(1) entered into an agreement to become husband and wife;
(2) cohabitated as husband and wife; and
(3) held each other out publicly as husband and wife.
TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 2.401(a)(2) (Vernon 1998).
However, there is a crucial prerequisite: both parties must possess the
legal capacity to marry.
Villegas v. Griffin Indus., 975 S.W.2d 745, 749-50 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 1998, pet. denied).
In order to constitute a valid informal marriage, it must be established that the parties:
(1) entered into an expressed or implied agreement to become husband and wife,
(2) that such agreement was followed by cohabitation as man and wife, and
(3) that they held each other out professedly and publicly as husband and wife.
TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 1.91 (a)(2) (Vernon 1993).
There is, of course, one additional fundamental rule, that in order to establish a valid marriage, the parties must possess the legal capacity to marry and there must not be any legal impediment prohibiting the marriage contract. Franklin v. Smalldridge, 616 S.W.2d 655, 657 (Tex. Civ. App.--Corpus Christi 1981, no writ); Howard v. Howard, 459 S.W.2d 901, 904 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1970, no writ); Esparza v. Esparza, 382 S.W.2d 162, 166 (Tex. Civ. App.--Corpus Christi 1964, no writ). Villegas v. Griffin Indus., 975 S.W.2d 745, 749-750 (Tex. App. Corpus Christi 1998)