STAUDENMAYER V. STAUDENMAYER
714 A.2d 1016 (1998)
NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a dispute over the existence of a common law marriage.
FACTS: H and W were married in a civil ceremony in December 1984. They have lived
together since 1976 and eventually separated in 1992. H filed for divorce in 1992. The trial
court held the equitable distribution hearing in 1996. The big issue was a tort settlement
that H got from a personal injury action in 1983. The tort claim was settled and H got $600
per month in payments and a lump sum of $70,000 on April 4, 2004. H argued that this
property was not marital property because they were not married. W claimed that they had a
common law marriage as early as 1978. W testified that they maintained joint checking
accounts and that she began to use H's last name and had changed her Social Security card,
driver's license, and credit cards to her new identity. The deed to their home recited them
as husband and wife with tenants by entirety. They filed federal income taxes as a married
couple. However, on the birth of her daughter she put that she was not married on the birth
certificate. The trial court declared the tort settlement not to be marital property in that
W failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that W and H had a reputation of
marriage. W had told her immediate family that W and H were not married. The Superior court
reversed. This appeal resulted.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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