Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to (a) create an offence for Predatory Marriages, (b) ensure that no one who is showing insufficient mental capacity marries against their will or unknowingly, and (c) amend the relevant marriages laws so that it does not automatically revoke an existing Will when the marriage is registered.

Under the current law, causing a person who lacks capacity to consent to a marriage is a criminal offence of forced marriage under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, for which the maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment.

In relation to wills, the principle in English and Welsh law that marriage has the effect of revoking wills is long established. The issue of whether marriage or civil partnership should invoke automatic revocation of the wills of those involved is being considered as part of a review by the Law Commission on reforming the law of wills.

The Government will review the case for reforming the current law when it has received the recommendations in the Law Commission’s final report.