Get Married Again?

[sara.evanger 0]

Hello all!!

My 'husband' and I are in the midst of planning our wedding here in the US. I was wondering if anyone could let me know if there is any reason why we can not get legally married AGAIN here in the US. We were married last year in South Africa, but our family doesn't know about it. Now we are going to have an actual ceremony and want to have a California Marriage Certificate as well. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[*JG* 2]

You can only "officially" marry one time. If you married in S. Africa, you cannot marry again in the US and, thus, cannot receive a CA marriage certificate. You could have an unofficial ceremony of any kind you like, reaffirming vows or whatever you want to call it.

[TimsDaisy 0]

why do you need a CA marriage certificate?

you can have a ceremony (spiritual, religious, etc) anytime you want. you needn't get another marriage license. you're already married. i doubt most guests would bother noting if you paused to sign a document.

get the dress and the cake, hire a DJ, and have a US wedding - but i don't think you double up on the legal parts. i don't know that it would cause *problems* per se, but there could be some unforeseen consequences later on. and again, you're already hitched, so just do the big shindig and have fun.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

You can not get a marriage licence because you are not free to marry.... you are already married.... to be able to get a CA marriage certificate you would need to get divorced and then re-marry....

Have a wedding reception, retake your vows, have a nice party for your family and friends but no you can not do a legal wedding again....

Kez

[JenT 0]

You can not get a marriage licence because you are not free to marry.... you are already married.... to be able to get a CA marriage certificate you would need to get divorced and then re-marry....

Have a wedding reception, retake your vows, have a nice party for your family and friends but no you can not do a legal wedding again....

Kez

Kez makes an important point.... you'd need a license to be married and you would not be able to get one.

[mendeleev 68]

A friend of mine, an attorney, well meaning, but who may not know what he was talking about, said that there's no legal reason why you cannot marry the same person as many times as you like. When you are married, you are not free to marry someone else. But the bigomy laws (at least in my State) do not make a crime to marry the same person more than once, even if there is no intervening divorce. He was quite clear on this.

So, we might get married again when she gets here. We'll see.

[TimsDaisy 0]

There's no benefit to having a second certificate and, in fact, there may be drawbacks if not illegalities, as others pointed out.

I'm not sure why the OP feels the need for the second document. I can appreciate US-based family wanting to witness a ceremony, of course.

If you've faked out your family on being legally married thus far, you can fake 'em out some more on the legal documents, right? Not usually something mum pins to the fridge anyway.

[Reba 2]

I guess it would depend who performs the ceremony for you. A judge at the court house may have a problem with giving you a legal certificate, but a minister at a church may not have a problem giving you a "certificate" of some sort. Same sex couples get "marriage certificates" and their unions are not legally binding. I dunno why as a hetero couple already married you couldn't get a similar certificate. There's no need for the lisense of course, you're already married. Just make it clear to the officient what the situation is, I'm sure you could find someone to oblige. There are probably thousands of ordained ULC ministers in California.

[mendeleev 68]

The reason this sort of thing has any attraction for me isn't so much so that the US family could attend a ceremony -- but so that my wife and I could attend one with each other!

As I described in a thread yesterday, my wife and I got married by dual proxy in Montana -- a place neither of us has ever been to -- in order to overcome an apparent immigration problem. It would be nice to get married, and exchange those promises, for real, with each other, face to face. When we got married, neither of us was there, neither of us heard anything. We knew before the fact what day the contract would be executed and we learned several days later that, in fact, we had successfully entered into the contract.

We'll decide later what to do. We had, at least, a decent, if much too short, honeymoon!

[S & J 0]

When I read this I remembered there was a couple who had gone around the world getting married. I tried to find the aritcle, but I couldn't. Anyway, there is no legal reason why you cannot get married again, the question is whether or not the clerk will issue you the license. I found this in an article that I quickly googled:

Renewal of Vows or Secret Marriage Remarriage:

According to the Texas state laws, a county clerk must issue a marriage license to a couple who is already married to each other.

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/texas.htm

So I would think you could find out quite easily in your state with a phone call.

Good luck!

[neophi 5]

When I read this I remembered there was a couple who had gone around the world getting married. I tried to find the aritcle, but I couldn't. Anyway, there is no legal reason why you cannot get married again, the question is whether or not the clerk will issue you the license. I found this in an article that I quickly googled:

Renewal of Vows or Secret Marriage Remarriage:

According to the Texas state laws, a county clerk must issue a marriage license to a couple who is already married to each other.

http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/p/texas.htm

So I would think you could find out quite easily in your state with a phone call.

Good luck!

Interesting... this would make things much more easier than having to translate a foreign marriage certificate. (Although this wasn't much of an issue for me since I am bilingual.)

[TimsDaisy 0]

The foreign cert in this case is probably in English, right? It's South Africa . . .

I wonder if the OP is around and has any follow up questions.

(side note, not that it matters since I don't think they need/can have a legal ceremony, but in most California counties, anyone can become a "Deputy Commissioner of Civil Marriages" at their local county recorder/registrar's office, for a small fee, and be legally authorized to perform a marriage. I did it for friends of mine. Very simple and inexpensive. You just need to say some magic words (by the power vested in me type stuff) and sign the document. pretty cool option for a couple who isn't tied to a particular church and wants someone to officiate that isn't an unknown local justice of the peace, etc)

[Yodrak 7]

novotul,

Has the marriage been consumated? I understand that under immigration law this is essential for a proxy marriage.

[EDIT: nevermind, I think your closing sentence addresses the issue.]

Yodrak

The reason this sort of thing has any attraction for me isn't so much so that the US family could attend a ceremony -- but so that my wife and I could attend one with each other!

As I described in a thread yesterday, my wife and I got married by dual proxy in Montana -- a place neither of us has ever been to -- in order to overcome an apparent immigration problem. It would be nice to get married, and exchange those promises, for real, with each other, face to face. When we got married, neither of us was there, neither of us heard anything. We knew before the fact what day the contract would be executed and we learned several days later that, in fact, we had successfully entered into the contract.

We'll decide later what to do. We had, at least, a decent, if much too short, honeymoon!

Edited May 23, 2007 by Yodrak

[mendeleev 68]

Yodrak,

We were careful to travel together post-nuptially, and get solid evidence of seeing each other after our wedding. Fortunately, USCIS does not require *those* sorts of photos, apparently -- since they did give us our NOA2s.

Yesterday I posted on this forum about why we chose the proxy route, and how we made it work, and our care in documenting, from many perspectives, our brief honeymoon to support our (now successful) petitions.

[neophi 5]

Yodrak,

We were careful to travel together post-nuptially, and get solid evidence of seeing each other after our wedding. Fortunately, USCIS does not require *those* sorts of photos, apparently -- since they did give us our NOA2s.

Yesterday I posted on this forum about why we chose the proxy route, and how we made it work, and our care in documenting, from many perspectives, our brief honeymoon to support our (now successful) petitions.

I almost got married through proxy, but I consulted with a lawyer before joining VJ and he said to not do it under any circumstance, as things could get complicated. I'm glad I asked him before going through with it hehe.

Congrats on the NOA2s.