Second wife bigamy help
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Second wife bigamy help
My father-in-law sadly passed away recently. He was in hospice and a social worker helped by giving us info on things after his passing. She informed us that his possessions house, cars, properties would become my mother-in-law’s since he had no Will. My mother-in-law’s name and father-in-law’s name are on the mortgage. Now the tricky part. We live In New Mexico USA. He was a legal resident of the U.S. He immigrated from Mexico quite some time ago. He married my mother-in-law in 1995 here in NM and she is a U.S. citizen. Now we are hearing that he was also married in Mexico before immigrating here. My mother-in-law did not know that he was married. She knew he had children there. The wife in Mexico knows of his passing and my father-in-law’s kids from Mexico have informed us that they are going to come to fight for their inheritance. My mother-in-law is very scared that they are going to take her house, cars, and a rental property. He did not have a large sum of money that the kids in Mexico think he had. In fact he had some recent debt that we are going to be expected to pay. Do they have to worry about the wife from Mexico fighting for their house and rental properties? What actions can we take to help protect my mother-in-law?
Asked on November 3, 2019 under Estate Planning, New Mexico
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
As you appear to know, the second "wife" is not actually a wife, since you cannot legally marry person 2 while still married to person 1. If the Mexican wife can prove that he and she were married and never divorced, she, not your mother-in-law, was the spouse and had the spouse's rights--which means that she, not your mother-in-law, will inherit under the rules for intestate succession. Your mother-in-law needs to consult with an attorney (e.g. a family law attorney) to understand what rights she may have in this specific situation (since the specific facts can affect the outcome), but she needs to be prepared for the possibilty that she has no rights.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.