When is a Marriage not a Marriage?

A disturbing item of recent news is the proliferation of positive pregnancy tests for sale on craigslist and similar sites. Aside from the grossness factor of buying a stick someone urinated on, this practice raises some obvious and some not-so-obvious concerning scenarios. Are the potential purchasers of these positive tests looking to commit a prank, or actually trying to convince someone that they are pregnant?

If such a test was used to obtain a marriage proposal are their legal ramifications to that fraud? Fraud can carry criminal sanctions if the intent was to extort money or sex from someone, and can also result in actionable civil damages. Taken one step further, if the fraud resulted in a marriage, would that marriage be legal?

While there are ways in which a marriage can be void, fraud does not automatically void a marriage. However, since marriage is a contract it can be voidable. In other words a marriage can be annulled if the contract was entered into upon the innocent party's reliance on a fraudulent misrepresentation that the offending party intended to cause the marriage.

Void vs. Voidable

A void marriage is considered to have never happened, without a court having to annul it. Examples of issues with a marriage could cause it to be void are affinity or consanguinity (incest in violation of M.G.L. c. 207 s. 1 or 2), polygamy (marrying someone when you are already married in violation of M.G.L. c. 207 s. 4), and if the spouses are under a certain age (under common law when a wife is under 12 and husband is under 14).

A voidable marriage may be annulled by a court if a party can prove that the bases for the marriage contract is improper under common law, but a voidable marriage is not automatically void. One example of an improper bases is the example of fraud described above. If a spouse tricked the other spouse into marrying them based on a misrepresentation about being pregnant, then that marriage might be voidable. Since this is a decision based in a factual analysis of the circumstances, the court would likely also consider other factors. For example, if the marriage continued well beyond the original fraud, was consummated and affirmed in other ways then it might not be voidable after a certain point. These types of cases will rely heavily on the particular circumstances.

The possibility of defeating an annulment proceeding, however, should in no-way encourage anyone to defraud someone into marrying them.

In other words, don't buy a positive pregnancy test.

Comments

What is the purpose of the Divorce Nisi waiting period?

In Massachusetts the statutory waiting period after a Judgment of Divorce and before the divorce becomes final (or absolute) is called the Nisi period. After a divorce case settles or goes to trial, a Judgment of Divorce Nisi will issue and it will become Absolute after a further ninety (90) days. This waiting period serves the purpose of allowing parties to change their mind before the divorce becomes final. If the Judgment of Divorce Nisi has issued but not become final yet, and you and your spouse decide you don't want to get divorced, then you can file a Motion to Dismiss and the Judgment will be undone. Although many of my clients who are getting divorced think the idea of getting back together with their ex sounds crazy, I have had cases where this happened. In addition to offering a grace period to change your mind, the Nisi period has three other legal effects: 1. The most obvious effect of the waiting period is that you cannot remarry during the Nisi period, be

New Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines (2021): Big Changes, Little Changes, Typos & some Unexpected Results

UPDATE: The court has released a web calculating version of the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Worksheet . It resolves some of the typos referred to below, but the unexpected calculations still apply. Every four years, per federal mandate, the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court revisits the Child Support Guidelines through the work of a Task Force appointed by the Chief Justice. The 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines were recently posted. They take effect on October 4, 2021. If you are interested in a training on all of these changes to the new Child Support Guidelines: DMTA Presents the 2021 MA Child Support Guidelines Update – Attend this event to learn the key updates you need to know for your mediation clients. Presented by Justin Kelsey of Divorce Mediation Training Associates and Skylark Law & Mediation, PC . For a full comparison of all the tracked changes between the 2018 and 2021 Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines you can download a pdf sho

Online Tool for Creating Parenting Plans

It is our hope that all families find a way to resolve conflict peacefully. This is especially true when children are involved. Divorced or separated parenting has many complications and the first is just deciding how to share time with a child from two separate households. Developing a schedule can result in a lot of tension, especially if parents have trouble picturing how this new schedule will interact with their work schedules and the schedules of their children. To help make this easier, we've created an online tool for creating parenting plans that is simple and easy to use: We encourage parents, regardless of the process they are using to divorce, to use this form to assist in evaluating and settling custody disputes. The form allows you to choose between the Model Parenting Plan proposals or customize your parenting plan over a four week period by clicking directly on the form. When you click on a section of the calendar it switches between Mom and Dad, an

Search This Blog