Question:
What legal presumption did the court apply in Zewde v. Abadi when evaluating the validity of a subsequent marriage in light of a prior foreign marriage?
Answer:
In Zewde v. Abadi, 529 S.W.3d 189 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2017, no pet.), the court applied the presumption that the most recent marriage is valid. This presumption stands unless there is clear and convincing evidence that a prior marriage was not legally dissolved. In this case, the husband challenged the validity of his marriage by asserting that his wife’s previous marriage had not ended. However, the wife presented a divorce decree from a foreign country as evidence that her earlier marriage had been legally terminated. The court found this evidence sufficient to uphold the validity of the current marriage, as the husband failed to provide compelling proof to the contrary.
This decision underscores the principle that Texas courts will recognize foreign divorce decrees as valid evidence of the dissolution of previous marriages, provided there is no substantial evidence to the contrary.