Adult children call for law change after 90yo mum married ‘carer’ in secret

Joan Blass was 90 and had severe dementia when a man posing as her carer married her in secret. Now, her kids are left with nothing.

Joan Blass was in her late eighties and suffering from severe vascular dementia when she happened to meet Colman Folan outside her house.

Mr Folan, a tax inspector in his late 60s, befriended the widow and grandmother of three and moved into her house in Leeds in northern England a month later in 2011, acting as her carer.

Ms Blass’ daughter Daphne Franks lived right next door, and she and her brother Michael Blass were due to receive a £210,000 ($AU363,128) inheritance upon their mother’s death.

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But when Ms Blass died from cancer at the age of 91 in 2016, the siblings were shocked to learn their mother and her carer had secretly wed just months before — meaning he had inherited the lot.

Daphne Franks said her mother struggled to remember her own name when the wedding took place. Picture: SWNS/Mega

Ms Franks told Metro she had only discovered the marriage days after Ms Blass’ death when Mr Folan was given complete control of her funeral arrangements, opting for a burial instead of the cremation she had requested.

“Mum never seemed to know where he came from, she was repeatedly asking, ‘What is his name? Where did he come from?’ and ‘Where does he live?’” she told Metro.

Joan Blass’s adult children didn’t discover her marriage until after her death. Picture: SWNS/Mega

“It’s impossible to describe the level of shock and distress we felt on learning of the marriage. “We were all in utter, utter shock.”

Ms Franks said her mother would be appalled if she knew her carer had inherited her entire estate, leaving her two children with nothing.

“I cannot state too strongly how devastated my mother would have been if she had known the marriage would disinherit her children,” she said.

“She was an incredibly intelligent woman, a university graduate and teacher, and devoted to her family.”

Joan Blass’ first husband Ronnie died in 2008. Picture: SWNS/Mega

Ms Franks said nobody in her family were invited to or informed of the wedding, which ended up voiding Ms Blass’ original will which would have left everything to her two children with first husband Ronnie.

The siblings took legal action against Mr Folan, who is now 70, but ended up losing the case.

They were left with a £200,000 ($AU345,887) legal bill, which meant Ms Franks had to sell her half of the family home, which had been bequeathed to her by her father.

Ms Franks is now fighting for a “predatory marriage” law to be introduced which would make it illegal to marry someone who does not have the mental capacity to consent properly.

Joan Blass spent her 90th birthday with adult children Michael and Daphne in 2014. Picture: SWNS/Mega

She also wants to change the law to prevent new marriages automatically cancelling out existing wills.

“Mum never told anyone about the marriage, because she did not remember she was married and Folan never told anyone either,” she told Metro.

“If he had told us they were married when my mother was alive, we could have sought to have the marriage annulled.

“Even on a particularly good day, my mother’s dementia had taken its toll and she could barely say her own name at that time.”

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