Declaration of invalidity of marriage after the testator’s death does not void gifts to purported spouse

The testatrix was survived by her husband of sixteen years who was the primary beneficiary of her will and the trust into which the will poured the residue.

In subsequent litigation, the husband admitted that he was divorced from his first wife two months after marrying the testatrix.  The trial court declared the marriage void ab initio and applied Arizona’s revocation on dissolution statute to revoke the gifts to the purported husband.

In In re Estate of Rodriguez, 160 P.3d 679 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2007), the court reversed, holding that the statute applies only to a dissolution of the marriage before a testator’s death and remanded for further proceedings on allegations of fraud and exploitation of a vulnerable adult by the purported husband.