Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania no longer recognizes common law marriages unless the common law marriage occurred before 2005. Its legally impossible to be married to two people simultaneously. The second marriage would be bigamous if the first marriage, whether by common law or otherwise, is valid. The question is whether the second marriage was contracted for in good faith believing that the first marriage had been terminated by divorce or death. If it wasn't, it would open the man up to prosecution for bigamy.

If neither marriage was a valid common law marriage, there's no bigamy. But there's no marriage either.

Some helpful statutes:

23 Pa.C.S.A. � 1103 Common-law marriage

No common-law marriage contracted after January 1, 2005, shall be valid. Nothing in this part shall be deemed or taken to render any common-law marriage otherwise lawful and contracted on or before January 1, 2005, invalid.

23 Pa.C.S.A. � 1702 Marriage during existence of former marriage

(a) General rule.--If a married person, during the lifetime of the other person with whom the marriage is in force, enters into a subsequent marriage pursuant to the requirements of this part and the parties to the marriage live together thereafter as husband and wife, and the subsequent marriage was entered into by one or both of the parties in good faith in the full belief that the former spouse was dead or that the former marriage has been annulled or terminated by a divorce, or without knowledge of the former marriage, they shall, after the impediment to their marriage has been removed by the death of the other party to the former marriage or by annulment or divorce, if they continue to live together as husband and wife in good faith on the part of one of them, be held to have been legally married from and immediately after the date of death or the date of the decree of annulment or divorce.

(b) False rumor of death of spouse.--Where a remarriage has occurred upon false rumor of the death of a former spouse in appearance well-founded but there has been no decree of presumed death, the remarriage shall be void and subject to annulment by either party to the remarriage as provided by section 3304 (relating to grounds for annulment of void marriages), and the returning spouse shall have cause for divorce as provided in section 3301 (relating to grounds for divorce).

(c) Criminal penalties.--Where the remarriage was entered into in good faith, neither party to the remarriage shall be subject to criminal prosecution for bigamy.