When we talked about What Are Secret Marriages? yesterday, Beth McHugh asked a fantastic question, one that I found I really wasn’t prepared to answer. So I went back to work on my research and now I have some answers to her question
Heather, did you notice in your research whether there is any record outside of a judge’s secret box? If you wanted to commit bigamy, this sounds like a foolproof way!
Secret Marriages
In 1972, Time Magazine published an article on secret love in California. Like Beth asked yesterday, they were concerned with the dangerous liaisons that could be supported by secret marriages. The article led with the following paragraph:
More than 20,000 couples will do something furtive in California this year—they will marry. State law allows confidential marriages with a minimum of fuss: no marriage license, no blood test, no three-day waiting period and, best of all, no public record that the marriage ever took place.
It seems Time Magazine shared Beth’s concerns. In California, the confidential marriage form is unavailable for inspection by anyone. You don’t have to show proof of dissolution for a previous marriage and it’s actually pretty easy for someone to use this form of marriage to commit bigamy.
The initial intent of passing a law allowing confidential marriages was apparently a moral one. Conservative lawmakers were looking for a way to encourage couples who were cohabitating to get married without having to go through expense, family notification or public embarrassment. The statute itself is 100 years old.
Clandestine Marriages
Clandestine marriages originated among European gentry when they wanted to marry someone of the lower classes. It was also not unheard of for a woman or man with considerable debt to enter into a clandestine marriage, pass off their debt and then abandon their new spouse with the debt. Situations with bigamy also occurred – specifically with a man seeking a clandestine marriage with a woman in order to earn her sexual favor and then abandoning her when he was done.
With no record of the clandestine marriage on the books, the man or the woman was free to pursue another marriage as he saw fit. Although if a woman kept open her sexual relations with a man without a public marriage on the record, a woman may find her reputation sullied. 100 years ago, that type of damage to a woman’s reputation was pretty grave.
In our modern world, it’s not all that uncommon for couples to live together without marriage – in fact, my husband and I did for three years before we were married.
Bigamy
Bigamy is a felony in 37 states. It’s a plot device on many television shows and it’s a problem that occurs whether a secret marriage is utilized or not. In fact, one of the things that I have discovered in the marriage laws of 20 states that I have researched already, there is little to no background check done when referring to a previous marriage.
You are required to bring proof of the dissolution of a previous marriage, but what if you say nothing about it? Unless you were married in that state previously and the County Clerk does a diligent search (usually involving contacting other counties) then chances are – you can get a marriage certificate in multiple states whether they offer a secret marriage option or not.
So do secret marriages pave the way for bigamists? Potentially, but as there is no national database of marriages in our country – that way is already cleared, bricked and ready to go.
Do you know anyone who was married secretly?
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