## Facts

- A husband and his first wife (both Indian citizens) married in India.
- A second woman claimed the husband divorced the first wife through an Islamic “talak” procedure and then married the second woman under Islamic law abroad; alternatively, she alleged an informal marriage formed in Texas.
- The husband and the second woman lived in Texas for several years and acquired Texas real property.
- The second woman filed for divorce in Texas; the first wife intervened, asserting she remained the lawful wife and the second woman was never validly married to the husband.
- The trial court structured the case in three stages: (1) choice of law, (2) validity of the asserted divorce and marriages under the selected law, and (3) property issues if necessary.
- At the choice-of-law stage, the court heard expert testimony about Islamic law and talak, but received no evidence about the underlying events.
- The trial court ruled that Texas law governed all issues raised by the pleadings.
- Applying Texas law at the merits stage, the trial court granted an instructed verdict for the first wife, ruling the first marriage was valid and had never been dissolved; the second woman’s asserted marriage was therefore void.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred by applying Texas law, rather than foreign and/or Islamic law, to determine the validity and dissolution of the first marriage and the validity of the second woman’s claimed marriage.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed.
- The trial court properly applied Texas law to the marital-status and divorce-recognition questions presented in the Texas proceeding.
- Because Texas law did not recognize the alleged talak as dissolving the first marriage, the first marriage remained intact and the later asserted marriage was void.

## Legal Principles

- In a Texas domestic-relations proceeding with substantial Texas contacts (including residence and in-state property), a Texas court may apply Texas law to determine marital status and divorce validity.
- A court may decline to give effect to a foreign or religious divorce procedure when recognition would conflict with Texas requirements and public policy governing dissolution of marriage.
- If a prior marriage is not validly dissolved under governing law, a subsequent purported marriage is void.

## Conclusion

The appellate court upheld the application of Texas law and the resulting determination that the alleged talak divorce did not dissolve the first marriage for Texas purposes, rendering the later asserted marriage invalid.


Seth v. Seth, 694 S.W.2d 459 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1985)