In Re the Marriage of Vryonis

Appellant Speros Vryonis, Jr. (Speros) purports to appeal a judgment on bifurcated issues wherein the trial court held respondent Fereshteh R. Vryonis (Fereshteh) had the status of a putative spouse.

Because Fereshteh reasonably could not believe she was validly married under California law, we order the issuance of a peremptory writ.

Factual & Procedural Background

Speros was the director of and a teacher at the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA. Fereshteh was a visiting professor at the center, and the parties met there in the fall of 1979. She was an Iranian citizen, a member of the Shiah Moslem Twelve Imams religious sect, and involved in the local Islamic community. Speros was a nonpracticing member of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Prior to arriving in the United States in 1979, Fereshteh spent six years in England, where she earned a Ph.D. at Cambridge University. She had been married before and was the mother of two children.

The parties saw each other occasionally during 1980 and 1981 in connection with center activities. They dated in February and March of 1982, but Fereshteh repeatedly stated she could not date Speros without marriage or a commitment…