Getting a divorce is always hard. Can you imagine your spouse having dementia and still wanting to divorce you? Can this even be possible? This is exactly what happened to a woman who married a wealthy man in 2000, some seven years after they began dating.
He can’t tell you the name of the president, what day or month Valentine’s Day falls on but he knows he wants a divorce. This is taking place in Palm Beach, Florida, in the county circuit court.
There is a caveat in the Florida law that states a person who is mentally unfit and wants to file for divorce must participate in a three-year waiting period as a precaution.
The reason for the divorce is, of course, because of money and this will end up being a high asset divorce. The man’s three adult children stand to inherit $10 million if they can get their 87-year-old father to go through with the divorce.
The man’s wife, an 80-year-old who is a former Wall Street stockbroker, is fighting the divorce. Although there is a prenuptial agreement that will leave her the vast sum of money previously mentioned, the children are hiring lawyers to handle this rather sticky case.
Both sides say they only want to protect the 87-year-old man. The money stands in the middle.
The media poses the question that is on everyone’s mind: Would the woman have married him if he weren’t so wealthy? The woman he married says yes, she would have. They were married for many years. She iterates that the money wasn’t the be all and end all. She liked him and fell in love with him because he was handsome and charismatic.
Calling in a legal representative early on in a case like this is vital to the success of the outcome for you. Getting a divorce is difficult enough without going through it on your own.
Source: WSB-TV, “Can Palm Beacher with dementia file for divorce?,” Jane Musgrave, Palm Beach Post, May 24, 2015
