You Won't Believe These 10 Weirdest Marriage Laws Are Still Legal in America

Did you know that in one US state, you can legally tie the knot without you or your partner even being in the same room? Most of us think of weddings as a standard mix of expensive cakes, awkward family dancing, and signing a piece of paper in front of an officiant. But when you dig into the legal codes of America, things get delightfully strange.

Every state has the power to regulate its own matrimonial rules, which has led to a treasure trove of unusual laws that have somehow survived the test of time. Whether they were written to solve specific 19th-century scandals or just created a bizarre modern loophole, the weirdest marriage laws in the country are as entertaining as they are baffling.

If you are planning to walk down the aisle鈥攐r if you just love exploring outdated laws that make zero sense today鈥攂uckle up. We are diving into the most ridiculous legal statutes regarding love, matrimony, and everything in between.

Dive Into the Weirdest Marriage Laws in the US

1. You Can Tie the Knot Without Either of You Being There

Where it applies: Montana

Planning a wedding is stressful, but Montana offers an incredibly efficient solution: just don't show up. It is the only state in the country that allows for a "double proxy" marriage. This means that neither the bride nor the groom actually has to be physically present to get married.

Instead, you can grant power of attorney to two designated stand-ins who will stand before the judge, say the vows, and sign the paperwork on your behalf. You could literally be sitting in your pajamas a thousand miles away while your hired proxies do the heavy lifting.

However, there is a catch to this wildly convenient loophole. The law was originally designed for members of the armed forces who are deployed overseas. Today, to qualify for a double proxy marriage in Montana, at least one person in the relationship must be on active military duty or be an active member of the Montana National Guard.

Source Reference: Montana Code Annotated 搂 40-1-301

2. You Can Sue Your Spouse's Lover for Stealing Their Heart

Where it applies: North Carolina

If you discover your partner has been unfaithful, your first instinct might be to call a divorce lawyer. But if you live in North Carolina, you can actually call a lawyer to sue the person your spouse cheated with. This is known as "alienation of affection."

Often referred to as the "homewrecker law," this legal tort treats love like a tangible asset. If a third party actively interferes with your happy marriage and "alienates" the affection of your spouse, you can take them to civil court for financial damages. You don鈥檛 even have to prove that a physical affair took place鈥攋ust that the person deliberately destroyed your marital bliss.

While most states abolished these "heart balm" laws decades ago, North Carolina is one of the few places where it is still aggressively practiced. Juries in the state have been known to award millions of dollars to scorned spouses.

[CALLOUT_START] In 2019, a man in North Carolina used the state's alienation of affection law to sue the man who had an affair with his wife. The astonishing part? The judge ruled in the scorned husband's favor and awarded him a whopping $750,000! Talk about the ultimate legal payback for a broken heart. [CALLOUT_END]

Source Reference: North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 52-13

3. You Can Annul Your Marriage If It Was a Truth-or-Dare Gone Wrong

Where it applies: Delaware

We have all heard stories of couples running off to Nevada for an impromptu Las Vegas wedding. Usually, waking up the next morning with regret means you are heading straight into a messy divorce. But in Delaware, the law gives you a remarkably specific "get out of jail free" card.

According to state law, you can have your marriage legally annulled if you can prove that it was entered into as a practical joke or a dare. As long as you did not consummate the union, the court will graciously pretend your reckless joke never happened.

This strange law exists because an annulment requires proving the marriage was never legally valid in the first place. By explicitly listing "jest or dare," Delaware lawmakers acknowledged that sometimes people do really stupid things for a laugh, and a lifelong legal contract shouldn't be the punchline.

Source Reference: Delaware Code Title 13 搂 1506

4. You Can Legally Marry Your Cousin, But Only for Retirement

Where it applies: Utah

It is a widely known fact that marrying your first cousin is illegal in most of the country. Consanguinity laws are strictly enforced to prevent genetic complications. However, Utah has a very specific and bizarre exception to this rule.

In Utah, you are perfectly allowed to marry your first cousin鈥攂ut only if both of you are 65 years of age or older. If you just can't wait that long, the state allows a slight discount: you can marry at 55, but only if you appear before a judge with a doctor's note proving that both parties are entirely infertile.

The logic behind this unusual law actually makes a strange sort of sense. Since the primary legal objection to first-cousin marriage is the risk of birth defects, Utah decided that once a couple ages out of their reproductive years, the state has no business stopping their family reunion romance.

Source Reference: Utah Code 搂 30-1-1

5. It Is a Literal Crime to Fake a Marriage Proposal for Seduction

Where it applies: South Carolina

Dating apps are full of people telling lies to get a date, but in South Carolina, one specific dating lie can land you in serious legal trouble. It is considered a criminal offense for a man to seduce a woman by falsely promising to marry her.

