In re Estate of Butler

Georgia Mae Butler (plaintiff) and Nathaniel Butler married in 1946 but unofficially separated in 1947 after a short cohabitation. Nathaniel told Georgia he had obtained a divorce from her, but Georgia was never served with divorce papers and never affirmatively sought a divorce from Nathaniel herself. Believing herself divorced, Georgia married James Whitfield in 1950. Nathaniel married Rosa Butler (defendant) in 1963, with whom he cohabitated as husband and wife until his death in 1975. Nathaniel told Rosa he was divorced from Georgia. Georgia eventually learned that she was not validly divorced from Nathaniel and that Nathaniel had married Rosa. In 1981, approximately six years after his death, Georgia filed a petition to be appointed the personal representative of Nathaniel’s estate as his surviving spouse. Rosa filed objections, arguing that Georgia could not claim surviving-spouse benefits because she had repudiated her marriage to Nathaniel by entering into a bigamous marriage with Whitfield in 1950 despite knowing that Nathaniel was still alive and that she had not received any paperwork evidencing her purported divorce. The trial court ruled that Georgia was estopped from asserting surviving-spouse rights. Georgia appealed, arguing that she had remarried in reliance on Nathaniel’s statement that he had obtained a divorce and had therefore not acted with the requisite blatant disregard for the marital relationship necessary to repudiate it and support estoppel.