Allen v. Allen

This case clearly does not require that we determine whether Wilda’s marriage to Jack was valid at its inception nor whether, in contemplation of law, the bond of their matrimony remained efficacious at the time of Jack’s death. Rather, the dispositive question to be answered here is far more narrow. It calls for us to decide whether Wilda’s claim as Jack’s widow stands *145barred by estoppel,1 either by record or in pais, that arises from her subsequent marriage to and divorce from Garland Gould.

A personal status, though valid in law, may nonetheless fail to support a claim for the exercise of…