Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: am I legally married?

The good sound legal answer is "maybe." That's partly in jest and partly true. The general rule in NM is that when there are succesive marriages with no divorce in between the law presumes that the last marriage is the valid marriage. If someone wants to challenge your marriage they have to show (a) that the prior marriage was a valid marriage and (b) the prior marriage did not end in divorce.

In the past I have dealt with a situation similar to the one you describe and what we did was do a divorce of the man and the former wife. They may have been divorced already (he did not even know where she was)but because the man and the new wife were not sure if the old marriage had been legally disolved they simply did a divorce of that marriage, just to be safe. That is one way to deal with the situation in which you presently find yourself.

Go see a family lawyer in your town or in your neighboring BIG city. There are plenty of good lawyers who can give you real specific advice about this matter in your area. If you don't know a lawyer and are not comfortable with the Yellow Pages then call the State Bar of N.M. (800-876.6227)and ask about a lawyer referral or go to their website http://www.nmbar.org and look for the lawyer referral program there.

Good Luck