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When NY passed marriage equality, I wondered whether it would be legal for Kate and I to marry there when it is enacted next month. Our legal Canadian marriage was recognized in NY long before New Yorkers won the freedom to marry on Friday.
Oddly, when I asked the question on Twitter and Facebook, many people (not claiming to be attorneys), weighed in about half “yes’ and half “no.” That suggests some additional information needs to get out there.
It appears that the answer is no.
Listed below is the information you will need to fill out the Marriage License Application:
In terms of obtaining a Canadian divorce, it is required that at least one spouse needs to live in Canada for one year before it can be granted.
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Lambda Legal has a “Marriage Equality for Same-Sex Couples in New York” document with FAQs. In it, the answer about remarrying your spouse is a bit different:
Can my partner and I get married now in New York if we were married in some other jurisdiction?In the past, years many New York same-sex couples have gone to other jurisdictions that allow same-sex couples to validly marry and have gotten married there. These marriages have been entitled to legal respect in New York, just as many out-of-state marriages of dif erent-sex couples that could not be entered into in New York are nonetheless given legal respect here.
If you and your partner validly married in another jurisdiction, you are already a married couple in New York and your marriage should be fully respected here. You do not need to marry again in New York.
If for some reason you are still interested in re-marrying your spouse in New York, the marriage laws in New York permit this, but you would be well advised to consult a private attorney or contact Lambda Legal’s Help Desk before you take this step to determine if it could carry legal complications for your family.
So that leaves the status of our getting married in NY a bit fuzzy. Clearly we could have a re-commitment ceremony, but getting hitched in the Empire State is still an open question.
If we are able, it would be awesome to do it again w/friends and family this time (only my brother Tim attended). Sadly, both marriages would still be meaningless in NC…just the way Obama likes it – “states’ rights,” right, Mr. President?
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BTW, Kate and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary on July 1. We legally married at a B&B in Vancouver, BC. In 2004, we couldn’t marry anywhere in the U.S.; Massachusetts did not allow non-resident/out-of-state marriages at that time, and the small window to do so in California had passed. It’s all quite amazing how the political and social landscape has changed since then.
UPDATE: if you now try that Lambda Legal link you receive: “This content is not longer available. Marriage Equality for Same-Sex Couples in New York is no longer on our site. Visit the Publications page for a complete listing of our current publications.”
There is not an updated document on the site yet, so my assumption is that the page being pinged a lot made someone at LL pull it until there is a vetted update to share.
16 Comments
NOT “meaningless”
While I know you meant this in a “legal” sense, it’s still not true. Your marriage is meaningful to you and your friends, and it’s still honored among people who can do so (hospital visitation, family gym memberships, etc).
Your marriage is meaningful to me, too.
As for re-marrying your currency spouse, it does differ from state to state. But you wouldn’t need to get divorced in Canada. Any state that honors the marriage (legally) and grants divorces should grant a divorce to you. Some may have shorter waiting periods, I don’t know. Also check with GLAD. Most of GLAD’s area (New England) offers marriage, and they’ve had a fair bit of experience with the matter.
re marryingThere is nothing in the marriage license application that would seem to stand in the way of your marrying in New York. If your concern is the question about marital history or the question about spouses, this is to prevent bigamy — where your intended spouse is your current spouse there is no bigamy so there is no impediment.
You can divorce in any jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage. At least one state (and I can’t remember which) refused to hear a divorce petition from a same sex couple b/c, it reasoned, this would be to recognize such marriages (and either the court was unwilling to do so or there was a state DOMA law or constitutional amendment — again I don’t remember).
You might want to contact the County Clerk in the county where you would like to marry. I’m betting that there are a lot of other couples — especially residents of New York who went to MA or CT or even Canada to marry — who share your desire and are asking the same question.
As a non-lawyer, my answer would be No, you cannot be remarried in NYYour Canadian marriage is legal and binding: it simply is not recognized in much of the US. That does not make it invalid.
Huh?It almost seems you regard your Canadian marriage as just dress-up-for-play. Sorry, kids, it’s the real thing.
If you want to have a non-legal “vows renewal” shindig in New York, go for it. But don’t diss Canada. You’ve been legal spouses for seven years, North Carolina and the federal government be damned.
If by the the final answer is NO …..why not come to New York and renew your vows as de straights do.
Better yet come across the stateline to CT, I’d love to come to a wedding … O’s & X’s.
