Man has to pay bigamist wife of five months Spousal Support

Does anybody know the followup on this story? A Montgomery County Judge (female) is making this guy who was married to a hot younger chick several thousand dollars a month in spousal support. He was only married to her two (or five depending on source) months. Turns out the woman was married to two other guys at the time she married him. Judge refuses to throw out the agreement/case.

https://www.yourconroenews.com/neigh...d-14382233.php

A Willis man is facing jail time after he refused to pay $73,000 in court ordered spousal support to a woman who was indicted on bigamy charges earlier this year.

Mark Athans, 56, claims he and Charity Lenee Parchem, 42, were never legally married because, without his knowledge, she was married to several other men at the time he married her in South Dakota in August 2017. According to federal and state law, if a person is married to one person and then marries another, that additional marriage is not valid.

Athans believes since his marriage to Parchem was never valid, he should not be forced to pay her any support. He added County Court at Law 3 Judge Patrice McDonald has refused to consider the bigamy indictment and has continued to rule Athans must pay the support.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “I’m having to pay to hurt myself.”

“We seem to hit it off. She told me she was a nurse practitioner and helped take care of elderly patients,” Athans, who is also in the medical field, said.

The two were married in August 2017 in South Dakota. After the wedding, the two returned to Athans’ home in Willis.

However, according to Athans, his son began to research Parchem and learned she had a criminal history.

“Some things just didn’t add up,” Athans said. “He went and did a background check on her and found she had a criminal record. I never knew anything about that.

“I trusted someone I know I shouldn’t have.”

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After learning about here past and verifying the criminal record with Parchem’s parents, Athans filed for divorce just five months after the two were married. Since then, Athans has been living a nightmare.

“I feel totally betrayed,” Athans said adding if McDonald rules in favor of Parchem next month and he is jailed, he will lose his job and his ability to take care of his youngest son who is autistic. “I’m his only parent, his mother is deceased.”

“I’m up against a wall.”

Athans said McDonald has never asked about his family to consider the implications jail time would have.

“There is an easy solution to this problem,” Athans said. “Charity, show your divorce records.”

Sounds like Common Law Marriage to me... Which makes the Agreement Valid in Texas.


Sucks for the guy but, how well did he really know her? He didn't even bother running a background check or anything before marrying her?

wow thats crazy

Judges in MOCO are as corrupt as they come.

Sounds like Common Law Marriage to me... Which makes the Agreement Valid in Texas.


Sucks for the guy but, how well did he really know her? He didn't even bother running a background check or anything before marrying her? Originally Posted by Alyssa XOXO

The article says they were married in South Dakota. In Harris County, the marriage license makes you attest that you are 1) not currently married and 2) don't owe child support. Something tells me this was a "Sturgis wedding."

The chick a fraud and criminal. She's charged with bigamy. I like to hear the judges rational as to why she is enforcing spousal support. I'd also like to know why the guy's attorney didn't ask for an annulment.

The article says they were married in South Dakota. In Harris County, the marriage license makes you attest that you are 1) not currently married and 2) don't owe child support. Something tells me this was a "Sturgis wedding."

The chick a fraud and criminal. She's charged with bigamy. I like to hear the judges rational as to why she is enforcing spousal support. I'd also like to know why the guy's attorney didn't ask for an annulment. Originally Posted by gnadfly

I realize that sweetie. They moved to Texas and still "Played House/Husband & Wife". He screwed himself by doing so, regardless of where he assumed they were legally married. He definitely needs a better attorney. At the end of the day, he's still in contempt of court until there's a new order in place.


And yes, there's a special place for Greedy Women that Use People like that.

Where is that special place? At the bank teller window? At a bar? It doesn't appear that it's "in jail."

I'm was under the impression that in order to be considered a Texas Common Law marriage the couple who weren't legally married had to be living together 7 years. In scanning the family code, that doesn't seem to be the case any more, if it ever was.

If you read the comments section from that article and nose around, there's a lot more to the story than the media let on publicly (as usual). He made a lot of mistakes (as people do because we're human) and now he's having to deal with being in contempt, plain and simple.


Now as far as she goes, Justice is not always served in court. This isn't my battle BUT, she would most definitely get handled outside of court as well, if that was my family


Just be glad it wasn't you and Happy Hobbying Sweetie!

Not trying to battle ya sweetie, as I said in the OP, does anyone know the follow up? When I first saw this, the media was reporting he was married two months, not five.

This post, from the comments section of the article, makes more sense from the situ. He and probably his lawyer are dumb asses.

Oh good grief! I did a little research on the case and it is not nearly as awful as the press makes it out to be. Mr. Athans filed for a divorce and prosecuted a divorce case. He had plenty of time to discover evidence that his supposed wife was still married to other people and apparently suspected it, but did not bother to investigate that until AFTER the divorce was granted.
He failed in his court filings before the trial to ask the court to declare the marriage void, which is a requirement of the rules. Only after the divorce was granted did he file anything formal asking the court to reconsider its decision, re-open the evidence and declare the marriage void.
Unfortunately, the law (not Judge McDonald but the law) requires that you prove that you exercised due diligence to secure that evidence prior to the trial but through no fault of your own did not and could not have discovered it). Mr. Athans is not the victim of a poor judge. He's the victim of his own strategic mistakes.
He appealed the judge's rulings to the Court of Appeals in Beaumont, but in July he voluntarily dismissed that appeal, leaving the court's divorce judgment in place. That was probably a mistake. But in documents filed with the court it appears he was pleading poverty and that he could not afford to pay the TEMPORARY spousal support the court ordered him to pay pending the appeal. It has never been established in Judge McDonald's court that the wife is, in fact, a bigamist. She is certainly accused of it. But being accused does not make you guilty.
Mr. Athans does have a legal remedy but it may take some time before he can assert it. In the meantime the court's judgment stands because he has not done what is necessary to have it overturned. And as long as it stands Judge McDonald has a legal and judicial duty to enforce it because it is a judgment of the court.

Wha... No battle? But I already have my costume on....
Check your PM babe