In In re Marriage of Recknor (1982) 138 Cal.App.3d 539, the wife filed a complaint for divorce before her marriage to her second husband, but obtained a final divorce decree over a year later. The wife knew that her divorce was not final. Nevertheless, when her husband discovered that the prior marriage had not been dissolved, he continued to live with the wife and had another child with her. After about 15 years of marriage, the wife filed a petition to divorce her second husband and that husband responded with a petition for nullity. The husband claimed that his marriage was void because of the wife's prior existing marriage. The court held that the husband was estopped from denying the validity of his marriage. (In re Marriage of Recknor, supra, 138 Cal.App.3d at pp. 542, 547.) "The doctrine of equitable estoppel has been stated as follows: 'Whenever a party has, by his own statement or conduct, intentionally and deliberately led another to believe a particular thing true and to act upon such belief, he is not, in any litigation arising out of such statement or conduct, permitted to contradict it.' (Evid. Code, 623.)" (Recknor, supra, at p. 546.) In addition to stating the rule, the court noted, "estoppel applies to prevent a person from asserting a right where his conduct or silence makes it unconscionable for him to assert it. " (Id. at p. 547.) The court, therefore, concluded that the husband could not assert the invalidity of his marriage because he went through a formal marriage ceremony, continued to live with the wife for 15 years, had two children with her, and waited almost 15 years to assert his claim. (Ibid.)