Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky
Senario; A couple gets married in City Hall, then follows that marriage up by getting rmarried again in a Catholic church. Now said couple wants to get a divorce, NOW I know the state can grant a divorce from the state portion of said marriage, but going by the 1970s ruling that seperated church and state. Would said divorce protect said couple if they got married again atho the state recognizes
a church marriage as a real binding marriage, and the only way out of that particular marriage is going thru the Vatican, and not disolvable by the state going by that 1970s law. Now my question comes into play, if said, one or both members get married again to other people could they be procuted by the state for bigomy? I'm going by the understanding that all states see a church marriage as a legal marriage.
2 Answers from Attorneys
The state doesn't care about, nor does it recognize, your church marriage or your church annullment. Your marriage is not legal unless you go down to the clerk's office and pay for your marriage license, have it filled out by whoever officiates (whether it is your priest or a magistrate), you both sign it along with witnesses, and subsequently filed with the county clerk. Your marriage is dissolved when you file a petition for dissolution of marriage in Circuit Court and the court enters a decree of dissolution. Anything else is between you, God and the Pope, the state of Kentucky doesn't care.
The Hon. Andrea Welker is entirely correct. You only have one legal marriage and that is the one where the license was signed. A divorce through Circuit Court in Kentucky ends that marriage in the eyes of man (and woman). It does not address whatever goes on in the spiritual realm, but courts are not concerned about that.
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