My question involves marriage law for the State of: New York is my marriage valid?

Q: My question involves marriage law for the State of: New York My husband was unaware that his marriage license to his ex-wife in Hawaii was on file as active. He thought that his marriage to his ex-wife was voided because she was already married to someone esle during their marriage union and during their marriage she had filed for divorce from her previous marriage while they were still together. They were both told that their marriage to each other was voided. So they both never did any paper work on thier marriage certificate. So they had went each other way. Now many years later he married me and we found out that his marraige to his first marriage was still active. Now he filed for divorce and his is officially divorce from his first marriage. My question is....is our marriage legal? Because during his first marrriage she was married and they both were told that their marriage was voided yet it was still legal even after she filed for divorce from her first marriage. 

A: David’s answer: A Good-faith belief is not what controls - if he was in fact married at the time he married you, your marriage is void. There is not necessarily a need, however, to annul your marriage, unless the Clerk's Office rejects your marriage certificate because there's already one on file. If that's the case, then you would indeed need to file for an annulment. Otherwise, in my opinion there's nothing prohibiting you from simply getting re-married at the Clerk's Office.  -- David Bliven (www.blivenlaw.net)