Question asked on April 6th, 2018

Q: When she files for a divorce it would have to be with the name on the marriage certificate and that person does not exist. The question is was it a legal marriage in the first place. You can’t divorce someone that is a fake name. The hard part is that it is in the Philippines and she is applying for an annulment which takes forever.

A: Short answer, yes (probably).  I was hired as an expert a few years ago to review exactly such a situation, and in Nevada simple error (or falsification) of data on the marriage license application may be a misdemeanor, but does not invalidate the resulting marriage.  of course, there could be other defects — if “John” falsified his name because he was already married to someone else, under any name, that would be a different matter.  It is uncertain what the facts are, and even whether the marriage was in Nevada (if not, the laws of the place of marriage would be the applicable ones to research).  If the marriage was here, an annulment could be sought here even if no party is a resident, as explained here.  Annulments in this state require a legal process, but do not “take forever.”