Marriage of Elali & Marchoud

I.

INTRODUCTION

While Mr. Samir Elali was married to Ms. Angeles Elali and resided with her in 1 California, Samir married Ms. Mayssa Marchoud in Lebanon. After Samir attempted to

terminate the Lebanese marriage, Mayssa filed a petition in California for spousal support

without dissolution against Samir. The trial court ruled the Lebanese marriage was 2 bigamous and therefore void under Family Code section 2201, subdivision (a).

Mayssa appeals from the judgment of nullity. She contends the trial court erred in

relying on section 2201(a) in holding the Lebanese marriage was void. Mayssa also

contends that the parties’ pleading allegations admitting there was a marriage required the

trial court to find the Lebanese marriage was valid. In addition, Mayssa contends there

was insufficient evidence to overcome the presumption that the Lebanese marriage was

valid. Mayssa further argues that a ruling that the Lebanese marriage was valid

precluded a different judge from subsequently ruling the marriage was void.

1 We will refer to the parties by their first names for clarity. 2 Unless otherwise noted, all statutory references are to the Family Code. Subsequent citations to…