Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina
invalid marriage
In 2001 my husband and I were married in Louisiana. He was previously married and only had a copy of the divorce petition so he called to verify his divorce was final from South Caolina. He was told it was finalized in 1999. His ex-wife was remarried in 2003, also in South Carolina. On January 11th 2005 we found out that their divorce was not finalized because the original lawyer died on September 3rd 2002 before he could finalize the divorce. Supposedly the trustee notified the clients(my husbands ex-wife) notifying them of the death. The ex-wife claims this never happened. The SC bar association had us call the office for greviances and we were told there is nothing to be done but refile for a divorce. How can a lawyers case files just be left untouched? What effects does this have on our current marriage if the original divorce was never finalized even though both parties has remarried?? Is there nothing that can be done with the old divorce petition? I believe that the trustee who took over the deceased lawyers files is to blame for this grave mistake and somehow should remedy the situation. There is a 11-year old child involved who resides with his mother in South Carolina.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: invalid marriage
There are many questions in your submission. Some can be answered and some cannot. No living person can probably tell you what went wrong in the divorce. Obviously both your husband and his "ex"-wife were in good faith when they remarried.
First, they must divorce again. If everything was working before the problem was discovered, then they should simply adopt the same rules in the new divorce.
Second, every new couple that wants to be married should re-marry (privately, with a judge if you don't want the families to know) AFTER the divorce judgment is final and a certified copy is in hand. Because you married him in good faith you are a putative spouse under Louisiana law. This means you have all of the rights of a spouse at this time. That being said, you need to clear this up because of things that could occur after you learned of the problem.
If the divorce was supposedly finalized in 1999 and the lawyer died in 2002, then I don't see how this is the trustee's fault.
The 11 year old child has the same parents he always had. This only effects him if the adults behave badly.
The other questions cannot be answered by a person who knows nothing of the case so I shall not answer them.
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