Under NRS 201.170, it is a Nevada felony to marry someone you know is already married. These types of marriages are bigamist and therefore void under Nevada law. Penalties include one to four years in prison.
In this article, our Las Vegas criminal defense attorneys discuss:
Marrying a married person in Nevada carries up to 4 years in prison and possibly a $5,000 fine.
1. Can I marry a married person?
No. Plural marriages have been prohibited in the U.S. since 1878.1
Similarly to other states, Nevada criminalizes bigamy, which is knowingly being married to more than one person simultaneously.2 Nevada law also prohibits the flip-side of bigamy, making it a crime for unmarried people to knowingly marry a married person.3
Note that marrying a married person is only a crime if you had knowledge that the other person already had a spouse:
Example: Gloria is dragging out her divorce from Kevin, who is anxious to marry Sue. Too impatient to wait any longer, Kevin lies to Sue that everything is final, and they get married in Las Vegas. Kevin is clearly guilty of bigamy since he married Sue while knowing he was still married to Gloria. Though Sue should not be convicted of any crime in Nevada because she married Kevin under the belief that he had gotten a divorce.
To summarize, the only people unmarried people who may legally marry in Nevada are other unmarried people. A married person remains married unless it is ended by:
- divorce,
- annulment, or
- death.
If you marry a married person, that bigamist marriage is automatically void, and the first marriage remains valid.
It is not a crime in Nevada to marry a married person if you had no idea the other person was already married.
2. Defenses
The best way to defend against Nevada charges of marrying the spouse of another turns on the circumstances of the case. In our experience, three typical defense strategies are:
First Marriage Is Over
Adults are free to marry in Nevada as long as any previous marriages have ended by:
- divorce,
- an annulment, or
- the spouse’s death.
If you can produce divorce papers, annulment papers, or a death certificate that shows your spouse was unmarried when you got married, the NRS 201.170 charges should be dropped.
First Marriage Was Never Valid
Adults are free to marry in Nevada if any previous marriages were void. If you can show that your spouse’s previous marriage was never legal to begin with, criminal charges should not stand. (Note that your spouse may face criminal charges for the void marriage if it involved incest or bigamy.4)
Lack of Knowledge of the Prior Marriage
The most common defense to charges of marrying another’s spouse is that you did not know that your spouse was already married.
Maybe you genuinely thought your spouse was divorced. Maybe the spouse tricked you by lying about their single status. Either way, if the prosecutor cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you intentionally entered into the bigamist marriage, the case should be dismissed.
Example: Tom leaves his wife Kai and moves to Henderson. There Tom meets Laila, who has no idea he is still married to Kai. Tom and Laila marry. If caught, Tom can get charged with bigamy, and Laila would get charged with marrying the spouse of another. Tommy could get convicted since he knowingly married Laila while still married. However, Laila committed no crime because she had no knowledge of Tom’s current marriage.
Note that in the above example, Tom and Laila’s marriage remains void even if both Tom’s and Laila’s charges get dropped. If Tom ever does formally divorce Kai, he and Laila would need to get married again for it to be legal.
Also note that Nevada law only punishes people for marrying married people if they knew when they exchanged vows that their spouse was already married. Finding out after the fact does not violate NRS 201.170. Though continuing to behave as though a bigamist marriage is legitimate could invite criminal charges such as fraud.
Marrying a married person if you believe they are single is no crime.
3. Penalties
Marrying a person who is already a spouse is a category D felony, which carries:
- 1 to 4 years in Nevada State Prison, and
- $5,000 in fines.
In addition, you are vulnerable to civil lawsuits such as for emotional distress.
Knowingly entering a bigamist union is against Nevada law.
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Bigamy, Religion, and the Law: the Sister Wives at Court – Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
- The Burden of Proof in Bigamy – The Modern Law Review.
- Bigamy, a Crime Though Unwittingly Committed – University of Cincinnati Law Review.
- Bigamy: Good Faith Belief in the Dissolution of a Former Marriage as a Defense – California Law Review.
- Autonomy, Imperfect Consent, and Polygamist Sex Rights Claims – California Law Review.