Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

My husband has found out his last marriage was never annulled thru his ex"s indian tribe like he was told . what does this mean for him and the legality of how marriage? what do we do now? There are no children as a result of the marriage and she walked out after 2 years. this was 10 years ago.


Asked on 2/06/12, 12:09 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Keith Engelke Law Office of S. Keith Engelke

Since you can't be married to two people at the same time, you are not married. However, your marriage will become effective upon the termination of the first marriage. You husband or his first wife, simply needs to get a divorce. Before doing that, I'd check to see if she is still alive as death will end a marriage as well.. Whenever the first marriage ends, your marriage will take effect

As there are some potential complications, (everything you have earned is your separate property), everything he earned is community property of the first marriage, etc., I suggest he does this through a family lawyer.

When all is done, you can hit him up for another honeymoon and two anniversaries.

Good Luck!

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Answered on 2/06/12, 8:35 am
M. Elizabeth Foley The Law Office of M. Elizabeth Foley

I agree with everything Mr. Engelke said, but I'd just add one thing for your consideration, before he goes and files anything. This may be a long shot, but if he's been completely out of touch with his first wife for ten years, in addition to the possibility that she might have died, it's also possible that she could have gotten divorced from him without him knowing about it. It's not likely, but it is possible. If you don't have children or significant property to divide, it's actually not all that hard to get a divorce without involving the other spouse, by saying you don't know where they are or how to give them notice (which she could have done whether or not it was even true). If both of them have lived in Texas the whole time, it should be fairly easy to check--he'll need to search the records maintained by the Bureau of Vital Statistics, which you can do through this link:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/marriagedivorce/default.shtm

Every time a divorce is granted by a Texas court, the clerk has to submit to the State a form containing the spouses' basic information--that's where this index comes from. It's not perfect, but it's definitely the easiest way to check, and usually it's correct. It would not, however, contain anything from another state so keep that in mind (I imagine other states have their own versions if you know where she's lived). Good luck.

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Answered on 2/06/12, 10:49 am


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