Q: My husband passed away several months ago and although we had a legal marriage his ex says different.

A: Is the ex claiming she and your husband were still married, thereby making your marriage bigamous? Bigamy can get complicated. You may be something called a putative spouse. If you know where your husband lived with the ex prior to you and he getting married, you can always search in those counties to see if a divorce case exists in their courts.

A: I agree with Mr. Chen that marriage, divorce and death can get complicated, especially if there is no will or trust and even more so if there are children involved.

However, even if your husband and his ex never received a order terminating marriage, you are not out of luck. Provided that you had a reasonable and good faith belief that you were legally married, the law will treat you as a "putative" spouse.

Just so you know, the decree terminating the marriage may be separate from a final divorce judgement (which deals with custody, division of property, and other matters.) It is common for the courts to terminate the marriage before the "end" of the divorce case. Which means that if a divorce action was started, but not completed, your husband and his ex may still be divorced.

Where there is a putative spouse, the law will divide the surviving spouse's share of the decedent's property between the two spouses (the "legal spouse" and the "putative spouse".)

But there is much more to the analysis, including character of the property, separate vs. community, whether property passes by operation of law (joint tenancy, beneficiary designated accounts, etc.)

If you know the residence history of your husband and his ex, you can attempt to locate a divorce action using the county courts online docket system. The venue (location) for the divorce will be either the county of residence for your husband or his ex. However, not all courts have this and some do not list divorces.

I would contact an attorney who understands, and has experience in, probate and family law. Your local county bar association is a good place to start for a referral.

A: Proof is required of the divorce between your husband and his ex-spouse. You can acquire copies of divorce papers from the County Court where they likely filed. The best first step is an Initial Consultation with an Attorney. You can read more about me on my law practice website. This answer does not constitute legal advice; make any predictions, guarantees, or warranties; or create any Attorney-Client relationship.