Is it illegal if three people in a relationship want to marry each other?

Legal Advice Off Topic
21

You could marry one person and date the other. But legally, you can’t be married to two people.

22

In the US, marriage is strictly one-to-one. So the three of you couldn’t all legally marry each other. Trying to marry more than one person is considered bigamy, which is illegal.

Some states also have laws against cohabitation in multi-person relationships, though they’re rarely enforced and often don’t hold up in court.

23

NAL

You can have a private commitment ceremony for the three of you if that’s what you want, but it won’t have any legal recognition.

There are ways to secure legal protections, though. For example:

  • Make both partners your Durable Power of Attorney for medical decisions.

  • Create a will.

  • Draft a contract that spells out how assets will be divided.

It won’t cover benefits like taxes or spousal retirement, though. Look up information on how domestic partnerships worked before same-sex marriage was legalized for more ideas.

24

In the US, no state allows you to be legally married to more than one person. You can only have one legal spouse. Open relationships are allowed, but legally it’s one partner at a time.

25

It’s only illegal from a paperwork perspective.

You could have a big group marriage without legal marriage. As far as the government’s concerned, you can only be legally married to one person.

26

Wei said:
It’s only illegal from a paperwork perspective.

You could have a big group marriage without legal marriage. As far as the government’s concerned, you can only be legally married to one person.

Marriage is only a legal status. Without legal paperwork, it’s as relevant as calling yourself a walrus.

27

@Nari
But common-law marriage still exists in some places without paperwork.

28

If you’re up for it, you could apply for a marriage license listing both partners and then sue when denied, arguing for a tripartite marriage based on equal rights.

It’s unlikely to work, but it would be an interesting legal challenge.

29

NAL. The DSM-5 mentions multi-partner relationships as potentially healthy, but laws don’t reflect that yet.

Challenges include:

  1. Defining domestic partnership.
  2. Inconsistent state laws.
  3. Healthcare and co-parenting rights.
  4. Almost all current laws are written for two-person relationships.

Harvard Law Review wrote about polyamorous partnership ordinances in 2022.

Would be interesting to see a case where someone argues for marriage equality based on bisexuality and wanting to marry both a man and a woman.

30

@Merrick
What would be the legal basis for that argument?