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One Woman, Ten Marriages

Publish Date: 07/01/2015

In Georgia, a person can only enter into the contract of marriage if he/she: (1) is of sound mind, (2) is at least 18 years old (or is at least 16 with parental consent), (3) has no living spouse or previous undissolved marriage, and (4) is not related to his/her prospective spouse by blood or marriage. O.C.G.A. § 19-3-2. These prerequisites to a valid marriage are similar in every state. Still, they are violated fairly often, which will deem the marriage invalid.

For example, a woman in New York is facing felony charges for marrying ten different men - and only divorcing one of them. New York Woman Marries 10 Times, Only Got Divorce Once: DA, by Tara Fowler, people.com, April 10, 2015. Liana Barrientos obtained New York marriage licenses for each of her marriages, but her scam was only uncovered after she filed her tenth marriage license. Barrientos is now being charged with filing fraudulent marriage licenses since, obviously, she knew that she had not been divorced before filing for each subsequent license. According to the article, it is unclear at this time whether the husbands will also face charges.

In Georgia, a marriage of persons unable to contract (such as by having a previous undissolved marriage) is void. O.C.G.A. § 19-3-5(a). Though this case is in New York, it is likely that that state has similar prerequisites to divorce as Georgia. As such, in this case, the only valid marriage would be Barrientos' first or second one. If the one divorce was after the first marriage, then her second marriage would be valid. However, if the one divorce was not the first marriage, then the first marriage still stands and no subsequent marriage would be valid.

If Barrientos is interested in actually remaining married to any of these men, she may have a silver lining. In Georgia, if a marriage is void because of a previous undissolved marriage, "after removal of the impediment to marriage, a subsequent free and voluntary consent and ratification of the marriage accompanied by cohabitation as husband and wife shall likewise render the marriage valid." O.C.G.A. § 19-3-5(b). Thus, if Barrientos obtains a valid divorce from the one valid marriage, she can ratify whichever marriage she chooses so long as her husband voluntarily consents and the parties live together as husband and wife. Unfortunately for Barrientos, this may be impossible, as it looks like she may be cohabitating in jail for awhile.

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Family Law (general)
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