As a probate attorney, we get our share of interesting cases.  Recently, I had one wherein the decedent had two wives.  Now in California that is not allowed.  Actually, it is not allowed anywhere in the United States. Who was the surviving spouse?

In the case, it was alleged by wife number two, that the decedent had divorced wife number one.  The divorce took place in Nevada.  Despite the fact that there were notarized documents, wife number one swore under penalty of perjury that she did not go to Nevada with her “former” husband to obtain a divorce. (The notary is no longer a notary; could not easily be located; and Nevada does not require notaries to turn in their notary books to a government agency) The address listed on the divorce papers for wife number one turned out to be an auto body repair shop more than 150 miles from her residence at the time of the divorce.  Moreover, in the divorce petition, wife number one allegedly waived all of her rights to husband’s assets including his pension and received nothing in return.

Our office represented wife number one and pointed that out to the lawyer for wife number two.  Now it should be noted that wife number one had not lived with the decedent in over 20 years; nor had they stayed in regular contact. 

What should be the result?  Although, we thought we had a pretty good case and that we could prove that the divorce was not valid, there simply were not enough assets to fight over.  The parties settled and are splitting his pension!  In a sense, it could be said that he did have two wives!