DON'T DO IT - EPISODE ONE

[00:00:00]Hey everybody, in case you new here, I'm Jonathan Noble, divorce and family law attorney licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

[00:00:09]And today the topic of the video is don't do it, okay? Here's another thing that I get asked a lot and my response is almost always don't do it.

[00:00:23]This is having a religious wedding ceremony without getting a marriage license and thinking in the back of your head, I can't get divorced because we didn't go through the proper channels of getting married, I didn't get a marriage license, we only had a ceremony. Maybe had an ordained person uh perform the service, but I didn't go out and get a marriage license. And you know what? In 10 years, 15 years, when I don't want my partner anymore or if something bad happens, I could just say, "Hey, you can't divorce me cuz we were never married."

[00:00:57]That is a terrible strategy. Here's why.

[00:01:00]Because in many jurisdictions even without the license, if you hold yourself out as a married couple the jurisdiction is going to find that you're married, okay? As a matter of fact, in a lot of jurisdictions, especially to the north of the US, won't mention any provinces, but there's a bunch of them up there and a lot of states, too. If you just hold yourself out as married um without getting a license you're married. You don't want to take that chance. And even in jurisdictions that currently require a license, okay?

[00:01:37]If you don't have a license, you don't know what the law is going to be in 5 or 10 years.

[00:01:43]You don't want to be what? The case of first impression where in your jurisdiction you need a marriage license and then the person divorces you and you didn't get a marriage license and the court throws out the divorce complaint and they filed an appeal, and the appellate court says, "Hey, wait a second. They are really married. We're changing the law."

[00:02:04]What a disaster.

[00:02:06]So, here's the point of the video. If you're thinking about getting married, either do it the right way, or don't get married.

[00:02:14]There's no law that says you have to get married, okay? But, what I don't want to see happen is you get married, uh your bride is in the wedding dress, there's a lot of people, you hold yourself out as a married couple, maybe you have a child or two, and you act as their parents, she takes your last name, and then she files a divorce complaint.

[00:02:35]You may not be able to say, "Hey, I never got a marriage license."

[00:02:39]Bad strategy. Bad strategy. You don't want me on the other side of that case for you, okay?

[00:02:45]So, either get married in a way that's recognized by your jurisdiction, or just stay single.

[00:02:53]Now, that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms in terms of what is marriage, because in different jurisdictions, just living together for a certain length of time could view you as being married in the eyes of the law, and you don't want that, either.

[00:03:10]All right? You want to be intentional.

[00:03:12]Share this with somebody who's thinking about just having a ceremony and hoping for the best when it come time comes where they want to split up, or uh the person dumps them.

[00:03:24]Mhm. Mhm. Bad move.

[00:03:27]Be careful out there.