Forensic Neurpsychiatry Examination and Diminshed Capacity for Marriage
By: Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D.
Annulment of Marriage
Doe v. Doe
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Forensic Neuropsychiatric evaluation used as the basis for settlement
of an Annulment of Marriage. John Doe, a student in a prestigious, ivy
league college with a brilliant prep school and college background suffered
brain injury as a result of an automobile crash. Subsequent to a protracted
rehabilitation period, he recovered moderately. Residual dysfunction
included a loss of all autobiographical memory from before the accident
as well as having difficulty in concentrating, understanding affect and
articulating interpersonal problems, and semantic memory loss. Furthermore,
he spent the many years after the accident as a laborer at around $10/hour
for a company that his family owned, and after the sale, for the company
under the new owner. A number of years later after the loss he became
involved in a relationship which seemed like an obvious mismatch to all
who knew him prior to the accident. Prior to the marriage John Doe was
not under a guardianship. His parents put several hundred thousand dollars
of liquid and non-liquid assets in his name so that if the father died,
John Doe would be able to take care of himself. In that context, John
Doe married and when his wife sought divorce, she sought it under the
normally existing rules which would permit her to receive alimony and
perhaps a division of the marital assets. Dr. Bursztajn's forensic neuropsychiatric
examination of John Doe, including brain imaging, established his incompetence
to enter into a marriage. Based on this finding, a mutually satisfactory
financial settlement was reached and the marriage was annulled without
a split in assets.