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MARRIAGE

Church body allows senile man’s marriage to stand

The marriage between an 85-year-old Swedish man suffering from dementia and his 77-year-old wife will not be annulled, according to a decision by the cathedral chapter in Lund.

The 85-year-old man’s son had asked the church body to review the marriage, which took place last summer and was officiated by a 73-year-old former vicar.

According to the son, the marriage ought never to have taken place because his father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease which doctors said left him “disconnected from reality”.

But the cathedral chapter found that the retired pastor did nothing wrong by allowing the wedding to move forward, despite the son’s claim that his father lacked the ability to enter into any legal agreements on account of his dementia.

In its decision, the Lund cathedral chapter said that they don’t believe the man lacked power of attorney or that the retired vicar had any reason to perform a more in-depth investigation of the 85-year-old’s condition.