The name of Susannah Cragg, who died aged 82 last April, was added to the tombstone of her first husband in Armitage, who died in 1978, by the couple's two sons.
A second tombstone in the same area at St John the Baptist Church was also erected by Mrs Cragg's second husband, Bill Allison, who refused to move it after her son's complained.
A Church of England judge has ruled having two tombstones to mark Mrs Cragg's death is inappropriate and recommended that Mr Cragg's tombstone should include an addition, saying Susannah had been widowed and the wife of Bill.
Stephen Eyres QC, Chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as saying: "I cannot compel the petitioners to add words to the headstone but I can make the addition of a suitable inscription a precondition of the headstone remaining in position and of the removal of the new memorial put there by Mr Allison."
Conceding defeat, 82 year old Mr Allison said: "I've got no choice but to accept the ruling, it was never my intention to cause upset.
"I did ask the stonemason's if the words 'nee Matthewson' could be included on my headstone but by then they said it was too late."