## Facts

- Edwina VanTyle owned a family farm in Ohio and Switzerland Counties, Indiana, after her first husband died.
- On June 30, 1994, Edwina and Charles McCardle, both Indiana residents, obtained an Indiana marriage license from the Ohio County clerk.
- Using the Indiana license, they traveled to Ohio, where a wedding ceremony was performed by Reverend Donald S. Campbell.
- No Ohio marriage license was issued, and no ceremony occurred in Indiana.
- On July 1, 1994, the Indiana clerk filed and recorded the marriage license and certificate.
- In August 1994, Edwina executed a warranty deed transferring the farm to herself and McCardle “as husband and wife.”
- Edwina died intestate on July 26, 2004.
- Her children from her first marriage sued for declaratory judgment, alleging the marriage was void due to noncompliance with Ohio’s licensing requirements and claiming half of the farm.

## Issues

1. Whether Indiana will recognize as valid a marriage solemnized in another state that violated that state’s marriage-licensing requirements when the marriage complied with Indiana law.
2. Whether the marriage was void or merely voidable under Indiana law and, if voidable, whether it could be attacked after the death of a spouse.
3. Whether the decedent’s children, as non-parties to the marriage, could collaterally challenge the marriage to affect property rights.

## Decision

- The Indiana Supreme Court affirmed judgment for McCardle.
- Indiana recognized the marriage as valid because it complied with Indiana’s marriage requirements, despite the absence of an Ohio license.
- The court treated any defect as, at most, making the marriage voidable rather than void.
- The court declined to permit the heirs’ post-death collateral attack on the marriage.

## Legal Principles

- A state may recognize a marriage celebrated elsewhere as valid for in-state purposes when the marriage satisfies the recognizing state’s statutory requirements, even if the celebration state’s licensing formalities were not met.
- Under Indiana law, marriages are void only in limited statutory categories; other defects generally render a marriage voidable.
- A voidable marriage may typically be challenged only by the spouses, and collateral attacks by third parties—especially after a spouse’s death—are generally not permitted.
- Public policy favors upholding marital status and related property arrangements where the marriage does not violate strong prohibitions (e.g., bigamy or prohibited kinship) and has been treated as valid over time.

## Conclusion

Indiana recognized the marriage between Indiana residents as valid because it complied with Indiana law, notwithstanding noncompliance with Ohio’s licensing requirement, and it rejected the heirs’ attempt to invalidate the marriage after the decedent’s death to alter property ownership.


McPeek v. McCardle, 888 N.E.2d 171 (Ind. 2008)