My Fiancee's Ex...

[Queen]

I am 16 and my fiancee is 23. Three years ago, someone hit my fiancee's car and made his insurance go up. Back then my Fiancee (Robby) and his girlfriend at the time (Susan) were on the insurance as husband and wife, even though they were only living together. Well, now she is 21 and has her own car and her insurance rates are higher because of Robby's little accident. She asked Robby to pay the difference and he would not. A week or so after their conversation, she called me blaming me for her car getting keyed. I told her I had nothing to do with it, and she said she was going to take it to the police. She never did! She came to our house on the 24th and got a ring that belonged to her mother that had been in Robby's car for over a year. We both saw her car and it was not keyed at all. We think she made it up to force Robby to pay her insurance. Robby asked her "Did you ever find out who keyed your car?" She replied "Your girlfriend, she admitted it to me." Then she drove off. The story gets better!! The 26th Robby got a call from Susan. She said she wanted Robby to write a letter saying that Susan had nothing to do with the "wreck" three years ago, so they would lower her rates. He said "ok, I'll write you a letter if you write a letter saying that my fiancee and I had nothing to do with your car getting keyed." She said "No, that's imature, I'll just take you to court!" She said she would bring up statutory rape, and she has written documents that we wrote and gave to her saying how we were having sex in the bathtub. They are obviously fake, because no one that we know, know that we are making love and we sure as hell would not write it down or tell her!! Robby and Susan are common law married because they lived together for more than six months and because they were on the insurance together. She wants to get a "Divorce", but if they go to court she will bring up my age. It is illegal for us to be together, so Robby does not want to go to court. She said if they both go to the bank and both sign a letter saying they were never married and get it notorized, that that will be considered a divorce. Then she will take it to her insurance company and her rates will drop. Anything to get her to leave us alone!! Is the whole "Divorce" procedure right for a common law marriage? Can we get a restraining order put on her after they are not common law married anymore? It has been almost a year, and she still calls and comes around, and we are sick of her bull. I would like to hear any advice or opinions that you guys have about what to do. Please refrain from making remarks about our ages, we have another message that is titled "Sex with a minor I and II" if you would like to comment about our ages. Obviously we love each other or he would not be w/ me when his whole life is on the line. Thanks for reading, I know it's long...

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Yours is really not a legal situation - - at least as far as I can see. Yours is merely a teenage, Texas, small town, hormonal, ticky-tacky situation that really doesn't require any help.

IAAL

 

[Queen]

I think that comment was un-called for! You offered no help what so ever! I want to know if that procedure for a common law divorce is accurate. Also I want to know whether or not she can even bring up our ages, if they are the ones getting the divorce in court. Please send me grown up replies! Thanks...

 

[ferlee]

Check with your county clerk to see if this is the most accurate or up to date information.

According to: http://www.itslegal.com/infonet/family/common.html

"Texas
A man and woman who want to establish a common-law marriage must sign a form provided by the county clerk. In addition, they must (1) agree to be married, (2) cohabit, and (3) represent to others that they are married. "

If your county clerk agrees with that statement and they never signed the form, they don't need to worry about "divorcing" because the common-law marriage wasn't recognized in the first place. Also, did they meet the three additional requirements? Living together for six months doesn't mean a thing if there was never an intention or representation of marriage. For example, my boyfriend and I have been living together for two years. According to your scenario, we must be common-law, right? Not a chance. We don't intend to be married, nor do we represent ourselves as a "married" couple. We don't meet all three of the elements in your state.

If it was necessary and they did sign the form, then they should be able to get the information regarding the "divorce" from the county clerk. If that's where it starts, they should be able to tell how/where to end it.

As for the insurance, are you sure just because they shared it that they were listed as husband and wife? I ask because in my state regardless of relationship, all drivers in the household must be either listed on the insurance or the insurance company must have a signed statement that a person doesn't drive the car. By sharing car insurance with my cohabiting boyfriend doesn't mean that we are common-law married. It just means that if he should get in a wreck, it will be covered.

Not that any of the above is your concern. That's between the fiancee and the ex. Your major concern is Texas Penal Code Section 21.11 which states the age of consent as 17. I believe the penalties are even harsher because your partner is more than three years older than you. If you love him as much as you say you do, put the brakes on. Even if you consent to sex, your state says your not old enough to, which means your partner is committing a felony by having sex with you. It's more his problem then yours, but if you intend to marry him, you might want him to have a clean record. Marrying felons usually isn't a good idea.

I believe IAAL would have given you grown-up advice if you had presented a grown-up scenario. But he's right. It's a small-town teenage hormonal rant... with a touch of drama-queen thrown in. Especially the "whole life on the line". I agree that everything to a 16 year-old is melodramatic and life wrenching. Print yourself a copy of your post. If you ever get out of your small town trailer, read it again in five or ten years. You'll probably find that your perspective has grown up and you might even get a good laugh at your teenage angst.

As I'm not a lawyer, nor am I in Texas, please check the information with the appropriate authority.

 

[Queen]

They were on the insurance as Mr. and Mrs. ******. I think that if my fiancee would have wrote this then your replies would have been alot different. They lived together in total about three years, they were engaged and planned on getting married at one point and they only presented themselves as being married on the insurance and sometimes she would use his last name on letters. They never registered as being in a common law marriage, but since her name was on the lease, and she is pressing the issue, they must have some type of "divorce"

 

[Queen]

My fiancee's whole life would be on the line if the law were to ever get involved. He could go to jail for up to 20 years, pay fines, have hours of community service, lose his job, have to register as a sex offender and lose everything he has made for himself. So I don't think I am being to dramatic!