Hah.

/Nothing interesting to say

Oh, to be those lucky few.

Talk about dodging a bullet...

What do you mean...

...he's NOT an ordained minister?

Some people are just lucky, I guess.

I was married in Jamaica. I don't recall having to pay a fee... Of course I have no idea where the paperwork is stored either. Really, this whole sanctity of marriage stuff is ridiculous. Are my wife and I even legally married? We are because we say we are.

I just saved a bunch of money on my divorce, by marrying in Dominican Republic!

Sweet... looks like im still single... time to call my friend's sister...

pheed:
Are my wife and I even legally married? We are because we say we are.

I don't know if the "meeting of minds" concept apples to marriages as well as contracts? At any rate, given that you've probably lived together for a while I imagine you would be considered common-law spouses at the very least.

Life imitates a Flintstones episode...

No Such Agency: pheed:
I don't know if the "meeting of minds" concept apples to marriages as well as contracts? At any rate, given that you've probably lived together for a while I imagine you would be considered common-law spouses at the very least.

Most jurisdictions have sections in their family law legislation which are intended to prevent invalidity in precisely this situation. See section 31 of Ontario's Marriage Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M3. (pops)
"If the parties to a marriage solemnized in good faith and intended to be in compliance with this Act are not under a legal disqualification to contract such marriage and after such solemnization have lived together and cohabited as a married couple, such marriage shall be deemed a valid marriage, although the person who solemnized the marriage was not authorized to solemnize marriage, and despite the absence of or any irregularity or insufficiency in the publication of banns or the issue of the licence. "

or section 23 of Alberta's Marriage Act, R.S.A., c. M-5 (pops):
(1) A marriage is not invalidated by reason only of a contravention of or non‑compliance with this Act

(a) by the person who solemnized the marriage, or

(b) by the person who issued the licence for the marriage,

and the Court of Queen's Bench may, if satisfied it is proper to do so, declare that the marriage was lawfully solemnized notwithstanding the contravention or non‑compliance.

Sloppy work on the author's part for failing to talk to someone with any knowledge of family law. This is pretty basic.

My niece's husband is laughing his ass off.
He knew after a month that getting married was a big mistake and it turns out they were married in the Dominican on a resort
in October 07. He has his fingers crossed.

Can someone post the "get out of jail free" card from Monolopy? Those lucky bastards.

You got scammed

Maneck: Most jurisdictions have sections in their family law legislation which are intended to prevent invalidity in precisely this situation.

It's also apparently true in the opposite situation. A guy I know (in Illinois) went with his fiancee for their marriage license, and was surprised to find out the he was still married!

He had been married for just a couple of months, or so he thought, more than then ten years earlier to some chick he barely knew at the time. Things ended about as well as you would expect, but when they divorced, some doofus in the Cook County Recorder's office forget to take the paperwork from the court and file it or whatever to make it official.

So he signed an affidavit and got one from his ex, and pulled out whatever paperwork he had, and they were official divorced.


Since then, I've had my own problem with the Cook County Recorder. When I went to get a marriage license, I had to provide an stamped and certified birth certificate. When I got the new certificate from the county, it turned out that my name was misspelled. I had file to get things changed and pay a fee, plus I had to pay to get documents Fed Ex-ed to and from the state capitol where the original was archived. This was so we could get it before the wedding date, even though I had a photocopy of my original handsigned birth certificate.

Birth certificates for Illinois are stored on computer, and computer printed on official paper. But when I was born, they were actual hand-signed documents. At some point, they were all computerized. Apparently, whatever doofus was doing data entry during the conversion entered my name wrong.

/Ain't government great? Even when they fark up, you still have to pay.

He went to the Dominican Republic to get married?? Isn't that like bringing dirty sand in your own personalized jar to a pristine beach?

I'm going to the DR this Spring, so I'll let you know in a few months.

"National Department of Investigations?" WTF is that?

pheed: I was married in Jamaica. I don't recall having to pay a fee... Of course I have no idea where the paperwork is stored either. Really, this whole sanctity of marriage stuff is ridiculous. Are my wife and I even legally married? We are because we say we are.

HAH.

That's so cute. Even if you never get divorced, this attitude can really bite you in the butt. Especially if the IRS ever decides you've been filing false tax returns.

Wasn't this an episode of The Flintstones?

Lars The Canadian Viking: "National Department of Investigations?" WTF is that?

I'd suspect it's not too different than the "Federal Bureau of Investigation".

/RCMP maybe?

I read somewhere that 50% of all Dominican weddings end in Haitian divorce.

/obscure?

Maneck

Not in the US, they don't. US doesn't recognize Common-Law marriage. Or rather, the states within the US don't recognize it as legitimate.

ertai_lapis: Maneck

Not in the US, they don't. US doesn't recognize Common-Law marriage. Or rather, the states within the US don't recognize it as legitimate.

Most don't but some do. However, this isn't exactly the same as common law marriage, where the parties don't attempt to solimnize the relationship with a cerimony.