stickysituation
New Member
We just need to be steered in the right direction here...The details are, my husband was married before in Broward county, Florida, in 2000. He was only with the wife for a short period of time (resided together a total of maybe 4 months, off & on), they had no children, no assets, no property. He moved out of the county to north Florida in 2001, and has not seen, heard of, or spoken to the wife since, has no idea of her whereabouts.
He questioned the validity of the marriage to begin with, because he was "impaired" at the time it took place (which cannot be proven), he said he vaguely remembers signing a paper at a relative's house, no exchanging vows or etc. Yes, I know that you dont have to have any of that to be legally married, but he questioned it.
The spouse filed for divorce in 2002. He responded to the petition, and recieved a letter in the mail from the court that he thought meant the divorce was final. He honestly, in every way, thought that it was a done deal and he could forget about it. Not a very responsible or wise decision, I know, perhaps even stupid, but this is what he thought. He did even call the courthouse to confirm and they said they showed a "divorce". He also searched the clerk of courts website and it appeared to be a "divorce".
Anyway, in March 2004 we were married. I was aware of the previous marriage, and we both honestly 100% believed he was not still married. Everything was fine for us, we have a 2 year old child, and this had not affected any of us in any way. Until...recently I was trying to look up some old court records, driving records, stuff, I searched for his name on the Broward clerk website and was horrified when I took a closer look at the divorce record. It turns out the divorce was "dismissed", therefore never being finalized. We immediately did more research, calling down there again, this time they actually looked at it and told him that the petitioner failed to appear at the final hearing, the divorce was dismissed, and he is still legally married to this woman.
We do not know where to go with this, just need a little advice. Really have no way to afford an attorney right now, and this obviously needs to be taken care of, soon. I understand that my marriage to him is void, and I also would like to know how we can go about getting "officially" married once this mess is over.
The previous wife is unaware of this and like I said they have not spoken, and being that she filed for divorce herself, I doubt she would care what he is doing. If anyone finds out about this as far as courts, etc, could he likely get into trouble, even being that no one is complaining about it?
I was told by a few local attorneys that the best route to go is just file a new divorce where we live, as a publication divorce/missing spouse. Is this correct? On the household financial affidavits, etc, should he just list me as a fiance or girlfriend, since that is technically what I am, being that our marriage is void? We are trying to get this taken care of, to make things right/legal, asap. We just need to know the best solution, and how to go about doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
He questioned the validity of the marriage to begin with, because he was "impaired" at the time it took place (which cannot be proven), he said he vaguely remembers signing a paper at a relative's house, no exchanging vows or etc. Yes, I know that you dont have to have any of that to be legally married, but he questioned it.
The spouse filed for divorce in 2002. He responded to the petition, and recieved a letter in the mail from the court that he thought meant the divorce was final. He honestly, in every way, thought that it was a done deal and he could forget about it. Not a very responsible or wise decision, I know, perhaps even stupid, but this is what he thought. He did even call the courthouse to confirm and they said they showed a "divorce". He also searched the clerk of courts website and it appeared to be a "divorce".
Anyway, in March 2004 we were married. I was aware of the previous marriage, and we both honestly 100% believed he was not still married. Everything was fine for us, we have a 2 year old child, and this had not affected any of us in any way. Until...recently I was trying to look up some old court records, driving records, stuff, I searched for his name on the Broward clerk website and was horrified when I took a closer look at the divorce record. It turns out the divorce was "dismissed", therefore never being finalized. We immediately did more research, calling down there again, this time they actually looked at it and told him that the petitioner failed to appear at the final hearing, the divorce was dismissed, and he is still legally married to this woman.
We do not know where to go with this, just need a little advice. Really have no way to afford an attorney right now, and this obviously needs to be taken care of, soon. I understand that my marriage to him is void, and I also would like to know how we can go about getting "officially" married once this mess is over.
The previous wife is unaware of this and like I said they have not spoken, and being that she filed for divorce herself, I doubt she would care what he is doing. If anyone finds out about this as far as courts, etc, could he likely get into trouble, even being that no one is complaining about it?
I was told by a few local attorneys that the best route to go is just file a new divorce where we live, as a publication divorce/missing spouse. Is this correct? On the household financial affidavits, etc, should he just list me as a fiance or girlfriend, since that is technically what I am, being that our marriage is void? We are trying to get this taken care of, to make things right/legal, asap. We just need to know the best solution, and how to go about doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
