52
Short Answer
SIMPLIFIED AND UPDATED BASED ON ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE QUESTION:
The marriage is valid, but their marriage will not allow the girlfriend to refuse to testify as a witness in the case.
She can be compelled to testify against him under oath, but does not have to testify about the confidential communications that they have with each ...
28
There are only a few areas of law of which I am aware that U.S. law treats people who are engaged to be married differently (although perhaps with more thought I could expand the list).
Fiance(e)s come under a special immigration status when applying for a visa.
There is a body of law related to whether an engagement ring is an absolute gift or is ...
11
The legal term for premarital sex, as a crime, is fornication. I found a paper that gives an extensive and well-referenced history and analysis of such laws:
Sweeny, JoAnne. Undead Statutes: The Rise, Fall and Continuing Uses of Adultery and Fornication Criminal Laws. Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 46 (2014), 127–173. http://www.luc.edu/...
10
You can keep your name; this is the default. Source:
Your surname does not change automatically upon marriage unless you elect to change it.
Nothing in the law requires you to change your name when getting married; it is your personal choice.
You are not required to have the same surname as your spouse.
10
"Polyamory" is usually used to refer to having more than one romantic relationship at a time, which is pretty unobjectionable as far as the law is concerned. It might get you into trouble in a divorce proceeding, but the laws that still exist addressing it are largely dead letters.
I assume you're asking more about polygamy, or having more than one one ...
10
I was initially going to vote to close this as a political rather than a legal question, however, I think there is scope for separating out the two dimensions.
Our society makes a distinction between children and adults by giving them different legal rights, obligations and protections. If you think about it, there are a lot of things beyond sexual activity ...
10
According to https://www.baezlawfirm.com/can-your-spouse-be-forced-to-testify-against-you/ Section 90.504 of Florida’s Evidence Code includes the privilege to exclude "marital communications" from the testimony of a spouse, but does not include the "testimonial privilege" which Federal common law and the laws of many US states do include, that permits one ...
10
First, there is no prohibition against a Jewish man marrying an Eastern European woman in Israel. If they are both Jewish, the marriage can be performed in Israel. If they are not the same religion, then if they get married in Israel, the government will not recognize the marriage. However, Israel recognizes inter-faith marriages performed outside Israel. ...
9
Not exactly,
There were limited instances of the institution of wife selling in Britain in the early modern period, but this practice was never transferred to the United States and received as part of its common law. The institution of wife selling had been abolished long, long ago in 1925 in Britain and had never existed in the U.S., and was quite rare ...
9
You haven't actually asked a question, but I presume that you want to know how the 11-year-old son could accompany his mother to the US if she moves to the US as the fiancée or spouse of a US citizen.
The US Department of State has a page about this on their site. It says:
Overview: What Is a K-1 Visa?
The fiancé(e) K-1 nonimmigrant visa is for the foreign-...
7
You don't need to "report" it to anyone in the US or do anything else. The US doesn't have any national registry of marriage. Any marriage or divorce conducted anywhere in the world is automatically recognized anywhere in the US (with some exceptions like polygamous marriages); the same is true in many other countries.
How does the U.S. find out, for tax ...
7
Privilege May Be Irrelevant In Your Case
In a criminal case in the U.S., a criminal prosecution is moot and dismissed if the criminal defendant dies (or even if the criminal defendant is convicted and the case is still on appeal). (Pending divorce cases also abate upon the death of a spouse, but most other civil cases do not.)
Caveat: Your Mileage May Vary
...
6
The first thing to note is that your question is kind of the wrong way around. US states are sovereign and generally have the ability to make any kind of laws they want, unless they violate some specific tenet of federal law or the US Constitution.
You suggest, for instance, that arguments which are "culturally founded" have no place in the law, but that'...
6
In this ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court dismissed a case seeking to halt same-sex weddings in Alabama, which had begun under Obergefell.
The text of the ruling is, in whole:
IT IS ORDERED that all pending motions and petitions are DISMISSED.
The remaining 169 pages are editorializing, nothing more.
The NBC characterization is, therefore, correct:
...
6
What could be the consequences of this wedding?
