In re Marriage of Aviles and Vulovic

In October 2006, Jessica Vulovic (defendant) filed for divorce from her then husband. Vulovic believed that a divorce would be automatically entered in six months from the date of filing. Between 2007 and 2011, Vulovic dated Pedro Aviles (plaintiff). In March 2011, Vulovic and Aviles married. In May 2011, Jessica appeared in propria persona in her divorce case for a child-support hearing and learned for the first time that she was not officially divorced because she apparently had not lodged a judgment to be entered by the court. The divorce was finally entered in March 2012. In April and September 2013, respectively, Vulovic participated in two marriage ceremonies with Aviles—one in a Catholic church and one at a winery in front of 200 guests, including family and friends. In 2020, Aviles filed for divorce from Vulovic. While the action was pending, Aviles discovered that Vulovic was not divorced at the time that Aviles and Vulovic had initially married. Aviles argued in court that Vulovic was not entitled to receive spousal support or related attorney fees because she was a bigamist who could not qualify as a putative spouse. The trial court disagreed and found, based on Vulovic’s testimony regarding what she believed at the time of her marriage to Aviles, that Vulovic was a putative spouse. Aviles appealed.