耄耋新人引發法律爭議

語音：美式發音 適合精聽

語速：170詞/分鐘

關鍵詞：newlyweds，legal，court

At 96 and 95 years old，Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison are happy newlyweds，but their recent marriage after 10 years together is not without controversy.Edith has 2）dementia，and some of her relatives want the marriage 3）an1ed claiming the union complicates issues with her care，living situation and estate.Attorney Jean Galloway Ball is an expert in Elder law.She says the key question is whether Edith had sufficient capacity to enter into a marriage.

Jean Galloway Ball（Attorney）： Capacity’s not a light switch.You don’t turn it on or off.You can have capacity for one thing and not for another thing.So，I think，from that standpoint，it creates some interesting legal issues for a court in trying to decide is this marriage valid or not.

Ironically，the couple would have faced a different legal issue，had they met in their 20s，30s or even their 40s，before the Supreme Court over-ruled Virginia’s ban on inter-racial marriage.Eddie： We see hearts.We don’t see color.I’ve been looking at her and don’t see no difference in her than me.

96歲的伊迪絲·希爾與95歲的埃迪·哈里森是一對幸福的新人。他們相處了十年，最近結成連理，但這樁喜事引起了爭議。伊迪絲患有老年癡呆癥，因此，她的部分親屬希望法院裁定這樁婚姻無效，他們認為這兩位老人的結合會將各種問題復雜化，包括她的看護事宜、居住情況以及財產問題等。律師吉恩·加洛韋·鮑爾是一位老年法專家，她說關鍵問題在于伊迪絲在踏入婚姻殿堂時是否具備完全行為能力。

吉恩·加洛韋·鮑爾（律師）：行為能力并不是電燈開關，你沒法隨意打開或者關閉。你可以在一件事情上具備行為能力，而在別的事情上又不具備這種能力了。所以我認為，從這個角度來看，不管法庭判定這樁婚姻是否有效，都會引發一些有趣的法律問題。

頗具諷刺意味的是，假如這對伴侶是在弱冠之年、而立之年乃至不惑之年邂逅的話，他們要面對的就是另外一種法律問題了：當時美國最高法院還沒有推翻弗吉尼亞州的跨種族婚姻禁令。埃迪：我們看到的是彼此的心，而不是對方的膚色。我看著她，她和我沒有什么不同。

One of Hill’s daughters，Rebecca Wright，fully supports her mother’s new marriage.She helped facilitate the wedding 4）presided over by a 95-year-old church elder.

Rebecca： It helps her to care for him，and it helps him to care for her.She’s never been happier than she is today being married to him.

A judge has appointed a lawyer to assume guardianship of Hill，and investigate the marriage to assure Hill’s interests are protected.

Jean： If a court would find that she had…had the true intent here to marry this person，and that clearly was what she wanted，then I would think they would be faced with 5）sustaining the marriage.

Edith： Unless he changed now，but I don’t think there’ll be any change in him.He’s a good man.He’s a good husband.I’ll tell the whole world about that.

No matter the legal outcome，Eddie and Edith plan to make the most of every day they have together.Edith： I’m gonna keep him.I’m gonna keep him.

希爾的其中一個女兒麗貝卡·賴特非常支持母親的新姻緣。他們的婚禮由一位95歲的教會長老主持，她也出了不少力。

麗貝卡：結婚會讓她對丈夫關懷備至，也會讓他對妻子愛護有加。媽媽如今嫁給他了，她從未像現在這樣幸福快樂。

法官指派了一名律師作為希爾的監護人，并對婚事的情況進行調查，以確保希爾的權益不受侵害。……