Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

Re: Tried to marry a girl already married

With all your marryin', I'm surprised you aren't your own grandpa by now.

Whether the marriages are or are not valid depend on the laws of the various states involved and whether the marriages are viewed under that state's law as "void" (your marriage is viewed as if it never happened) or "voidable" (you or your "wife" has the right to go to court for an annulment). The courts would probably become involved only if there was a need to divide property or to decide child custody or inheritance issues. You might want to clear things up if you wanted to get married again (!) and you wanted to be able to tell your bride with certaintly that you are indeed unmarried. In my opinion, without knowing more, a mere mistake in filling out the marriage license form as to the number of times previously married should not invalidate the marriage assuming there are not other grounds (such as fraud) for annulling the marriage.

I would not brag to anybody about the bogus marriage you entered into, this might be viewed as immigration fraud and you could be prosecuted depending on how long ago this happened and whether the statute of limitations is up. You should see an attorney about possibly annulling or otherwise ending the marriage to the "girl" from Canada if that is what you want.

In the meantime, may I suggest you make a will so as to prevent your estate from being the subject of a cat fight between or among your various wives.