They would be married
For example, if they break up and end their PACS in France, would they still be officially married in the USA?
Yes, and also in France.
And if after that they marry other partners, could this be a problem for them when applying for an American visa?
Yes, bigamy is illegal in both ...
6
This happened despite the fact that the marriage and Bible verses requirement were almost surely illegal and similar things have happened on and off, mostly in rural courts with non-attorney judges, for pretty much as long as the U.S. has been a country (and earlier).
The trick is that the orders take effect unless someone appeals them, and since deals ...
6
As someone with ties to the "foreign" community in the United States, I see these "marriages of convenience" from time to time. In their most "legitimate" form, the couple will move to the same address and "technically" live together, but without consummating the marriage so that it can later be legally annulled. American immigration authorities counter this ...
6
One place to look is the incest statute, 18-6602, which says:
Persons being within the degrees of consanguinity within which
marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void, who
intermarry with each other, or who commit fornication or adultery with
each other, are punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for a
term not to exceed life....
6
Of course not. There may be legal systems in which wives were considered their husbands' property, but that was never the case in the US.
As in many legal systems, wives at times had little or no legal personality independent of their husbands, but that isn't the same as being the husband's property. An example illustrating the fact that a wife is not her ...
6
No
However, only the first wife is recognised as a wife under US law.
Please note that it is not illegal to live in a polygamous relationship in the US: only to marry in the US while still married to another person.
6
We set speed limits so we don't have to spend time fighting over whether you were driving too fast.
We put up fences so we don't have to spend time fighting over whose property you are on.
We set ages of consent so we don't have to spend time fighting over whether the child could consent to sex.
5
They retain sui juris after "divorce" or death of a spouse.
A minor becomes sui juris upon marriage (civil marriage pursuant to Thai Civil and Commercial Code, article 1448). [Art. 20] The status of sui juris won't be revoked by divorce or death. This rule is not written in statutes but is interpreted in such manner.
However, if a court judged that ...
5
What is stopping me from going and finding a poor college student, marrying them for the tax incentives (and them me for the health insurance), and breaking it off when it is no longer financially or emotionally convenient?
Nothing, go for it.
Breaking it off, i.e. getting a divorce, leaves questions of who gets what assets - you will need to consult local ...
5
Aside from being a concerned citizen, one may wonder why you care so much but for some sort of personal grudge against these people...that said, you've done your civic duty. It's not up to the citizenry to prove criminal cases on behalf of the state. They have the complaint (by you) of criminal activity. Some jurisdictions (like the U.S.) investigate and ...
5
None.
Who you live with & how you live with them are (generally) your business. All laws against polygamy do is impose sanctions if you legally register more than one marriage; legally the first registered is a marriage, all the others are a nullity. This may influence the legal resolution of criminal and civil disputes amount the cohabitants as the law ...
5
The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 apparently sets no lower limit on marriage for Muslims. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 then defined a child as a female under 18 and a male under 21, and a child marriage is one where at least one party is a child. The law then says that "Every child marriage is voidable at the option of ...
5
does being engaged (to be married) carry any legal significance
Depending on your definition of "engaged", yes: you cannot marry without announcing your engagement.
Banns of marriage -- France
French civil law requires the publication of banns of marriage in the towns where intended spouses are living. It should be displayed in the town hall ten days ...
5
It depends.
An agreement of the type you describe is called a post-nuptial agreement or marital agreement.
These agreements are not prohibited, but are subject to heightened scrutiny. In determining if it is valid, courts consider financial disclosure, an opportunity to consult a lawyer, and a voluntary non-coerced agreement in writing, as well as a ...
5
Short Answer: This is Not Duress
This would not constitute duress or a ground for an annulment under U.S. law.
In general, economic considerations, or moral duties arising from love and affection, or a felt obligation to "do the right thing" following a pregnancy, or a need to bring other family members (or oneself) out of dire poverty, do not ...
5
The law does not criminalize "having more than 1 legal spouse", it criminalizes specific behavior. The polygamy statute is here. It says
Every one who (a) practises or enters into or in any manner agrees or
consents to practise or enter into (i) any form of polygamy, or (ii)
any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time,
...
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