No, our Canadian marriage isn’t dress-up-for-playI know that our Canadian marriage is legal in NY. The question was simply an honest one – what is the status of being able to marry in NY if you were married elsewhere. It’s a valid question now, considering about half of people respond Yes, and the other half No. That means a whole lot of people are wrong, so factual information needs to get out there.
This was raised mostly because my NY friends and family didn’t attend our legal wedding and in the wake of the vote, I had several cousins say “come up and get married!” Of course we can renew our vows there; but that wasn’t the question. Even Lambda Legal cautions those considering trying to remarry your spouse in NY to consult an attorney.
It’s odd that several people think I’m dissing Canada, or want to throw a frivolous party. It’s not like it would stop us from renewing our vows because we don’t get a NY-issued license. It was merely to know the answer since I know we’re not the only people seeking clarity on the matter.
I think our major concern at this stage would be having the money to actually throw the party, lol – so many people (and readers in the area) would like to be there. Maybe I should pull a Starr Jones and get corporate sponsorship. LOLOLOL.
I’m guessing the “consult an attorney” adviceis at least partially to insure that the spouse in a binational couple who isn’t American and is here on a visa doesn’t get the boot from ICE. A marriage to an American conducted in the USA when you’re here on a visa can be taken as “proof” by ICE that you intend to overstay your visa and so a reason not to renew the visa.
“Vow Renewing” is not marriageIt’s an event to declare love and, maybe, have a party. That’s fine. But it’s no more a legal event than is a “commitment ceremony” in any of the 44 states that disallow marriage.
Again, I see no logical reason to want to marry again except because you think Canadian marriages don’t count as much a New York marriages — which almost sounds like a right-wing declaration of “American exceptionalism.”
Oh, in case you’re wondering, my wife and I were married in Canada in July 2003, and have had absolutely no impulse to go to any American state to “renew” those vows. Marriage in Canada (or South Africa, or Spain, or in any of several other countries with marriage equality) is absolutely and utterly and unequivocally marriage.
Probably notIt’s doubtful if a gay couple married elsewhere could remarry in their own state where it is legal, since their current marriages are recognized in six states but not in the remaining 44. Similarly, I doubt if even a straight couple could remarry if they were married outside the country. The U.S. recognizes almost every hetero marriage performed in other countries. What both orientations could have is a renewal of vows ceremony presided over by a Justice of the Peace or some other person so authorized. I’ve attend two of them for straight couples. Its very much like a marriage ceremony in many ways and vows can be exchanged and renewed.
You are already legally married in NYand have been for years – you don’t want to give that up.
I would suggest that on your anniversary you have a recommittment ceremony and invite your friends in NY
The answer is a qualified “yes.”I am a lawyer in New York. The law in New York does not prohibit an already-married couple from renewing their vows. You do not need a new license. Technically speaking, since you would essentially be renewing your vows, you would not even need to have an officiant who is authorized to perform weddings in New York.
(I actually performed two weddings – one for a couple of lesbian friends in the Bronx, to celebrate their official domestic partnership – since it was not a “legal” wedding at the time, I could perform the ceremony. The other was for a straight couple who had officially gotten married by a Supreme Court justice, but wanted a service to be performed at their reception on a lake in Putnam County. In both cases I assisted the happy couples with writing their ceremonies (I also wrote the ceremony for my wedding with Trudy, which was a blend of Catholic and Jewish traditions presided over by a Unitarian minister.)
Your valid Canadian marriage was fully recognized under New York law even before the marriage bills were passed, though the extent of that recognition was not perfectly clear before the passage of the marriage bills (i.e., in many cases it was like pulling teeth to get insurance companies, etc. to recognize a same-sex marriage for their purposes – this should now get a lot easier).
Bloomberg says esThe Office of the NYC Mayor put out an advisory today that you can re-marry in NY. Go for it!
OopsMissed a Y above – the label should have said, “Bloomberg says Yes”
But why pay for another license here?I really don’t understand this at all. YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN CONSIDERED MARRIED HERE FOR MANY YEARS!
Joann..I called my health insurance company last year about this very issue because we were thinking about getting married in CT and then having it recognized here. They put up no fight or anything else. They quoted the law to me verbatim and would have honored our out of state marriage.
I am glad you had a good experienceI have had friends who had some difficulties, but in the end were recognized (the pulling teeth metaphor does imply success, just with some pain). Others had no problem at all.
For health insurance when we were getting it through Trudy’s former employer, we had to jump through a few more hoops than anyone in more “traditional” marriage would have. But we got that, it just took a number of faxes and phone calls.