Tomi Rae Hynie Brown's marriage to the late James Brown could be legal, two Augusta attorneys licensed to practice family law in South Carolina say.

Although an attorney representing Mr. Brown's estate said this week that she is no longer his wife, lawyer John Creson said Thursday that, based on an April 2004 court ruling, Mrs. Brown might be the legal widow of the famed soul singer, who died Monday in Atlanta.

Mrs. Brown said Tuesday that Charleston County Judge Frances P. Segars-Andrews had ruled that her first marriage was void ab initio, which means "from the beginning" in Latin. The Augusta Chronicle confirmed her statement Thursday after obtaining court records of the ruling from Charleston County, where an annulment proceeding initiated by Mrs. Brown took place.

"Given the fact that her first marriage was null from its beginning, she may very well have had the ability to contract into marriage and may be legally married to James Brown," attorney Martin Puetz said Wednesday without having seen the final verdict.

Mr. Brown's longtime lawyer Buddy Dallas disagreed Tuesday. Calling Mrs. Brown an "estranged girlfriend," Mr. Dallas said Mrs. Brown's 1997 marriage negated her union with Mr. Brown.

The day of Mr. Brown's death, Mr. Dallas ordered the gates to Mr. Brown's $422,000 Beech Island home padlocked, denying Mrs. Brown access.

A phone message left for Mr. Dallas at his Thomson office and a page sent to his mobile phone were not immediately returned Thursday.

The Charleston court document referred to Mrs. Brown's first husband, Javed Ahmed, as a Pakistani immigrant who had three or more other wives at the time he married Mrs. Brown in Houston.

In light of Mr. Ahmed's previous marriages, Mr. Dallas' position might actually favor Mrs. Brown, Mr. Creson said.

"An unresolved prior marriage is a bar to a subsequent marriage," he said. "If he (Mr. Ahmed) was married before, he could not contract to marry her; therefore, she has no prior marriage. So, there's no bar when she married James."

Judge Segars-Andrews dissolved the union of Mrs. Brown to Mr. Ahmed, citing his previous marriages and the fact that the marriage was not consummated. She also ruled that Mr. Ahmed married Mrs. Brown to fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship, according to court records.

Phone messages left for Judge Segars-Andrews at her Charleston office and Mount Pleasant home were not immediately returned Thursday.

A South Carolina marriage requires both the ability to marry and the intent to marry, Mr. Puetz said.

An existing marriage eliminates someone's legal ability to marry again, Mr. Puetz said.

But if a judge ruled that marriage never existed, then there should be no impediment to the legality of the second marriage, Mr. Creson said.

"Once that defect drops out, that marriage becomes valid," he said Wednesday.

The same year she married and left Mr. Ahmed, Mrs. Brown said, she moved in with Mr. Brown at his 62-acre estate.

Aiken County court records show the couple wed Dec. 14, 2001, in Beech Island. Earlier that year, on June 11, she gave birth to their son, James.

On Thursday, Mrs. Brown was in New York for a memorial service in Mr. Brown's honor at the Apollo Theater. She asked not to be disturbed.

North Augusta lawyer Jim Huff represented Mr. Brown when he sought an annulment from Mrs. Brown in 2005, he said. Mr. Brown dismissed the proceeding later that year, he said.

Like Mr. Dallas, Mr. Huff believes Mrs. Brown's first marriage makes her marriage to Mr. Brown invalid.

Staff Writer Sandi Martin contributed to this story.

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