What are the laws regarding polygamy in US

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Not sure what you're linking to, but polygamy laws vary by state in the US. The only thing that would override state law would be a Supreme Court ruling or an amendment to the Constitution, which are both exceedingly rare. What is legal in one state might be illegal or not legally addressed in another.

When you post links, it's often helpful to also post a pertinent quote from your link. Many people won't click on a blind link.
 
It is illegal in the state of Florida for an unmarried couple to shack up together. That law is not usually enforced. It's from the 1800's and meant to fight polygamy...or polyamory because polygamy is already illegal. Last I heard they were trying to repeal it. It is unconstitutional...and plain stupid.

I think there are two other states with those laws still on the books. One is Michigan. I don't remember the other one.

I don't think anti-prostitution laws have any relevancy here though.
 
A topic that always recurs -- in part, I think, because it beats actually doing research.:p

There's all sorts of laws on the books. The question is whether it's of any interest to be pursued by the cops, Housing Bureau, sanitation, etc. Usually, these are only used as "add on" charges. For example, a housing inspector once told me that the "three pets per house" laws are bunk, & she never even thinks of writing them up UNLESS the place is already a trash pit, then she added proudly, "and I have FOUR cats!":)

Up until fairly recent, in Minneapolis it was (technically) illegal for four or more women to live in the same domicile, because that constituted a "bawdy house" or "house of assignation" -- whorehouse, that is. But it happened all the time because big chunks of the city are dominated by college-student housing.

When I moved to New Mexico, it was illegal for an unmarried (one assumes sexually intimate) couple to cohabitate. This was revoked in 2003.

(But apparently it's ALWAYS been technically legal to carry handguns so long as they're not concealed... AND women are allowed to appear bare-breasted in public -- an old concession to native tribes.)

Quickly: name a state where it's legal to marry a 14-year-old girl without obtaining the permission of a court or her parents so long as she's previously been married.

:D
 
Florida is one of the states where a 14 year old could get married if they've been married before. I'm guessing Utah is another.
 
Florida is one of the states where a 14 year old could get married if they've been married before. I'm guessing Utah is another.

I don't know if it's Utah, they're trying very hard to get away from even the appearance of condoning polygamy. When my 17 year old niece was getting married, my sister took her in to get her Utah marriage license. Because my sister is divorced from my niece's dad, they had to go back with both parents to sign as approving the marriage. It just would seem weird to me such a strict law exists for getting a minor a marriage license if their parents are divorced side by side with a law that a 14 year old doesn't need her parents' permission to get married if she's been married before. Anything is possible though.
 
It is illegal in the state of Florida for an unmarried couple to shack up together. That law is not usually enforced. It's from the 1800's and meant to fight polygamy...or polyamory because polygamy is already illegal. Last I heard they were trying to repeal it.

When I lived in Florida it seemed the main stumbling block to repealing the law was the fear that illegal immigrants would pile up 20 to a house in places like Miami where housing is expensive. Some people in Florida really, really hate immigrants.
 
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Hi pluver,

Re (from OP):
"What are the laws regarding polygamy in the U.S.?"

To that question, the answer is pretty simple; polygamy is illegal in the United States. That is, you are not allowed to marry more than one person. Now what the penalties are probably varies from state to state.

Re: the laws regarding *polyamory* ... are a more complicated matter, but my impression is that the Law (in the U.S. -- and many other countries) frowns on polyamory in theory, while generally ignoring polyamory in practice. You would have to do something to piss off the authorities before they'd pursue you for any polyamory-related infraction.

Sometimes polyamory can be conflated with polygamy. Such as a polyamorous relationship that *looks* like a marriage; such as, a wedding ceremony minus the legal document, or, cohabitation. Although so many unmarried people live together these days, it's another situation where something might be considered illegal but the authorities would be reluctant to interfere with it.

If someone started marrying child brides, they would soon be neck deep in hot water. And that concludes the entire corpus of what I know about poly laws.

Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
I did a lot of reading on this subject. Here's a thread I made a couple years ago.

http://www.polyamory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70389&highlight=Moving+poly+laws

The state I live in now is pretty awesome (Maryland). Of course it is anti-polygamy, but that's just the legal paperwork, and strangely enough, having any sort of ceremony that looks like a wedding. So when I had a handfasting with my second husband, we did it in Virginia. :)
 
Hi pluver,

Re (from OP):


To that question, the answer is pretty simple; polygamy is illegal in the United States. That is, you are not allowed to marry more than one person. Now what the penalties are probably varies from state to state.

Re: the laws regarding *polyamory* ... are a more complicated matter, but my impression is that the Law (in the U.S. -- and many other countries) frowns on polyamory in theory, while generally ignoring polyamory in practice. You would have to do something to piss off the authorities before they'd pursue you for any polyamory-related infraction.

Sometimes polyamory can be conflated with polygamy. Such as a polyamorous relationship that *looks* like a marriage; such as, a wedding ceremony minus the legal document, or, cohabitation. Although so many unmarried people live together these days, it's another situation where something might be considered illegal but the authorities would be reluctant to interfere with it.

If someone started marrying child brides, they would soon be neck deep in hot water. And that concludes the entire corpus of what I know about poly laws.

Sincerely,
Kevin T.
I am talking about practical polygamy. Polygamy is of course illegal but that can be avoided by simply not registering your marriage.

So polyamory where the children are raised and a rich sugar daddy is financially supporting 2-3 women is practical polygamy on my book. Most men wants a few.

As for prostitution. I am a sugar daddy. Not an issue in my country. However, I want to know how US did it.

Also I am an atheist. But I've heard the muslims in US have access to shariah court or something.
 
Hmmm, do Muslims in the United States have access to shari'a court? I am skeptical about that, this is the first time I've heard of it. I don't think you can be penalized in the United States for being atheist (in case that's relevant).

I don't know what the exact laws are, but I'm assuming one could be a sugar daddy in the United States and get away with it. Unless it's a state with rules regarding adultery and/or cohabitation.

Prostitution is illegal here -- with the exception of Nevada, and I don't know whether there are any other exceptions. I think that living together ... or financially supporting someone ... oddly would not be considered a kind of prostitution.
 
Hmmm, do Muslims in the United States have access to shari'a court? I am skeptical about that, this is the first time I've heard of it. I don't think you can be penalized in the United States for being atheist (in case that's relevant).

I don't know what the exact laws are, but I'm assuming one could be a sugar daddy in the United States and get away with it. Unless it's a state with rules regarding adultery and/or cohabitation.

Prostitution is illegal here -- with the exception of Nevada, and I don't know whether there are any other exceptions. I think that living together ... or financially supporting someone ... oddly would not be considered a kind of prostitution.
The muslims may have access to Sharia court, however, it may not be officials. US allows any contracts and contracts can stipulate when we have dispute we go to this court or that private court. So Sharia court is just a sample of private court that is very legal in US. Of course this causes quite a stir.

I am not a muslim but I think their marriage laws are much more flexible than christians.

I am a sugar daddy in Indonesia. I have one sugar baby that live with me and another that's going to.

The trick is, while my purpose is not normal prostitution, that is, my sugar babies have high IQ and I plan to have children with them, the amount of fraud and scam in sugar relationship is so big that the best way, at least the one I know off, to prevent scam is to do PPM first. That PPM is a bit like prostitution. It's legal here because prostitution is legal. Not sure in US

I usually pay women to do Math tests and then IQ tests. Then I pay them to give me hand job to get to know them to start relationship. Sometimes we do nude party. Or we interview. Yes the women do it for money, at first. After a while, we tend to like each other more and I honestly love my sugar baby. I think they love me too. And I think our relationship is more solid than most marriage. Now I have 2 mistresses I am not "hungry" for sex anymore.

