Opinion ID: 1436510
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Void or Voidable Marriages

Text: More significant, however, is the well-recognized principle of statutory construction that the Legislature is presumed to know the state of existing relevant law when it enacts or amends a statute. State v. Sivo, 925 A.2d 901, 916-17 (R.I.2007); Barrett v. Barrett, 894 A.2d 891, 898 (R.I. 2006); Shelter Harbor Fire District v. Vacca, 835 A.2d 446, 449 (R.I.2003). Two important aspects of the law as it existed in 1961 are persuasive evidence that the reach of § 8-10-3's grant of jurisdiction to the Family Court includes the power to adjudicate divorces from same-sex marriages. First, when § 8-10-3 was enacted in 1961, the divorce laws contained a curious catchall provision: Divorces from the bond of marriage shall be decreed in case of any marriage originally void or voidable by law   . G.L. 1956 § 15-5-1. That section, unamended, remains vital today. Thus, the Family Court's authority to entertain a divorce petition does not depend on the validity of the marriage itself. A void marriage is a nullity, one that is invalid from its inception. See Black's Law Dictionary 994-95, 1098 (8th ed. 2004). It is evident, therefore, that the General Assembly has provided a means of relief in the Family Court to parties who have entered a marriage that could neither be performed in Rhode Island nor granted legal effect in the state. It is incongruous to hold that a Rhode Island resident who lawfully has entered into a same-sex marriage is afforded no means to dissolve the union in Rhode Island, whereas a Rhode Island resident who may have entered into an incestuous or bigamous marriage, both of which are statutorily void, is entitled to divorce under § 15-5-1. The scope of the certified question under review does not permit this Court to consider the underlying validity of the parties' marriage. It is sufficient for our inquiry to acknowledge the authority of the Family Court to grant (or deny) a divorce complaint on the grounds, when properly pled, of voidness or voidability under § 15-5-1, as it might grant a complaint on one of the other enumerated grounds such as irreconcilable differences, [27] living separate and apart for at least three years, [28] or extreme cruelty. [29]