Third District Relies on Presumption of Valid Marriage

The Third District Court this week, in Cobo v. Sierralta, reversed a lower court's ruling that annulled a marriage in large part based on the Wife's failure to provide proof of a previous divorce in the face of the Husband's claims that the marriage was not valid. The Third District Court, in part, found that there is a presumption that the last marriage was valid, and as such that it was not the Wife's burden to prove that she had been divorced from a previous husband, but the Husband's obligation to prove that she had not been. In addition, the Court found that due to the lower tribunal's failure to enforce its temporary fee order, the Wife was denied adequate representation on the issue of the annulment.