When someone other than a spouse sues for the nullity or annulment of a marriage, or the nullity of a divorce, who must be named as the opposing party if a spouse has died?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
For this exercise, the papers to read are the complaint, which shows who filed the action and in what capacity and whom it names as the opposing party, and the death record or proof of survivorship for each spouse, since the provision turns on whether a spouse has died and on who the parties are.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading keeps the whole chain in order: where a third party brings an action for the nullity or annulment of a marriage, or for the nullity of a divorce, both spouses are the opposing party; if one of them has died, the survivor is; and if the person who is to be the opposing party under either of those rules has died, the public prosecutor stands as the opposing party.
Another reading notes that for an action to annul a divorce the provision applies only the rule for a spouse's own action and the rule naming the public prosecutor, and does not extend the third-party rule, so the provision does not say whom a third party would face in such a case.
Your judgment
Given the dates on which each spouse died, at which moment in the case is the identity of the opposing party fixed?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to extend the third-party rule to actions to annul a divorce, or if a court decision settles which spouse's death brings the public prosecutor in as the opposing party.