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My wife and I just got married in September. This past January, she found out she was still married to her previous husband in which she told me had gotten annulled. She is now officially divorced from the guy, so my question is: is our marriage legal?
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A person who is married cannot marry someone else. Bigamy is the act of marrying while a lawful spouse by a former marriage is still alive and the couple is not divorced. When a person who is married, marries someone else they commit the crime of bigamy, which in North Carolina is a felony. A person's belief that they were not married is immaterial to the crime of bigamy but can be used to mitigate sentencing. Under North Carolina General Statute 51-3, a marriage is void if one of the parties has a spouse still living and the party is not divorced from the spouse. There is no need for a person whose marriage is void to get a divorce or annulment because they are not married. Should a person with a void marriage want to be married to the person they believed they were married to prior to finding out the person was married to someone else, that person would need to get a new marriage license and remarry.
Answered on Mar 06th, 2012 at 3:10 PM