## Facts

- Roger Randolph Thomason, Sr. and Barbara Ann Hughes Thomason met while being treated for tuberculosis in a sanitarium and later continued their relationship.
- On April 5, 1958, the couple traveled from Louisiana to Port Gibson, Mississippi for the purpose of marrying and obtained a marriage license.
- Roger testified that no wedding ceremony ever occurred, the marriage was never formalized, and he knew they were not married.
- Roger also testified that, shortly before the birth of their first child, he reminded Barbara that they were not legally married.
- Barbara testified that after obtaining the marriage license, she went with Roger to the home of a man she believed was the justice of the peace, and she believed in good faith that they became married.
- Barbara further testified that Roger gave her a wedding ring and that she did not believe she had been told the marriage was invalid.
- The parties lived together for decades, had children, and held themselves out publicly as husband and wife.
- In 1998, Barbara filed a petition for divorce; Roger answered that no marriage existed.
- After a hearing, the trial court found the marriage was invalid but found Barbara credible, rejected Roger’s testimony as not credible, and concluded Barbara remained in good faith until Roger contested the marriage in his answer.
- The trial court granted Barbara putative-spouse status and the civil effects of marriage; Roger appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court manifestly erred in finding that Barbara contracted and maintained the relationship in good faith, making her a putative spouse entitled to the civil effects of marriage despite the marriage’s invalidity.
2. Whether the trial court manifestly erred in rejecting Roger’s claim that he informed Barbara of the marriage’s invalidity before the birth of their first child, thereby ending any good-faith belief earlier.

## Decision

- The court of appeal affirmed the judgment.
- It agreed that the parties did not enter a valid marriage.
- It upheld the finding that Barbara had an honest and reasonable belief that she was married and therefore was entitled to the civil effects of marriage as a putative spouse.
- It deferred to the trial court’s credibility calls, including its decision to credit Barbara’s account and discredit Roger’s claim that he warned her years earlier.

## Legal Principles

- A marriage that is absolutely null may still produce civil effects in favor of a spouse who contracted the marriage in good faith (putative spouse doctrine).
- Good faith is an honest and reasonable belief in the marriage’s validity, assessed from the circumstances and the spouse’s state of mind.
- Civil effects for a putative spouse generally continue until the spouse learns (or should learn) of the marriage’s nullity.
- Credibility findings and determinations of good faith are factual matters reviewed under the manifest error/clearly wrong standard; an appellate court will not reweigh testimony when the trial court’s view is reasonable.

## Conclusion

The Louisiana Third Circuit affirmed that although Roger and Barbara never formed a valid marriage, Barbara qualified as a putative spouse because the trial court reasonably found she believed in good faith—based on the Mississippi license, her understanding of the visit to the supposed justice of the peace, the ring, and decades of living as spouses—that she was legally married until Roger first disputed the marriage’s validity in his response to her divorce filing.


Thomason v. Thomason, 776 So. 2d 553 (2000)