marraige law help

[honeyblossom]

my current boyfriend married in spain, he tells me he is not legally shown as married in the uk and has asked me to marry him .is this correct as i cant finf any info

[FantasticFirefly]

http://spain.angloinfo.com/family/marriage-partnerships/marriage-registration/

Does this help you?

[honeyblossom]

no dont understand , he is british so is she, they were married in spain, but he said it was never made legal in the uk, so he can marry me next year in the uk. im worried as it may be illegal to marry me and is bigamy

[mylittleponylover92]

Personally, I wouldnt since he would never be truly your husband, there would always be someone else there....for me that kinda defeats the point!

Hope you manage to work things out!

[kaoskat]

Personally, I wouldnt since he would never be truly your husband, there would always be someone else there....for me that kinda defeats the point!

Hope you manage to work things out!

This. Even if it is perfectly legal I would not be comfortable with my husband being married to someone else in any country (which presumably in Spain, he and this other girl are married).  It's up to you of course but if it were me, I'd insist his marriage in all other countries be ended before I'd even consider that step. If I'm going to be only married and commited to a man, he's going to be only married and commited to me. I deserve the same level of commiment and devotion I'm giving. If nothing else, she would still have some claim on him and could potentially cause legal and financial issues for you and your new family even if everything was legal.

The website FantasticFirefly linked says this:

If I get married in Spain, will my marriage be valid in the UK?
Please see the Foreign and Commonwealth website for further information about the validity of your marriage in the UK.

I dunno what website it's talking about, since I'm not in the UK, but maybe you do. That would maybe be where you need to check to see if his marriage to the other girl is legal in the UK. Did they not register their marriage or something? It says they need to register their marriage within a week in order for it to be recognized. I hope you can figure things out. This is a big step. You need to make sure you are completely comfortable with your choice, no matter what you find out. Best of luck!

[LadyMoondancer]

I have a hard time believing that his marriage wouldn't be considered legally married in the UK when he was married in Spain.   I would try and find a local pro bono (free) lawyer in your country to give you advice.

[joce]

 He needs divorced in whatever country he was married in. Can't just move and get married somewhere else.

[Cumberbatch2012]

He needs to get divorced first and if that means a trip back to Spain to do it, so be it.  I agree with what everyone has said here. 

[Sebby6]

I have a hard time believing that his marriage wouldn't be considered legally married in the UK when he was married in Spain.   I would try and find a local pro bono (free) lawyer in your country to give you advice.

Trust me. We have the same thing. We got married in Denmark and when we got back to the UK we thought we had to go and tell them or something, but our local registry office didn't want the info as the wedding didn't take place there and there is no offical register.
We also don't have a clue where we stand if we were ever to divorce, but my best guess is that we'd have to do it in Denmark.

[Eviecorn]

I'd definitely seek the advice of a lawyer on this one.  He may need to go to Spain to get the divorce.  Good luck!  This is a tricky situation at best.

[Stormness_1]

I'm pretty sure that could still be considered bigamy, and even it isn't legally enforceable, what if something happened to him? what if he ended up in a coma (heaven forbid) would she have the right to pull the plug, whether or not there was a chance of recovery? What if this happened overseas, which wife would have rights? Would your marriage be deemed legal even in that case? It's simply not worth it, tell him to go back to spain and get a divorce if he really loves you - you deserve at least that much!

[SnorkMaiden]

Marriage laws are different from country to country, and they can be pretty difficult to understand. Why don't you check with your local register office or the Citizens Advice Bureau? If they can't help you, contact the Spanish embassy. In any case, this needs to be sorted before you can even think of getting married yourself. Good luck!

[Vintergatan]

I wasn't aware that if you're married in one European country,, it wouldn't be recognized in another :O especially since they are both EU, but I guess it does depend on the country. Either way, to be on the safe side I would think he needs to get a divorce. Even if the UK doesn't recognize the marriage ,other countries might and that might be a problem for you in the long run (say you move or something)

[melodys_angel]

It sounds like you have some solid advice, hun.  Best of luck <3

[zabe77]

I would go to the Foreign and Commonwealth website and contact someone from there and ask for starters. There may be an agreement between the two countries that he isn't aware of, so you want to be sure to ensure your marriage will be valid. I would check with a lawyer as suggested too, to ensure the woman he married in Spain won't be able to still have some sort of claim on him somehow.

Best of luck!