Legal Marriage In SL ?

I'm not planing one ( I am Married)
This popped in my head earlier today and i was wondering if anyone has got Married
for Real and Legal in Sl? I did a google and i think LL would have did a big press release if it ever did so i assume it has not happened Yet!

I'm not thinking about people who have met in SL "That would be so Cute"
But if i was single and married my boyfriend rented an island and invite family and friends have the Wife/Husband to be sign in and the Minister/JP and do it. Would someone be able to get Married in SL and have it be Real and Legal ?

Just wondering the first real legal PC game wedding sounds like fun and i want to be invited to it.

So who's up for it?

I doubt it. Marriage laws vary from State to State, and from country to country I assume.
Which states or country's laws would be in force. (Oh never mind....I have an idea whose laws could be thrown in there.... )

was along speculative thread on this a couple of years ago.

The conclusions was it is possible to do remote marriages in some states but both parties need witnesses who are legally able to do marriages.

I dont know if thats accurate - I dont know why someone would want to ruin their RL Wedding by doing it online only.

This is an interesting concept.

So presumably an online marriage performed in SL means that the husband and wife to be have absolutely no intention of ever meeting in RL. Maybe some changes to the traditional vows would be called for. Till death do us part? Or untill LL cancels one of the happy couple's account.

.... or until one of the couple makes an alt and pretends they left SL

If couples can get married while skydiving or underwater or ontop of a mountain, I see no reason why they couldn't do a SL 'stunt' marriage.

The betrothed, the minister, the witnesses, could all be physically in the same building, in the same room even, but all of them on their computers, networked and logged into SL. They could do an SL cerimony but also fulfil the local legal requirements, being all there in the same place in RL as well.

It'd probably get them 5 minutes on the local news, just like the ones who get married while skydiving, scuba diving, ontop of a mountain... etc.

-Atashi

I dont see how that marriage can ever be legal? Dont marriages have to be physically consummated? I dont mean sl avatar consummated either .

Elinah

In most if not all states in the US, there is no "ceremony" required for tying the knott. Marriage is a legal contract between the two parties, and it is effected by legal documentation for the most part. You aren't legally married just because the minister says "I now pronounce you man and wife"..

In California, it can be as simple as bride and groom going to the local county court house, and having the county clerk officiate a simple process, sign on the dotted line, pay the marriage license fee, etc, and on your merry way. No, there's no "marriage by proxy" in most jurisdictions - bride and groom must be present, in the same location, with a witness and an official authorized to solemnize the marriage.. but once that's all out of the way, I think a ceremony in Second Life would be a really neat idea.

I don't think it is possible at this moment, because there is no legal identity verification as of yet. You can't legally sign a marriage contract if there is no certainty about your identity, authorities need to know who they are marrying. I very much doubt if the use of any credit card would be accepted as proof of identity here.

Apart from that it all depends on whether the state where LL is located stipulates a need for the couple to be physically present while tying the knot.

You can by the way circumvent these issues: have a ceremony in real life, sitting at your laptops, and stream the sound of the ceremony to your wedding party in SL. That way you can still invite guests from all over the world to your legally binding wedding.

I almost did that very thing but decided against it

me and my hubby met in SL, then met in RL and are now together and married in RL

we discussed the possibility of having the clergy and friends and family sign in, and also have out online friends attend the wedding as well.

In RL the clergy friends and family would be present to make it a legal and binding wedding

but we decided to do a small informal wedding in RL instead

In Colorado, it is not the states that decide the rules but the counties. When my long-time live-in sweetie and I decided to get married, we found that we didn't need witnesses, just had to show up at the Recorder's office with our driver's licenses. So ID's were needed, and presumably physical presence as well. The marriage clerk took our wedding picture for us.

But it would be a nice thing, if the bride and groom were in one RL place, and they could invite all their friends and family who might be far away and/or have difficulty traveling to meet them in SL at the same time.

Yeah, our County Recorder should install several computers that can log into SL! Then marriage clerk, bride, and groom can all log in at the same time even though sitting next to each other.

But would the SL attendees be able to really believe it? They wouldn't be able to see it with their own eyes, heh.

*streams from a webcam*