Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
When is a divorce valid?
A man and a woman I know recently got married. They were both going through divorces from their previous spouses. The woman's divorce finalized before the wedding to her new husband but his didn't finalize until after their marriage. It turns out that the new wife realizes it was a mistake to get married and she wants out. Since he wasn't legally divorced before the marriage, are they legally married or is she off the hook. Any help you can provide would be a great help to her. Thanks!
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: When is a divorce valid?
The marriage is void ab initio. She is off the hook. If she knew he was not divorced at the time of the marriage, she could also be guilty of a Class 4 Felony . . . bigamy.
Re: When is a divorce valid?
In my previous posting I suggested the wife could be charged with bigamy. This is incorrect; only the husband could be charged, since only he would gave entered into two marriages without benefit of divorce.
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