seeking any solutions
Submitted by MCL on Sun, 06/07/2009 - 00:25.
Greetings all. I was wondering if I could get some information. I am the husband in a non religious based polygamist family and have made it now my desperate search for any type of loopholes that would allow for a legal second marriage. I was wondering about the laws in Utah. Is a poligamist marriage recognized as a true marriage there, and is it only for the Mormon religion. If it is legal there, should someone move to another state, is it still recognized by the government? Any direction or information would be extremely helpful. Thankyou
Non legal unions
Long before ''gay marriage'' became legal in the USA, lifetime support contracts or civil unions for homosexual couples were recognized by the state courts or legislatures.
Perhaps polygynous couplings can ultimately be recognized if the partners would create contracts in which they avow union and mutual support partnering. Courts may be inclined to recognize and enforce the contracts if they can be found to have sufficient intent and conduct consistent with the terms of the language in those contracts.
Under the Anglo-Saxon common law, contracts are or may be deemed legal if there is no statute which expressly forbids them. Therefore, the best approach may well be the creation of such partnering under contractual agreements.
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I realize some of you do not tolerate ''same sex marriage''. But I am the type who prefers to refrain from sitting in judgment of anyone. If such arrangements are evil, then let God be the judge of those persons. On that basis, one should not be afraid of following the same steps they took in altering society's view on the legality of their lifestyle arrangements.
There is a loophole
I answer this based only on your question as regarding a way to have a plural marriage which is legal under statutes of law (US in this case since I do not know other countries laws that well). Before I proceed please be aware this is answer to the question only and not a recommend or suggestion of any kind. That being clarified, please do not reprimand me in any way for what I am about to say. I do not write these statutory laws and just try to live best as can be done under the persecution we all are aware of because of them.
Step One: In order for this to work you must live in a state which has codified in its statutes a provision for same sex unions (marriages if you will).
Step Two: To facilitate this you must have two separate houses, or perhaps a duplex divided into two separate homes.
Step Three: You must have three women and one man in this family to set it up.
Here is how it works.
Step Four: The man will marry one of the women, in a typical and legal fashion by taking out the proper license at the courthouse and going before the judge at said courthouse to have the marriage certified. No vows are required, at least they are not in my state.
Step Five: The remaining two women then go to the courthouse and take out the license for a same sex union and the judge at the courthouse certifies this union.
You now have two perfectly legal marriages of two separate couples and have broken no laws.
Step Six: One couple moves into one house and the other couple moves into the other house. You have still broken no laws.
What two couples do in their own homes is private and will not be bothered by anyone.
A couple of statements of caution here:
1) You must maintain all finances, records, bank accounts, taxes and etc. separately, there
can be no connection between them as these are separate families not one under the statutes.
2) When children are born the man will be responsible for them just like in any other case of
a man with children who are not in his household, and just like in any such case the courts
will have to decide what support payments he must make and he will be held to that decision.
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As I said already, but will now say again just so there is no mistake, I do not recommend this. You asked for a legal way to do this and I have answered your question. That is all I did.
MCL
I would suggest using the Google search function for our site
http://www.4thefamily.us/polygamy
And read through some of the conversations on the legality issue. In Utah, plural marriage, in the form of cohabitation, is a felony where in most states it is a misdemeanor. Utah had to put a clause in their Constitution forever banning plural marriage before they could be admitted to the United States.
The modern day LDS church is as against plural marriage, as a whole, as any group you can find out there, even given many members owe their very existence to the principle.
There are Mormon fundamentalist groups which hold to the principle of plural marriage, but in no way do they interact with the state "legal" marriage system as in Utah it is punishable by 5 years in prison.
I hope this helps some.
Cheers!