## Facts

- An employee, Joe Kelly, died from a work-related injury, and Louisa Kelly sought Texas workers’ compensation death benefits as his surviving wife.
- Louisa previously entered a ceremonial marriage in Louisiana (1920) to George Brown after believing Joe Kelly had died.
- In 1925, Louisa left Brown, moved to Beaumont, Texas, and lived with Joe Kelly until Joe’s death in January 1926.
- In Texas, Louisa and Joe cohabited, held themselves out as married, and were generally regarded by friends as husband and wife.
- The record showed Brown was alive during Louisa’s cohabitation with Joe, and no divorce from Brown was shown.

## Issues

1. Whether evidence of a prior ceremonial marriage conclusively barred recognition of a later Texas common-law marriage where dissolution or invalidity of the prior marriage was not proved.
2. Whether the trial court erred by directing a verdict against Louisa on the ground she was not Joe’s wife at his death.

## Decision

- The Commission of Appeals affirmed the Court of Civil Appeals’ judgment remanding the case to the trial court with instructions.
- The court held the trial court erred in instructing a verdict against Louisa based on the assumed continuing validity of the prior marriage.
- The court applied a presumption favoring the validity of the later marital relationship and concluded the prior marriage did not, on this record, defeat Louisa’s claim as a matter of law.

## Legal Principles

- Texas applies a strong presumption that a marriage shown to exist is valid, with particular force given to the most recent marriage.
- When successive marriages are shown, the law presumes the earlier marriage was dissolved by death or divorce, or was otherwise invalid, unless the contrary is established by competent evidence.
- A directed verdict is improper where the presumption favoring the later marriage, combined with evidence of common-law marriage elements (cohabitation, agreement, and holding out), leaves a fact issue on whether a legal impediment continued.

## Conclusion

The court ruled that Louisa’s workers’ compensation claim could not be defeated by directed verdict merely because she had earlier ceremonially married another man; absent proof that the earlier marriage remained legally effective, Texas presumes the later common-law marriage valid and requires further proceedings to test that presumption.


Consolidated Underwriters v. Kelly, 15 S.W.2d 229 (Tex. Comm’n App. 1929)