How State Marriage Laws Differ?

Now this isn't a political question. I am just curious, so please no throwing around your political banter and whatnot.

How do the laws governing marriage in each state work? I mean if I get married in let's say, California-my home state-and I move to another state like Texas with my wife, my understanding is that I am not legally married to my wife in that state. So in other words, in order for my marriage to be declared valid in the state of Texas, I'd have to get re-married. Do I have this right?

So I am curious, are the states under any obligation to recognize marriages that are performed outside their respective state?

And if you can, please provide sources so that I may better research this. I've tried looking this stuff up but came out empty.

2011-10-11T22:53:04Z

EDIT: Do I have this down right*

2011-10-11T23:29:13Z

I was not talking about same-sex marriage....that is of no concern to me...sorry but I was talking about marriage in general.

Lynn Bodoni2011-10-11T23:06:24Z

Favorite Answer

You don't have that right, assuming that you're talking about marriage between a man and a woman.

My husband and I were married in Missouri. We've lived in a few other states, and we were considered married in all of them. We were even considered to be married in Spain. And we only had to get married the one time...states (and most countries) will recognized male/female marriages from other states and countries. We currently live in Texas, and Texas does recognize heterosexual marriages performed in other states.

Now, same sex marriages are not necessarily recognized by all states, or all countries. And in most countries, a polygamous marriage is not recognized. Only the first partner of each sex is recognized as being legally married to the first partner of the opposite sex. So, if a woman marries another woman, and then a man, and then yet another man, most countries would only recognize the first man as her partner.

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Ben2011-10-12T06:04:00Z

All states recognize heterosexual marriages from other states, however, some states have legislated bans against same-sex marriages and therefore do not recognize such a union performed in other states.

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