 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Phillips v. Dow Chemical Co.11/30/2005
17 S.W.3d 714, 716 (Tex. App.---Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, disapproved on other grounds, 124 S.W.3d 163 (Tex. 2003); Villegas v. Griffin Indus., 975 S.W.2d 745, 749--50 (Tex. App.---Corpus Christi 1998, pet. denied).
A man and a woman may agree to become husband and wife, live together as husband and wife, publicly profess to be husband and wife, and thus establish the elements of a common-law marriage relationship. See Villegas at 749--50. But, if either the husband or the wife is impeded by a prior marriage, their relationship does not constitute a common-law marriage. Id. at 750. Texas recognizes common-law marriage, but does not recognize common-law divorce or annulment. Id.; see Claveria's Estate v. Claveria, 615 S.W.2d 164, 167 (Tex. 1981). In Texas, whether established ceremonially or at common law, a marriage can terminate only by death, divorce, or court-decreed annulment. Villegas, 975 S.W.2d at 750. Proof that a prior marriage was not terminated, by either death or a court decree, overcomes any presumption that a later marriage is valid. See id. at 750.
The summary judgment record establishes that Phillips filed an application for letters of administration on September 13, 2000 and obtained letters of administration on October 20, 2001. Phillips filed an application to determine heirship in mid-February 2001. In both of these applications, Phillips claimed that he was Stewart's husband. The Galveston County Probate Court's November 1, 2001 judgment declaring heirship included a finding that Phillips was married to Stewart when she died.
It is undisputed that Phillips was not ceremonially married to Stewart. Phillips's sworn testimony, however, asserted that his common-law marriage to Stewart began in 1994 or 1995. Phillips's sworn affidavit also acknowledged that he had been married before, although he claimed that he and his former wife "separated" in "approximately 1992" and "were divorced sometime thereafter and before 1998."
On June 7, 2001, however, Phillips's spouse from that marriage sued for divorce in the Circuit Court of Escambia County, Alabama. In her sworn petition in that lawsuit, the former spouse sought to dissolve "the bonds of matrimony" between her and Phillips. In his sworn answer to that petition, filed on June 7, 2001, 10 months after Stewart died, Phillips admitted the fact of the marriage, as alleged in the Alabama petition, and referred to the petitioner as "my wife." The Alabama court issued a decree of divorce on July 9, 2001. Nothing in that decree indicates that it replaced an earlier decree that, Phillips claimed, neither he nor his former spouse was able to locate.
The record thus demonstrates that Phillips mistakenly believed that he was divorced in 1994, when he entered into what he contends that both he and Stewart understood to be, and desired to be, a common-law marriage relationship. But, because Phillips's prior marriage had not been terminated before his relationship with Stewart began and did not terminate until July 9, 2001, almost one year after Stewart died on August 19, 2000, their relationship could not, as a matter of law, constitute a common-law marriage between 1994 and August 19, 2000. Tex. Fam. Code Ann. ยง 6.202(a); Dodd, 17 S.W.3d at 716; Villegas, 975 S.W.2d at 750.
Phillips nevertheless presents several theories to support his contention that his summary judgment evidence, principally his affidavit, raised sufficient fact issues to create a triable issue for a jury's determination concerning whether he was Stewart's common-law husband. Phillips asserts that he presented abundant evidence of the three elements necessary to establish a common-law marriage, specifically, living toge
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Texas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
By using the system, you agree to TERMS OF SERVICE
|