Bigamy and a property dispute

Dear Mrs Macaulay,

I know this is a long shot, but my dad remarried back in the early 70s without informing my mom who he was married to, but living apart from. He knew where she was, yet he didn’t contact her for a divorce, she only heard about the second wedding. He had become abusive so she thought it best to do nothing.

After his second wife died in 1996, he moved in another woman less than two weeks later, and again got married.

He recently passed on, leaving property to the last wife. My mom was the one who gave him the money to pay down on the first property.

Is there anything she can do? Is it too late?

I think the last two marriages should be null and void.

Your letter is very intriguing and sad. I shall try to untangle as much of it as I can, even though I can say up front that I am not certain whether one can effectively reverse your mother’s position.

I understand that your father, as you allege, did not contact your mother about a divorce, nor does she even know for a fact that he even divorced her. If he did and he obtained his decrees from the court based on false statements that she had been served, then she ought to have applied at the time she discovered the fact that he had remarried to the Supreme Court to set aside his decree nisi and all subsequent orders and decrees made thereafter. If he did not obtain a divorce but merely married this other woman after the passage of many years of separation from your mother, then clearly such a marriage would be null.

Then you say that his second wife died in 1996 and he remarried, and subsequently left property to this last wife. You haven’t stated whether he left the property by the way of a will, or whether he died intestate and she as his widow had laid claim to the property.

These things have to be clarified because if he left a will, it may be unassailable because each adult person is entitled to leave their property as they wish by their will, their last testament, except where legislation — for example, the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act 2004 — provides otherwise.

If he did die intestate, even if your mother is out of the picture, you as his child and any other children of his would have a share/shares in his estate. As his heir you would then report his death to the Administrator General’s Office and identify for them his children and wife (if any survive him). You should, I expect, mention your mother’s position.

As to your mother’s position, it is rather difficult for me to really ascertain from your short letter the facts which I would need to arrive at some conclusion. In relation to the property, in order to determine that she has a proprietary interest at this time (you have not stated when exactly your father died), without more particulars I cannot give a definitive opinion.

Again, I have to reiterate the fact that your mother has for years not taken any step to protect her rights by applying to the courts for a determination of the status of her marriage, her status, and her entitlement to interest in any of the properties.

Your view that the two marriages should be null and void is merely an opinion and only the Supreme Court can make such a determination. In order for this to be done your mother must apply and support her application with an affidavit containing cogent, truthful and specific facts to support her application. The facts on which she would rely in the affidavit must be such to convince the court that his marriage to the second ‘wife’ – the one after your mother – was indeed null and void, and that they ought to make such a finding in fact and in law. If this is the result, then the final ‘wife’ would also be found not to be a ‘wife’.

The long and short of the matter is your mother and maybe yourself ought to go and consult an experienced family law attorney and relate all the circumstances and facts about what occurred and seek their advice. I cannot do so because of the lack of sufficient facts due to the brevity of your letter.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver. com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.