. fully engaged. considerations of contact, the factors that
The court said that, where personal were “relevant information” for the
autonomy and life choices are a central purposes of section 3 of the Mental
She was given the extra safety aspect of the human right that the court is Capacity Act 2005 include:
of a forced marriage bound to uphold and respect, it should (i) With whom will that person be
intervene only in limited circumstances.
protection order, despite her NC believed the court should have no having contact?
strong and heartfelt wishes to role to play in relation to her decision- (ii) The nature of the relationship
share her life with him making, and maintained she was between them;
(iii) What will be the nature of the
capacitous in her own right.
The council took a neutral position in contact? Will such contact take place in
respect of future contact but made it clear a public or private setting? Will
NC claimed that BU's daughters were it had neither the professional expertise overnight stays be involved? Will
financially motivated to alienate her from nor the financial resources to supervise contact involve the presence of a carer
him. He saw his relationship with BU as a any contact the court may order. This or support worker?
romantic albeit platonic bond, which he illustrates the limits of safeguarding – (iv) What are the positive and negative
hoped would be given legal status in due however much effort might be put into it. aspects of that contact? In this context,
course through a civil partnership. The council’s assessment in 2020 unless demonstrably false, any
The daughters feared being isolated concluded that BU's care needs were being assessment should include not only an
from their mother, and that she might met although it identified risks of financial individual's current experiences but also
become isolated from family and friends. abuse and coercion and control in the any negative or unpleasant aspects of
The loss of their inheritance if a marriage relationship between NC and BU; it would past experiences during contact with
was concluded was accepted as not being do no more, given the formal appointment that individual.
the main point of their intervention. of a financial deputy to look after BU's (v) The assessment needs to include
The judge videolinked with BU and financial affairs and the restrictions placed consideration of what constitutes a
accepted NC was a central and crucially by the court on contact between them. family relationship and that such
important part of her life, pivotal to her The court found the man had “engaged relationships are different from other
emotional wellbeing and happiness. She in a deliberate and calculated attempt to categories of contact. n
could not countenance an existence subvert any independent decision-making”.
without him, although she had been unable He was described in evidence as a Cases
to have any contact with him for a year. narcissist and a fantasist, and could not Re C [2021] EWCA Civ 1527. https://tinyurl.
Her diagnosis of vascular dementia satisfy the judge as to benign motivation com/y2pf7be8
made her vulnerable to alleged control in with regard to what he had done or Re BU [2021] EWCOP 54. https://tinyurl.com/
that she could not recognise it was an attempted with BU’s money. yu3d2se7

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 35 No 2 | Winter 2022 9