Almost two years ago, guitarist Slash of Guns N’ Roses fame filed for divorce from his wife, Perla Hudson. The two have been married since October of 2001 ”“ or have they?
In a recent revelation, Slash has attempted to convince the judge overseeing their divorce that Hudson is not entitled to a dime of his substantial fortune because the two were never actually legally married. His logic: Hudson was married to a man named Carlos Marty back in 1993, in a marriage that lasted only a month. The two filed for divorce, but apparently, a final judgment was never issued, meaning that Hudson and Marty’s marriage, technically, still exists. That means that Hudson could not have legally married Slash in 2001 ”“ he has called her a bigamist and now wants to withhold all his assets from her.
The question remains: will Slash get away with withholding all his fortune?
Putative Spouses in Colorado
In Colorado (and elsewhere throughout the country), there is an understanding of something called putative spouses. A putative spouse is any person who has cohabitated with another person, to whom he or she is not legally married, but in good faith belief that he or she was married to that person. These cases are rare, but do happen.
Putative spouses have all the rights of legal spouses, including spousal support, child support and property division rights. This means that Hudson may still be able to receive her share of the marital assets from Slash.
If you are engaged in disputes about the validity of a marriage, whether due to a putative spouse situation, common law marriage or other circumstances, our Denver family lawyers can help.