On behalf of Stange Law Firm, PC posted in Divorce on Friday, April 12, 2013.
Legally, a man cannot be married to more than one woman at a time. In cases where it is discovered that a husband has two or more wives, the courts will become involved. When children are involved with any of these wives, the entire situation can become even more complicated.
Take for example the recent story of the 38-year-old flight instructor who was caught having two wives. The wives reportedly did not know about each other and there was a child from the first marriage.
In looking at what happened, the man was married in 2004 to his first wife. Two year later the couple had a baby boy. However, in 2009 the husband approached his wife with the idea of divorce. He filled out paperwork online and left the papers in a folder for her to sign.
However, the divorce never went forward. Instead, the man reportedly forged his wife’s name and a fake judge’s name in order to prove to his second wife that he was divorced.
It wasn’t until May when the first wife learned of the second one. She filed for divorce and a few months later reported the incident to police. The man was arrested on a bigamy warrant. However, due to the statute of limitations from when the second marriage began, a grand jury decided not to indict the man.
However, this is not to say the entire situation is not without consequences. Not only was a divorce granted from his first wife, but he must also pay her attorney costs, child support will be automatically taken out of his paycheck and he will need to go through therapy in order to help his child cope with what happened.
His first wife has also asked for a temporary injunction to prohibit the second wife from having contact with the child. The point behind this is to allow time for counseling between the father and son.
As this case goes to show, issues surrounding divorce and decisions regarding children can become quite complicated. Even in situations where there is just a divorce and no claim of infidelity or bigamy, a father still wants an attorney on his side when going through the legal process.
Source: Forth Worth Star-Telegram, “Grapevine man went to great lengths to cover up dual marriages,” Deanna Boyd, April 7, 2013
