Being declared legally competant to marry?

I know a gentleman who is a nursing home resident. He has been engaged to another resident for around four years. He has a guardian, who has no objections to them marrying. His case/social worker in the home also agrees to it. The courts say they can not allow it because a doctor has declared him incompetant. He did get a chance to be reavaluated, but scored low. His worker feels it is because he has almost no education, and even taking an oral test is difficult for him. I volunteer at this home, and know that there are people outside the home that seem to me a lot less competant, and no one has taken their rights, so I think she is right. Any suggestions on how he could improve his score, or be declared competant enough to marry ( none of us feel totally competant making that choice, lol.) ? People with mrdd or mental health issues are not prevented from marrying, there should be a way for this couple.

He has been in love with this other resident for 4 years, considers himself married, but wants it legally recognized. I've met her daughter-she is happy for them. He was with me when I asked his caseworker about his case, he wanted me to ask so she could clarify the status of the case to me, so we were allowed to discuss the case freely. I volunteer to visit the nursing home through the Ombudsman program, I mostly just pass out literature, make sure they are aware of the program, and offer to contact someone for them if they need it. We advocate for resident rights, but with him being declared not competent, we're limited on what help we could give. I promised him I would ask around and let him know if I found anything out that might help him. He has been an independant, self supporting person in the past, mostly roofing,carpentry etc. He developed a severe drinking problem which ended up with him loosing everything, He's been sober for years, . To long a story to explain here.

Marriage does require a certain level of mental competence. Not a lot, but enough to appreciate the nature of the act of becoming married (not that most people who get married really do).

I think the court is overstating the amount of competence needed, relying on some statement a doctor made that found him incompetent to manage his own financial affairs (I wonder what that doctor would say about Bear Stearns), and the court is applying the same standard.

Here's what needs to be done.

Find an attorney that deals in "Elderlaw". They can Petition the Probate Court to make a finding that the individual is competent for the limited person of entering into a valid marriage. He may need to present some case law that explains to the Judge that there are different standards of "competence" for different purposes, and that the standard for marriage is lower than whatever he was deemed incompetent for, and evidence that he meets that standard.

I can't imagine a well-presented brief could fail. After all, if one needs to meet a standard of competence to enter marriage, is there some level of incompetence that renders an existing marriage invalid?

My gf is a psychologist who works with mrdd population. I read your question and my impression was there was likely an mr/dd issue, or some other elderly onset dementia type of thing happening.

If the guy has no education, and no oral skills, and is confined to a nursing home, then what exactly is he hoping to get married for?

He need not get married to enjoy whatever companionship is available to him, but getting married exposes him to a whole host of financial, legal, and personal estate risks, and also exposes the partner too..

As a volunteer you are probably neither privy to, nor qualified to understand his mental health assessment. You can be assured that the social worker is under ethical obligations to not tell you the details, so anything you have heard from him or her has been deliberately vague. Same for the guardian and all the other people treating him at the home or in any medical facilities he may attend.

Oh yeah, the other person's legal support system may object as well.

That was the long answer.

The short answer is: Stay out of it and stick to doing your own job and let other people worry about doing theirs.