Mind blown in the Probate Court

Dec 6, 2018, 5:58 PM

So walk into the (blank) County Probate Court this afternoon. Was a couple in front of me and some other guy, so I took a seat and waited. Couple was up at the desk. Clerk's filling out their marriage license. I could not help but noticing the guy was as drunk as a skunk. Guy could barely talk. "Wife" was just all giggly. He was so sloshed I'm not even sure he will remember getting married in the morning. Anyway, clerk fills everything out and as she's doing that she asks the drunk guy "Have you ever been married before, or is this your first marriage?" Guy looks at her and gets all mad because she's accusing him of being married before. She says she has to ask. He says it's his first time. "Wife" chimes in the same. Clerk gives them the documents. Tells them they have to wait 24 hours, return the docs after 24 hours and they are married. I'm rolling my eyes and the other 3 people waiting see it.

When they left it was my turn. I asked her what if the guy before me was lying? What if he had been married before. Or what if he said this was his second marriage. What if the first marriage never ended with a death certificate or divorce decree? She said they don't ask that. I then proposed to her that what if they get married with the license you'll grant them tomorrow, have 2 children and the guy dies in a work-related accident. Half of that 100-400K in benefits would go to his wife, and the other half would be split between the children per the statutes. Then I asked her, "But what if he lied, was married before, and never was divorced, and his first wife is alive?" She looked at me weird. I then informed her his two children would still get their half, but the first wife would technically be entitled to the other half. I then informed her that in that situation, everyone has to lawyer up. Wife 1 gets a lawyer because she's still his legal "wife". Wife #2 gets a lawyer to do the tough work. Wife #2's abagado has the job of 1) Proving the prior marriage ended through a period of continuous separation for more than a year with no contact or financial support PRIOR to marrying wife #2 (if he's lucky). THEN he has the job of proving wife #2 is a common law spouse. It's a freaking mess.

I told the SC clerk in Georgia and Virginia, you have to prove all prior marriages ended by providing a death certificate and/or divorce decree showing all prior marriages legally ended, AND they check for prior marriages statewide as well. But here in SC we just take the dunk guy's word for it, and I'm the guy who illuminates the mess if something bad happens years down the road. She then told me a lot of people come to SC from GA to get married because they can't get married in GA because they don't have the documents. I told her that many times it's because the documents DO NOT EXIST in the first place.

Based on percentages, I'd say a concurrent marriage situation happens in maybe 2% of cases I handle. That's not a whole lot, until you think about how many couples in SC 2% represents. 1,000 or more perhaps. Would you be happy knowing you have a 1/50 chance your divorce wasn't valid? Heck, I've seen divorces for marriages that were not even valid marriages in the first place. Yep, guy marries a second wife, never divorces first wife, and then is granted a divorce with the second wife he's technically not even married to to begin with.

Anyway, clerk just kinda looked at me like I'd invented fire or something. Like she saw her job flash before her eyes. This is something our state legislature REALLY needs to fix. I have one other big pet peeve that's a whole other TLDNR post. It ends up being a legal mess, with a lot of money at stake. Then the lawyers have a choice to take their case to the SCWCC or go through the county probate court to get all the mess adjudicated. Usually they pick the Probate Court. And you would think Probate Court judges would get tired of handling these problems. Maybe they just hate me since I'm the only guy around who pokes and prods enough. Heck, I know that until 10-12 years ago I never bothered. Then a case came up and since then I've always done my best to find the problem if there is one, or rule it out with the necessary documents. And once I started making that a standard thing, I'm amazed how frequently it happens. Social Security misses it. Probate Court estates/wills miss it. Family Court misses it. Veterans benefits misses it. Police memorial funds miss it. I don't.

I don't really consider this polygamy, more like laziness/irresponsibility. It's not like the two wives live together wit the husband. That never happens. Most of the time the circumstances validate a divorce and a following common law marriage, but you have to prove that in court and get an order first.