Elliott v. Industrial Accident Board

Workmens Compensation ? Husband and Wife ? Common-law Marriage ? Death of Workman in Industrial Accident ? Common-law Wife Held Entitled to Compensation as Widow. Workmens Compensation ? Appeal to District Court ? When Based on Record of Industrial Accident Board, Proceeding One of Review Only ? When Only Reversal of Boards Order Proper. 1. On appeal to the district court from an order made by the Industrial Accident Board under the Workmens Compensation Act, based upon the record made by the board, the proceeding is one of review, and a reversal of the boards order can be justified only if the evidence in the record preponderates against the conclusions of law and decision of the board. Marriage ? Presumption of Marriage ? Presumption Repellable Only by Satisfactory Evidence. 2. The disputable presumption declared by subdivision 30, section 10606, Revised Codes 1921, "that a man and woman deporting themselves as husband and wife have entered into a lawful contract of marriage" must be repelled by the party disputing it, and this may be done only by satisfactory evidence. "Common-law" Marriage ? Essentials. 3. "Common-law" marriages are recognized in Montana, and to effect such a marriage there must be the mutual consent of parties able to consent and competent to enter into a ceremonial marriage, and the assumption of the relationship by consent and agreement, as of a time certain, followed by cohabitation and repute; the continuity of such relationship begins with the assumption of the marital relations by consent to become man and wife. - Page 247 Common-law Marriage ? Divorced Husband may Enter into Common-law Marriage With Wife Who Divorced Him. 4. There is no legal reason why a divorced man may not enter into a common-law marriage with the spouse who divorced him. Workmens Compensation ? Divorced Wife of Workman Killed in Industrial Accident, Who After Divorce Entered into Common-law Marriage With Him, Held Entitled to Compensation as Widow. 5. Claimant, who had been divorced from a workman and then entered into a common-law marriage contract with him, the parties thereafter conducting themselves as a regularly married couple for eighteen months, until the time he suffered a fatal accident compensable under the Workmens Compensation Act, held entitled to compensation as the widow of the deceased, even though in the interval between the divorce and the alleged common-law marriage the deceased had been cohabiting with another woman.