§ 2.05 PRESUMPTION OF MARRIAGE

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§ 2.05 PRESUMPTION OF MARRIAGE

The courts have gone to great lengths to sustain the validity of a purported marriage. Thomas v. Thomas, 53 Wash. 297, 101 P. 865 (1909). Evidence that a couple lives together, holding themselves out as married, raises a rebuttable presumption of a valid marriage. Nelson v. Carlson, 48 Wash. 651, 94 P. 477 (1908); see also Weatherall v. Weatherall, 63 Wash. 526, 115 P. 1078 (1911); Douglas Northwest, Inc. v. Bill O'Brien & Sons Constr., Inc., 64 Wn. App. 661, 688, 828 P.2d 565 (1992). Evidence of the performance of a formal ceremony strengthens the presumption. In re Estate of Grauel, 70 Wn.2d 870, 425 P.2d 644 (1967). If a formal ceremony is proved, there is a further presumption that the person solemnizing the marriage was properly authorized to do so and that all...