Can a predatory marriage be challenged in court after the elderly spouse has already died?

Yes. A predatory marriage can still be challenged after the vulnerable spouse has died, typically by an interested party such as an estate trustee or another family member bringing a court application seeking a declaration that the marriage was void because the deceased lacked the capacity to marry at the time it took place. This matters practically because a valid marriage can affect who inherits — through a surviving spouse's right to claim under the Family Law Act or a share on intestacy — so successfully challenging the marriage's validity can change how the estate is ultimately distributed.

These cases are generally more difficult after death, since the person whose capacity is in question can no longer be assessed directly, and the evidence has to be reconstructed from medical records, witness accounts, and the surrounding circumstances at the time of the marriage. Courts scrutinize this kind of evidence carefully given how significant a finding of invalidity is for the surviving spouse. Because these cases are fact-intensive and time-sensitive, given how evidence about someone's state of mind years earlier can be harder to establish over time, get legal advice as soon as a predatory marriage is suspected, even before death, where possible.