Bruce (H) and Barbara (W) were married in 1982. They were divorced in 1993. After the divorce, H asked W to come back and be his wife. W accepted, but there was no formal marriage contract when they began living together again. H then married another woman in 1994, and W eventually discovered this and sued H for divorce and claimed that he had committed adultery and bigamy. The trial court found that W had failed to prove a common law marriage. The trial judge stated that there was a need to show strong evidence to rebut the presumption created by H's ceremonial marriage over a common law marriage and that such a ceremonial marriage rebutted the presumption of a common law marriage. W appealed.

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