Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Making It Legal : Drive-Through Newlyweds Get Court OK to Forget Past

Frustrated trying to end her last marriage, a Santa Clarita woman went ahead and married her boyfriend late Friday at a Las Vegas drive-in wedding chapel before her divorce was final.

Instead of honeymoon bliss, the couple spent the weekend worrying whether they were bigamists.

Not to worry, a judge said Monday. “We’ll take care of it,” Supervising Judge Judith Ashmann of the North Valley District of Superior Court said during a call to The Times.

Ashmann signed papers Monday that dated the woman’s legal divorce as of last Friday.

“I wish I had realized this before we went to Las Vegas,” said the bride, Laura Molidor, 30.

Her new husband, James Linder, 34, agreed, saying there had been “a cloud hanging over us” until they learned of the judge’s action Monday.

Now, the couple said, they can enjoy their long-scheduled reception for 75 friends and family this weekend, before moving to their new home in Utah.

Molidor said that she was assured by her attorney in early September that her uncontested divorce would become final in four to six weeks. But last week, as her husband-to-be moved from Texas to join her here, her attorney’s office told her the courts were slow in processing the papers.

However, her divorce papers filed on Sept. 26 were rejected because they were completed incorrectly, according to John O’Brien, court clerk. The papers were resubmitted Oct. 19 by the office of her attorney, James Reape of Santa Clarita.

Molidor, who separated from her first husband four years ago, said her attorney did not tell her that the papers had to be resubmitted.

A spokeswoman for the attorney said that Reape declined to comment unless he had permission from his client, who was in transit in the late afternoon.

Molidor said earlier that she and her new husband were going to her old husband’s house in Palmdale on Monday so she could accompany their two children trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Linder planned to watch football on television with Molidor’s first husband.

And about that drive-in wedding chapel: They exchanged vows while sitting in their car for the 10-minute ceremony Friday night as the minister leaned out the window.

“I was sure they were going to hand out French fries and a Coke along with the marriage license,” said Molidor.