Was This Couple Married 0, 1, or 2 Times?


From in the present day’s choice of the New York appellate courtroom in Bernstein v. Benchemoun (Judges Valerie Brathwaite Nelson, Joseph A. Zayas, William G. Ford & Helen Voutsinas):

On February 7, 2013, the events had been married in a Jewish non secular ceremony in Florida. On the ceremony the events executed a non secular marriage contract, generally known as a ketubah, however they didn’t acquire a wedding license from the State of Florida. The events then got here to New York, the place they executed a second ketubah within the presence of a rabbi.

In 2018, the spouse sought a divorce, and the husband responded that the events had been by no means married. Husband wins, says the courtroom:

“The final rule is that the legality of a wedding ‘is to be decided by the legislation of the place the place it’s celebrated.'” Since 1967, Florida has required a wedding license for a wedding to be legitimate, and an individual solemnizing a wedding should require that the events to the wedding produce a wedding license. Accordingly, the events’ non secular marriage in Florida was not legitimate underneath Florida legislation and was not cognizable in New York.

Underneath New York legislation, a wedding isn’t void for the failure to acquire a wedding license if the wedding is solemnized. The plaintiff contends {that a} marriage was solemnized in New York when the events executed a second ketubah in New York, within the presence of a rabbi. Nevertheless, on the listening to, the rabbi who supervised the execution of the second ketubah testified that he by no means solemnized a wedding, and couldn’t have solemnized a wedding because the events had been already married underneath Jewish legislation. A discovering that there was a solemnized marriage would require an evaluation of non secular doctrine, which might offend the First Modification of america Structure. Thus, underneath the circumstances, the Supreme Courtroom couldn’t decide that there was a cognizable marriage in New York.

Congratulations to Martin E. Friedlander, who represents the husband.