Bigamy allegations lead to small town mayor’s resignation

Allegations that he is married to two women at the same time have led a small town mayor to resign from his job. Local media in the town where the man served found a complaint filed by the former mayor’s second wife seeking an annulment for a marriage that they entered into about a month ago. There is no public record of a divorce between the mayor and his first wife with whom he has four children, indicating that he was attempting to be legally married to two women at once.

The second marriage lasted only a few weeks, but the woman that the former mayor most recently married is requesting alimony payments. Alimony (also called spousal support or maintenance) is generally ordered by the court for the purpose of allowing a lesser earning spouse to maintain the same lifestyle that they had while they were married. In this case, it is unclear whether the second woman ever lived with the former mayor or if she had in any way financially relied upon the marriage.

At the same time, the second wife is seeking an annulment, which would essentially legally un-do the marriage, rather than simply ending it through a divorce. Annulments are only available for specific cases such as fraud or a void marriage, which is a marriage that was invalid when it was entered into. One of the ways that a marriage would be void is if one of the spouses was legally married to another person on the date of the new marriage. That seems to be the situation in this case, so the second wife will likely have successful grounds for an annulment.

Source: NBC 14, “Oakland mayor appears to have 2 wives,” Janice Broach, March 7, 2013.

Information about ending a marriage in Nevada can be found on our Las Vegas divorce page.