Formal Opinion 29.
Disclosure
(1954)

You have submitted a letter to the Committee, the substance of which presents the following question:

Is it the duty of a lawyer in a probate proceeding to call to the attention of the court in the process of establishing rights, the fact that there is a problem concerning the status of the widow by reason of the fact that she married the deceased within the period then prohibited by our law for one to remarry after an interlocutory decree of divorce was entered.

You brief the question for us, concluding that the prohibition against remarriage is unconstitutional and that the rule at least of some decisional law is to the effect that a marriage within the prohibited period is not void. For instance,

a marriage in another state within that period might be recognized as a valid marriage, but within the state whose statute contained the prohibition, the action of that party might be subject to certain disciplinary procedure.

It is the opinion of the Committee that the lawyer, as an officer of the court, is obliged to disclose the situation to the court and let the court determine the legal status of the widow and her rights under existing fact and law.

[See RPC 3.3(a)]