After a while they live with me and I financially support them and give a bit allowance. My son has 2 baby sitters. They live pretty comfortable life and I have very smart children.
 
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Sharia court would be legal in the US, but for the most part religious law does not supercede political law (there are exceptions). So, even if polygamy is legal in a certain religion, it has to be done a specific way to make it legal with the government (like only one legal marriage, the rest being symbolic/spiritual, only claiming the legal spouse on legal documents, etc. Some states even make it illegal to call more than one person spouse but not all).

Prostitution is illegal pretty much everywhere here (outside of a handful of legal brothels). So including any sex acts in a contract is going to make the contract unenforceable. Exchanging goods or money for any sex act would be illegal. Sugar relationships skirt this line by having the contractual expectations be non sexual tasks with the sexual obligations being a verbal add on that wouldn't appear in court if a contract dispute or an investigation into the activity happened.

Having more than one sugar baby, having kids with more than one woman, etc isn't going to qualify as polygamy unless y'all are presenting yourselves as married.
 
Re (from pluver):
"The Muslims may have access to sharia court, however, it may not be official. The United States allow any contracts, and contracts can stipulate, when we have dispute, we go to this court or that private court. So sharia court is just a sample of private court that is very legal in the United States. Of course this causes quite a stir.
I am not a Muslim but I think their marriage laws are much more flexible than Christians."

You seem to be saying that a Muslim in the United States can invoke sharia law, and in that way, bypass the standard anti-polygamy laws, and thus legally marry at least two or three women. The only catch, I guess, would be, that he would have to make enough money to support all of his wives.

Am I wrong in saying this?
 
Re (from pluver):


You seem to be saying that a Muslim in the United States can invoke sharia law, and in that way, bypass the standard anti-polygamy laws, and thus legally marry at least two or three women. The only catch, I guess, would be, that he would have to make enough money to support all of his wives.

Am I wrong in saying this?
My guess is muslims or ANYONE can invoke any private courts when they make contracts.
Private court can be pretty abusive. However, agreement to settle disputes in private courts first hold

Something like this

And no I do not mean legally married. I think legally married is just nonsense for a libertarian like me. I hate government so much and make them have more authority over me voluntarily is just stupid.
 
Sharia court would be legal in the US, but for the most part religious law does not supercede political law (there are exceptions). So, even if polygamy is legal in a certain religion, it has to be done a specific way to make it legal with the government (like only one legal marriage, the rest being symbolic/spiritual, only claiming the legal spouse on legal documents, etc. Some states even make it illegal to call more than one person spouse but not all).

Prostitution is illegal pretty much everywhere here (outside of a handful of legal brothels). So including any sex acts in a contract is going to make the contract unenforceable. Exchanging goods or money for any sex act would be illegal. Sugar relationships skirt this line by having the contractual expectations be non sexual tasks with the sexual obligations being a verbal add on that wouldn't appear in court if a contract dispute or an investigation into the activity happened.

Having more than one sugar baby, having kids with more than one woman, etc isn't going to qualify as polygamy unless y'all are presenting yourselves as married.
In my country, prostitution is legal and hence men can make contract explicit.

In sugar relationship it's good to start with normal pay per meet.

That being said, the most effective way to get women to do what you want is to simply not ordering her service anymore. My friend go even further and not paying if he feels she is treating her unfairly.

Me. I just move on.
 
Oh, so at least in the United States, you are not talking about legal marriage. That makes more sense. No need to involve the public court system. And even the involvement of a private court would be optional. You could just write up a piece of paper that says, we're married ... or even skip the paper and just declare your marriage verbally. I suppose, though, that writing up a legal contract could protect both spouses from any abuses within the marriage.

It is amazing, to me, that prostitution is legal in Indonesia, and that you can set up a sugar daddy relationship using that law. It's definitely one advantage to living in Indonesia.

Question: What does PPM stand for?
 
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