James Brown and Wife’s Marriage was not Bigamous

Tommie Ray Brown and the late singer James Brown were married in 2001, 4 years after Tommie married Javed Ahmed. The previous marriage was annulled in 2003 on the grounds that it was invalid due to Ahmed being married already.

At first glance this may seem confusing, and the six children of James Brown were irked enough to contest Tommie’s  contesting of Brown’s will – which she won on the grounds of “omitted spouse.” The children claimed that their father’s and Tommie’s marriage was invalid, but the courts disagreed. Because Tommie’s and Ahmed’s marriage was invalid with or without its eventual annulment, it had no capacity to invalidate Tommie’s and James Brown’s marriage.

Therefore, the South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgement to Tommie Ray Brown.

See Brown v. Sojourner (In re Estate of Brown), 2018 BL 263330, S.C. Ct. App., No. 5578, 7/25/18.

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.