Smith v. Smith

OPINION

Justice FLAHERTY,

for the Court.

Before this Court is an appeal by the plaintiff, Paulette Andrews Smith, from a Family Court judgment dismissing her complaint. The plaintiff filed a complaint for divorce against the defendant, Todd Martin Smith, in which she alleged that a common-law marriage had existed between them for more than ten years. At trial, after hearing testimony from several witnesses, the trial justice dismissed the plaintiffs complaint after she found that the plaintiff had failed to prove the existence of a common-law marriage by clear and convincing evidence. The…