Our Father Is A Bigamist

[OnPoint]

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

My parents (now in their 80's) were married in 1950 in Miami and moved to Boston in 1951. While they never legally separated (my father walked out on us), they have not lived together since 1970. Though he visited each month, my father never told us where he lived in Boston and he never gave any financial support. He always promised to reunite the family and that he was building a house for us on some land he purchased in South Carolina back in 1976. He said that he would eventually leave this property to us (his kids). In 1989, he moved to South Carolina, but still contacted us every few months.

Well thanks to the internet, we've discovered that my father has been living the life of a bigamist ever since he left us in 1970. When he relocated to South Carolina, his fake wife moved with him. We have found documents (Quit Claim Deeds, loans, and Power of Attorney forms) dating from 1989 where the other woman is listed as his wife. We cannot find any documents indicating they were ever "married" or that he tried to secretly divorce our mother. So, in a nutshell, he gave his power of attorney and deeded all his property to a fake wife nearly twenty years ago in South Carolina. Since we grew up isolated from his family, it was no surprise that even they thought he had actually remarried.

Today, my father (a WWII vet) is very ill and may not live another year. We knew he was a
philanderer, but had no idea it was this deep. It's a shame all of this is coming out at a time when he cannot answer questions as his mind has faded. Relatives on his side of the family (living in South Carolina) are starting to open up to us so we are learning more.

Since he and our mother are still legally married:

1) Doesn’t our mother have automatic Power of Attorney and full control over the lots of land and house in South Carolina he acquired in 1976?

2) Is he able to do these things without my mother's knowledge or consent? I would think that any documents signed by a “bigamous” spouse is legally invalid.

3) Since he does receive a pension, does our mother get it when he dies (she now gets his Social Security)?

4) Since this looks like a job for a lawyer, should it be a Massachusetts or South Carolina based attorney?

5) Does this sound like a slam-dunk case for our mother or does the fake wife have any rights here?


Additional items:

We know our parents were legally married in Florida, because we obtained their marriage
certificate.

My mother still lives in Boston.

The property is not worth much, but we would like to have it back (it looks like it may have
loans against it).What is the name of your state?

[nextwife]

Originally Posted by OnPoint

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

My parents (now in their 80's) were married in 1950 in Miami and moved to Boston in 1951. While they never legally separated (my father walked out on us), they have not lived together since 1970. Though he visited each month, my father never told us where he lived in Boston and he never gave any financial support. He always promised to reunite the family and that he was building a house for us on some land he purchased in South Carolina back in 1976. He said that he would eventually leave this property to us (his kids). In 1989, he moved to South Carolina, but still contacted us every few months.

Well thanks to the internet, we've discovered that my father has been living the life of a bigamist ever since he left us in 1970. When he relocated to South Carolina, his fake wife moved with him. We have found documents (Quit Claim Deeds, loans, and Power of Attorney forms) dating from 1989 where the other woman is listed as his wife. We cannot find any documents indicating they were ever "married" or that he tried to secretly divorce our mother. So, in a nutshell, he gave his power of attorney and deeded all his property to a fake wife nearly twenty years ago in South Carolina. Since we grew up isolated from his family, it was no surprise that even they thought he had actually remarried.

Today, my father (a WWII vet) is very ill and may not live another year. We knew he was a
philanderer, but had no idea it was this deep. It's a shame all of this is coming out at a time when he cannot answer questions as his mind has faded. Relatives on his side of the family (living in South Carolina) are starting to open up to us so we are learning more.

Since he and our mother are still legally married:

1) Doesn’t our mother have automatic Power of Attorney and full control over the lots of land and house in South Carolina he acquired in 1976?

2) Is he able to do these things without my mother's knowledge or consent? I would think that any documents signed by a “bigamous” spouse is legally invalid.

3) Since he does receive a pension, does our mother get it when he dies (she now gets his Social Security)?

4) Since this looks like a job for a lawyer, should it be a Massachusetts or South Carolina based attorney?

5) Does this sound like a slam-dunk case for our mother or does the fake wife have any rights here?


Additional items:

We know our parents were legally married in Florida, because we obtained their marriage
certificate.

My mother still lives in Boston.

The property is not worth much, but we would like to have it back (it looks like it may have
loans against it).What is the name of your state?

Is it possible that Dad did legally divorce Mom, but she chose to not discuss it with you or even acknowledge it to herself? After all, many of that era still see a stigma to divorcing. Dad could have done the divorce through any of several counties, or even states. How many children reached adulthood only to find their parent(s) lied to them about who their bioparents were, or that the dad or mom they thought died in an accident or war had actually abandoned the family, and so on.

[OnPoint]

We are quite sure they are not divorced as we are all very, very close to our mother. She would never have withheld something like that, even back then. We know her that well. In fact, we recently told her what we found out and now she says she wishes she had done it.

I know you can divorce without the other spouse knowing if you claim you cannot find them. However, he never lost contact with us, so that excuse won't fly. You are correct about spousal denial, I know a few of those. But, like I said, we know our mom.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by OnPoint

We are quite sure they are not divorced as we are all very, very close to our mother. She would never have withheld something like that, even back then. We know her that well. In fact, we recently told her what we found out and now she says she wishes she had done it.

I know you can divorce without the other spouse knowing if you claim you cannot find them. However, he never lost contact with us, so that excuse won't fly. You are correct about spousal denial, I know a few of those. But, like I said, we know our mom.

He still might have divorced your mother without her knowledge. He might have lied to the courts to do so, but they would still be divorced if he did.

If the property in question is not in his name, if its in the name of the other woman, (even via a quit claim deed) then its her property, and there is nothing that can be done about that. You also have to keep in mind that she may be innocent in this. She has apparently lived with him for 38 years, quite possibly believing that she is married to him.

Its possible that your mother could get his pension if she can prove that she is the one who is legally married to him.

I actually feel sorry for the other woman. 38 years is a long time to live with someone, only to possibly end up in poverty if it turns out that he never divorced your mother.

[las365]

Your father isn't even dead yet. If he wants to leave the property to you, he will. You are not entitled to it because of an oral promise he made many years ago.

Surely after forty years your mother must have moved on and made a life for herself. Surely after forty years she had to realize that he probably wasn't coming back. Your reference to his current wife of twenty years as his "fake wife" is... I'll stick with odd.

You could try talking to your father before he dies to try to find out the legal status of his marriages. Or to, you know, say your goodbyes to your dying dad.

[OnPoint]

Thank you for all your replies. We are taking all of the above comments into consideration as we investigate this further. If it turns out that they are somehow legally married, we will just have to live with it. Yes, over the years, our mother has pretty much moved on with her life. As for the term "fake" wife, it is based on the belief that my mother is still his legal wife. We plan to find all this out soon.

Our recent contact with cousins currently living near my father in South Carolina has been very fruitful. One even managed to question him in private for us about the legal status of his marriage. It was said that, after a long pause, my father replied:"All you need is a crooked preacher and some money." Granted, his mind is only clear for a few minutes, but it seems like our suspicions may be correct. They say he even smiled as he said it. I hear that the woman he calls his wife is about 20 years his junior and still works. This should get interesting. If nothing else, we will be satisfied with closure. But for now, that may be a big if.

[stealth2]

Wow. At least it seems that Dad isn't in any mental shape to realize what sort of gold-diggers his kids are.