Court Affirmed A Finding Of An Informal Marriage In An Estate Case

In In re Est. of Davidson, Bryan Davidson died in 2021, leaving behind an ex-wife (Debbie Davidson), three adult sons, and Sherry Myers. NO. 01-24-00026-CV, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 9840 (Tex. App.—Houston December 23, 2025, no pet.). Sherry Myers claimed she and Bryan Davidson had an informal (common-law) marriage. Sherry testified that she and Bryan agreed to be married in September 2014 after his divorce was finalized. Bryan gave Sherry his mother’s wedding ring, which multiple witnesses confirmed. Multiple witnesses, including family members and friends, testified that Bryan and Sherry lived together and represented themselves as married. Contradictory evidence was presented, including documents where Bryan referred to Sherry as his “girlfriend” and a text message to his ex-wife denying marriage.

The trial court found sufficient evidence to establish all three elements of an informal marriage under Texas law: (1) agreement to be married, (2) living together as spouses, and (3) representing to others that they were married.

The Dead Man’s Rule (Tex. Evid. R. 601(b)) generally bars testimony about a decedent’s oral statements unless corroborated. In this case, Sherry’s testimony about the marriage agreement was corroborated by evidence of Bryan giving her his mother’s wedding ring, as confirmed by multiple witnesses.

The trial court, as factfinder, resolved conflicting evidence in favor of Sherry and found that an informal marriage existed. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s judgment, declaring that an informal marriage existed between Sherry Myers and Bryan Davidson and that Sherry was Bryan’s surviving spouse.