The Supreme Court has voided a man’s civil partnership due to his advanced dementia when it was registered. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A court has ended the civil partnership a Canberra man signed with a woman from overseas as he had advanced dementia when it was registered.
The man’s son took the issue to the ACT Supreme Court some time after his family discovered “unusual aspects” regarding his father’s finances, Acting Justice Andrew Muller said in a decision published this week.
The judge said in June 2022, geriatrician Dr Mary Ann Kulh and nurse found the man’s cognitive decline and memory loss were consistent with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s-type dementia.
There was evidence of significant cognitive decline with his learning, memory, language, executive function and social cognition.
Dr Kulh thought his Alzheimer’s disease was at least moderate at the time, said he had “a superficial understanding of what is occurring around him” and thought his condition would worsen within 12 months.
But in December 2023, the man and the woman, whom Region has chosen not to name, registered a civil partnership.
In the ACT, civil partnerships have the same rights as marriages and are considered a domestic partnership for all purposes under the Territory’s law.
The woman claimed she had been in “a video-call relationship” with the man before moving to Australia in late 2022.
“Shortly after her arrival, the family became aware that the [woman] was living at [the man’s] home, and that there were some unusual aspects of his financial management, such as the [woman] shutting down one of [the man’s] superannuation accounts and receiving a cheque for the proceeds,” Acting Justice Muller said.
“The circumstances in which the civil partnership had been entered remained somewhat unclear.
“What is abundantly clear is that it was entered into at a time that was many months after Dr Kulh had expressed the view that [the man] had no capacity to make decisions regarding financial, health and personal matters.”
In January 2024, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal appointed the man’s son and daughter as his guardians due to his impaired decision-making. The man’s son later applied to have his father’s civil partnership voided.
The acting judge ultimately said that, after reviewing the man’s medical assessment, he had no doubt the man was mentally incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the partnership.
The woman initially did not take part in the court hearing. Late last year, she emailed the man’s solicitors, Hugo Law Group, and said she would not appear in the matter, would not contest the application and understood the court may make orders in her absence.
Acting Justice Muller ordered that the civil partnership be void under the Domestic Relationships Act 1994 (ACT).
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