Consummation

[edthehead]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My history teacher in highschool told me there are laws that say that a marriage needs to be consummated before the ceremony to be legal. Is this true?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

My history teacher in highschool told me there are laws that say that a marriage needs to be consummated before the ceremony to be legal. Is this true?

No. That is not true.

What was your history teacher in high school doing talking about the consummation of marriages?

I hope you do not intend to pepper the forum with a bunch of stupid questions, edthehead.

 

[FlyingRon]

If by consummation you mean post-marital sex, then there is no state in the US that it is relevant. Even if a few states that still have common law marriages, the principal of consummation meaning sexual relations has been replaced with simple cohabitation.

 

[cbg]

About the only time I can think of that consummation has any legal relevance is if you are seeking an annulment, and in that case it's what happens AFTER the marriage ceremony that counts.

For that matter, I'm not 100% sure it matters even for an annulment as far as dissolving the civil side of things, though it does for the religious (when applicable).

Oh, and he's asking the same questions all over the internet, but he does seem (so far at least) to be limiting himself to these two.