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When There Is No License, Is There a Marriage?

By Martin E. Friedlander
December 31, 2015

You know the drill: In an initial interview of a divorcing client, there is a list of routine, background-information questions to be asked. Of course, these include the question, “Have you ever been married before?” Subsequent follow-up questions would include the number of prior marriages and how they ended.

So, consider this situation: In the midst of a matrimonial proceeding, an undisclosed fact comes to light ' the client was previously religiously married and obtained a religious divorce, but never obtained a marriage license or civil divorce. The client assumed that the first marriage was not recognized by the state because the parties did not obtain a marriage license. Having obtained a religious divorce, she then assumed she could move on without restriction. (Editor's Note: For more on religious divorce, see Mark Momjian: “'Getting' It Done Through Social Media and Other Forms of Protest,” The Matrimonial Strategist, August 2015, available at http://bit.ly/1HA4tmg.)

It is not often that a matrimonial practitioner faces a case involving a void marriage, but it does happen. What are the laws as they apply to parties who were previously married in a religious ceremony without a marriage license, but then failed to obtain a civil divorce before marrying again? Do maintenance, counsel fees and equitable distribution considerations apply? And how do different states handle these questions?

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