## Facts

- In the summer of 1963, Feather Dell Randall and Robert W. Randall began a romantic relationship while Robert was still married to another woman.
- Robert’s prior marriage ended by a Nebraska divorce decree on October 4, 1963.
- Feather and Robert knew Nebraska law prohibited Robert from remarrying until April 5, 1964.
- In March 1964, they traveled to Mexico intending to marry before the Nebraska waiting period expired.
- On April 4, 1964, they went to a Mexican government office and obtained a marriage license, which Mexican law required.
- Feather and Robert signed the license and were initially told by a Mexican official that they were considered married.
- After they told the official they could not lawfully remarry in Nebraska until April 5, the official stated the April 4 transaction was no longer sufficient to constitute a marriage.
- On April 5, 1964, they participated in a religious ceremony performed by a minister in Mexico.
- The minister told them Mexican law required a civil marriage by civil authorities first, and that a religious ceremony alone would not create a valid marriage under Mexican law; they proceeded anyway.
- The parties returned to Nebraska, lived together for years, held themselves out as married, filed joint income tax returns, and Robert adopted Feather’s son.
- When the relationship deteriorated, dissolution proceedings were filed in Nebraska district court.
- The district court questioned the marriage’s validity and found it void under Mexican law, but nonetheless treated the marriage as valid because the Mexican religious ceremony would have satisfied Nebraska’s ceremony requirements; it then awarded Feather spousal support and a share of what it treated as marital property.
- Robert appealed, arguing that because the marriage was invalid in Mexico, Nebraska could not recognize it and the court could not award dissolution remedies.

## Issues

1. Whether Nebraska may treat as valid a marriage purportedly celebrated in Mexico when the marriage was invalid under Mexican law.
2. If no valid marriage existed, whether the district court had authority to enter a dissolution decree and award spousal support and a division of marital property, including under Nebraska’s putative spouse statute.

## Decision

- The Nebraska Supreme Court held the purported Mexico marriage was invalid under Mexican law and therefore was not a valid marriage in Nebraska.
- The court rejected the district court’s “substantial compliance” approach that treated the Mexican religious ceremony as satisfying Nebraska’s marriage-formation requirements despite the lack of a valid marriage where celebrated.
- The court held the parties’ long cohabitation and “holding out” could not create a marriage in Nebraska because Nebraska does not recognize common-law marriage.
- The court concluded Feather was not entitled to relief as a putative spouse because the evidence did not show a good-faith belief in the marriage’s validity; the parties knew of the Nebraska waiting period and were told in Mexico that their actions did not create a valid Mexican marriage.
- Because no valid (or putative) marriage existed, the dissolution statutes did not authorize alimony or division of a marital estate.
- The judgment was reversed and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss.

## Legal Principles

- The validity of a marriage is determined by the law of the place where it is contracted; if invalid where celebrated, it is invalid in Nebraska absent an applicable exception.
- Nebraska requires statutory formalities for marriage and does not recognize common-law marriage; cohabitation, reputation, and filing joint tax returns do not create marital status.
- A Nebraska court may not treat a foreign marriage as valid based on a theory that the parties “substantially complied” with Nebraska requirements when the marriage was not valid under the law of the place of celebration.
- Putative spouse relief requires a good-faith belief in the marriage’s validity; knowledge of defects that prevent a valid marriage bars putative spouse status.
- Dissolution remedies such as alimony and division of marital property depend on the existence of a valid (or statutorily recognized putative) marriage; without one, the action must be dismissed.

## Conclusion

Randall v. Randall held that Nebraska would not recognize a purported Mexican marriage that was void under Mexican law, and that without a valid (or putative) marriage the district court lacked authority to dissolve the relationship or award spousal support and marital property division, requiring reversal and dismissal.


Randall v. Randall, 345 N.W.2d 319 (1984)