Till death do us part?

[silkkaos]

Oregon. I have asked this question before, but did not get one response. I am trying to find out if my marriage is legally binding or not. We got our marriage license from the county recorders office in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. A few months later we said our "I do's" at a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona in front of a preacher we hired out of the local paper. We NEVER SIGNED any paper work, we didn't even pay the preacher if I remember correctly! Well, now 12 years and 2 prison terms later I have finally gotten myself away from him. I want to know if I have to get a divorce or not. Is this marriage considered a "common law" marriage because we presented ourselves as married? Can I just make a public notice in the paper? Will I be considered a "polygamist" if I get married to someone else? What do I have to do to finally be totally free of him?

 

[LdiJ]

Oregon. I have asked this question before, but did not get one response. I am trying to find out if my marriage is legally binding or not. We got our marriage license from the county recorders office in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. A few months later we said our "I do's" at a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona in front of a preacher we hired out of the local paper. We NEVER SIGNED any paper work, we didn't even pay the preacher if I remember correctly! Well, now 12 years and 2 prison terms later I have finally gotten myself away from him. I want to know if I have to get a divorce or not. Is this marriage considered a "common law" marriage because we presented ourselves as married? Can I just make a public notice in the paper? Will I be considered a "polygamist" if I get married to someone else? What do I have to do to finally be totally free of him?

For goodness sake just file for divorce and get it over with. In the end its better and more guaranteed.

 

[justalayman]

Oregon. I have asked this question before, but did not get one response. I am trying to find out if my marriage is legally binding or not. We got our marriage license from the county recorders office in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. A few months later we said our "I do's" at a hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona in front of a preacher we hired out of the local paper. We NEVER SIGNED any paper work, we didn't even pay the preacher if I remember correctly! Well, now 12 years and 2 prison terms later I have finally gotten myself away from him. I want to know if I have to get a divorce or not. Is this marriage considered a "common law" marriage because we presented ourselves as married? Can I just make a public notice in the paper? Will I be considered a "polygamist" if I get married to someone else? What do I have to do to finally be totally free of him?

The original post:
s

ilkkaos
Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 2

Am I really married??

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What is the name of your state? Oregon.
My "husband" and I were hitched in Scottsdale AZ. back in 1994. We obtained our marriage license from Las Vegas, Nevada. We had a real preacher marry us, I don't believe we signed anything, but we did pay the preacher. We have been together since then, but recently called it quits. Now, am I in a common law marriage? Do I have to get a divorce?
Thanks

Actually you did get a response last time, strangely enough from the same gal that first responded on this thread.

I do not know the requirements fro Nevada or Arizona but most states have requirements for the official that performs the marriage. If your official did not have authoirity in Nevada, your marriage is probabley no good. Another requirement in many states is the marriage be registered with the state for it to be official.

It seems the states involved (including Oregon) do not acknowledge common law marriages.

Call the state offices in Nevada and ask what department registers marriages. Then call them and ask if your marriage was ever registered. If it wasn't. I would think you are safe.

 

[Ohiogal]

The original post:
s

Actually you did get a response last time, strangely enough from the same gal that first responded on this thread.

I do not know the requirements fro Nevada or Arizona but most states have requirements for the official that performs the marriage. If your official did not have authoirity in Nevada, your marriage is probabley no good. Another requirement in many states is the marriage be registered with the state for it to be official.

It seems the states involved (including Oregon) do not acknowledge common law marriages.

Call the state offices in Nevada and ask what department registers marriages. Then call them and ask if your marriage was ever registered. If it wasn't. I would think you are safe.

Actually I am going to disagree because there are legal theories at work that could make these individuals spouses. And I am not talking common law. If they thought they were married, acted like they were married and did everything (they thought) to be married then they are married and a divorce is the only way to ensure that the marriage is history. Being safe is not good enough in this situation. They really need to file to dissolve the bonds of matrimony. An attorney needs to be consulted to go through ALL the details of the relationship and see if it would be considered a marriage -- again NOT common law -- and how to get a divorce. In other words I agree with Ldij.

 

[justalayman]

Actually I am going to disagree because there are legal theories at work that could make these individuals spouses. And I am not talking common law. If they thought they were married, acted like they were married and did everything (they thought) to be married then they are married and a divorce is the only way to ensure that the marriage is history. Being safe is not good enough in this situation. They really need to file to dissolve the bonds of matrimony. An attorney needs to be consulted to go through ALL the details of the relationship and see if it would be considered a marriage -- again NOT common law -- and how to get a divorce. In other words I agree with Ldij.

You will have to teach me on this one Ohiogal.( a respectful request,,,,,, seriously,,,,,believe it or not,,,,,yes, from me, the KIA arguementative guy)

If a marriage is not a legally applied for and recognized marriage and it is not a common law marriage, then what is it?

To me, it would seem that what you are reffering to is in fact a common law marraige (the held oneself out as being married and all, a basic tenent of most of the common law marriage laws) but since they believed they were married rather than merely presenting themselves as married leading to a common law marriage, they have in fact possibly entered into some sort of contractual agreement rather than a common law marriage or actually any true marriage. Anything close??

(and yes, I do realize a marriage is in effect a contract although I find it hard to believe because the terms of the contract such as the wife getting fat and bitchy were not disclosed to me so I could not agree to the terms therefore no "meeting of the minds") (just kidding, the wife didn;t get fat )

Not argueing with the better safe than sorry advice though. That is usually the best advice if an unkown exists.

 

[Ohiogal]

You will have to teach me on this one Ohiogal.( a respectful request,,,,,, seriously,,,,,believe it or not,,,,,yes, from me, the KIA arguementative guy)

If a marriage is not a legally applied for and recognized marriage and it is not a common law marriage, then what is it?

To me, it would seem that what you are reffering to is in fact a common law marraige (the held oneself out as being married and all, a basic tenent of most of the common law marriage laws) but since they believed they were married rather than merely presenting themselves as married leading to a common law marriage, they have in fact possibly entered into some sort of contractual agreement rather than a common law marriage or actually any true marriage. Anything close??

(and yes, I do realize a marriage is in effect a contract although I find it hard to believe because the terms of the contract such as the wife getting fat and bitchy were not disclosed to me so I could not agree to the terms therefore no "meeting of the minds") (just kidding, the wife didn;t get fat )

Not argueing with the better safe than sorry advice though. That is usually the best advice if an unkown exists.

Actually it comes across in a legal theory called putative spouse. It is where a party believes that they are legally married even if they may not be. It is not a common law marriage but almost a marriage of mistake of fact -- they believed they were married, acted as though they were married and only when problems sprang up and they looked into ending the marriage do they realize that they may not be married.
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/putative-marriage.html
Also for more information try:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv1-sbc&p=putative spouse
Some states do recognize it including California , Colorado and Nevada. Case law is the important thing here and NOT necessarily just statute. It is basically the courts looking at the relationship and determining that a marriage did exist due to equity. The only thing that is missing from this marriage is the filing of the marriage certificate. the only safe way of ending this relationship is through divorce.

 

[justalayman]

gotcha. Thanks.

 

[Ohiogal]

gotcha. Thanks.

Welcome. Putative spouse is NOT used often however it may come into play in this situation due to the facts that were presented.