Claveria v. Estate of Claveria

*436HUMPHREYS, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order sustaining a plea in bar in a probate proceeding. The appellant, Patricio Claveria, filed a will contest in the probate proceedings of the estate of Otha Faye McQuaid Claveria, Claveria’s ceremonial wife. The administratrix of the estate filed a plea in bar, asserting that Claveria was not the surviving spouse of the deceased because a prior common-law marriage was an impediment to the validity of the ceremonial marriage. The trial judge found a common-law marriage, thus rendering invalid appellant’s ceremonial marriage to the decedent.…