Question:
How does a person overcome the presumption favoring a later marriage in Texas?
Answer:
By proving a valid earlier marriage that never legally ended. In Estate of Claveria v. Claveria, 615 S.W.2d 164 (Tex. 1981), the first wife didn’t show any divorce record or proof that she searched for one. That doomed her case. To overcome the presumption, you need more than words—you need court searches, sworn affidavits, and maybe even testimony. Without that, the law treats the later marriage as the legal one.