My reply was not well focused. If they were married in Kenya because they could not legally marry in Hawaii because he was already married and Hawaii does not permit bigamy, so they go to Kenya and get married
how can a judge in Hawaii legally dissolve by divorce decree a marriage that was illegal, invalid, in Hawaii from the start?
maybe the judge granted a divorce because there was a marriage certificate...
He could have just dissolved the marriage or annulled the marriage or declared it null and void...
But that would have made Obama Jr illegitimate..
Maybe it was a case of sympathy vfrom the court...
plus Ann’s Mom had friends in the court...
Short answer--because he has jursidiction.
And you can't exactly say the marriage was invalid from the start either.
Law is a little complicated. You might have a marriage for some purposes but not for others; a marriage, illegal when contracted, might nevertheless be valid for purposes of making the children legitimate; for conveying to the wife marital property rights; or for making property community property; or for putting the wife in a position from which she could not contract the next marriage without committing bigamy. Depends on local law.
But, you can say with some confidence that a judge who has jurisdiction over the parties can affect whatever marital rights exist and title to whatever property is subject to marital rights and the custody of minor children who result from the relationship and their support as he determines to be appropriate.