Source: http://www.massachusetts-divorce.com/cases/Gleason-v-Galvin.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 14:21:13+00:00

Document:
The rule that an annulment makes a marriage void ab initio is not always applied unequivocally. Robbins v. Robbins, 343 Mass. 247 , 251 (1961). Callow v. Thomas, 322 Mass. 550 , 553 (1948). Rather, "[t]o say that for all purposes the marriage never existed is unrealistic. . . . Public policy requires that there must be some limits to the retroactive effects of a decree of annulment. . . . The better rule . . . is that in the case of a voidable marriage transactions which have been concluded and things which have been done during the period of the supposed marriage ought not to be undone or reopened after the decree of annulment." Callow v. Thomas, supra at 555. If we apply this rule, the transfer of the property to Gleason and Galvin as tenants by the entirety is not undone by the annulment. However, since parties no longer married cannot hold property as tenants by the entirety, after the annulment the parties hold the property as tenants in common. See Fuss v. Fuss (No. 2), 373 Mass. 445 , 450 (1977); Bernatavicius v. Bernatavicius, 259 Mass. 486 (1927).
Moreover, there is no evidence before us that the Probate Court judge did not consider the equities of the situation in dividing the property equally between the parties. The judge, for example, could have considered any division of property made by the parties at the time of or after the annulment. The burden rests on the objecting party to demonstrate that the equities were not considered or that a plainly inequitable distribution was made. Cf. Rice v. Rice, 372 Mass. 398 , 401-403 (1977). [Note 1] On the record before us there was no error. The defendant finally argues that under the best evidence rule it was error to admit a certified copy of the original deed transferring the property to the parties as tenants by the entirety. Even assuming that the admission of the deed was error, see Scanlan v. Wright, 13 Pick. 523 , 527 (1833); W.B. Leach & P.J. Liacos, Massachusetts Evidence 260-261 (4th ed. 1967), we conclude that this admission was harmless error because the defendant did not dispute the accuracy of the contents of the document. See Fauci v. Mulready, 337 Mass. 532 , 540 (1958); 5 J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Evidence par. 1001 (1)  (1976).
The allowance of the petition for partition and sale is affirmed. The motion to dismiss the declaratory judgment action, however, should not have been granted. Rather, the rights of the parties should have been declared. Boston v. Massachusetts Bay Transp. Auth., 373 Mass. 819 , 829 (1977). That judgment should therefore be modified to declare that Gleason and Galvin hold the property as tenants in common.

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