The statute, titled "Seduction under promise of marriage," classifies this deceptive behavior as a misdemeanor. If found guilty, a modern-day Casanova could face fines or up to a year in jail for playing with someone's heart just to get them into bed.

This is one of those highly outdated laws from the 19th century when an unmarried woman's "virtue" was fiercely protected by the state. While it is rarely enforced today, it technically remains on the books, meaning sweet-talking liars in South Carolina are operating outside the law.

Source Reference: South Carolina Code of Laws 搂 16-15-50

6. You Can Have Your Dog Serve as Your Official Witness

Where it applies: Colorado

If you don't want to hire an ordained minister or a judge to officiate your wedding, you should probably head to the Rocky Mountains. Colorado is famous for allowing "self-solemnization," meaning you and your partner can legally marry yourselves.

You don't need an officiant, and you don't even need human witnesses. You can simply pick up your marriage license, hike to a beautiful mountain peak, say your vows to one another, and sign the document.

Because the state doesn't require official witness signatures, many couples choose to have their pets "sign" the marriage certificate. It is a massive trend in Colorado to use an ink pad to stamp your dog's paw print right on your legal wedding documents. It is arguably the most adorable bizarre law in America.

Source Reference: Colorado Revised Statutes 搂 14-2-109

7. You Can Annul a Marriage if Your Spouse Hid a Felony

Where it applies: Virginia

Trust is the foundation of any good marriage, but Virginia takes that concept to a very literal, legal level. If you find out your new spouse has some major skeletons in their closet, you don't have to file for a messy divorce鈥攜ou can just get an annulment.

Specifically, the law states that a marriage can be voided if one party discovers that their spouse was a convicted felon before the wedding, and they deliberately kept it a secret. The same applies if one partner secretly worked as a prostitute before tying the knot.

There is a catch, though. If you discover your spouse's secret criminal past and decide to voluntarily continue living with them afterward, you forfeit your right to the annulment. The state assumes you have accepted their past, so you are stuck doing the time with them.

Source Reference: Virginia Code 搂 20-89.1

8. Cheating on Your Spouse Can Technically Land You in Prison

Where it applies: Michigan

Most people view cheating as a massive moral failure, but Michigan law views it as a felony. That's right鈥攕tepping out on your spouse is not just grounds for divorce; it is technically a crime against the state.

Under Michigan penal code, adultery is classified as a Class H felony. If prosecuted, a cheating spouse could technically face up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The person they cheated with can also be charged, meaning a clandestine affair carries serious legal weight.

Of course, local prosecutors are not wasting their time tracking down cheating husbands and wives. The law is a relic of Puritanical times and is essentially never enforced today. However, because it has never been officially repealed, cheating remains a major criminal risk.

Source Reference: Michigan Penal Code 750.30

9. You Can Hide Your Marriage from the Public Record Completely

Where it applies: California

Usually, when you get married, the license becomes a matter of public record. Anyone who wants to do a background check can find out if you are legally hitched. But California allows couples to bypass the public eye entirely by obtaining a "confidential marriage license."

This type of license requires the couple to currently be living together as spouses. Once signed, the marriage record is sealed and can only be accessed by the couple themselves or via a court order.

The history of this unusual law dates back to the 1880s. It was created to allow unwed couples who were already living together to get married secretly, preventing the social scandal of their local church finding out they had been "living in sin." Today, it is mostly used by celebrities who want to keep the paparazzi away from their private relationship status.

Source Reference: California Family Code 搂 500

10. Adultery Was a Misdemeanor Until 2024

Where it applies: New York

If you think these bizarre laws are all ancient history, just look at New York. For over a century, adultery was officially listed as a misdemeanor crime in the Empire State. The law was originally passed in 1907 as a way to curb "moral decay."

For decades, the only way a couple could get a divorce in New York was if one party proved the other had committed adultery. Because adultery was also a crime, people were literally admitting to a misdemeanor just to end their marriages.

Incredibly, this law stayed on the books until 2024, when the state legislature finally voted to repeal it. The governor signed the bill, officially decriminalizing infidelity and removing one of the state's most outdated laws from the books forever.

Source Reference: New York State Senate Bill S8744

Why Do We Still Have These Bizarre Relationship Laws?

The legal system moves incredibly slowly, which is why so many strange laws remain untouched. Unless a bizarre statute actively harms citizens or gets challenged in a high-profile court case, state legislatures rarely bother wasting time and money to repeal them. They simply sit in dusty law books, waiting for curious internet readers to find them.

Marriage is wild enough without throwing double proxies, dog paw prints, and homewrecker lawsuits into the mix! If you know of any other weird laws from your hometown, we would love to hear about them. Keep exploring our state-by-state guides to uncover more legal absurdities hiding in plain sight.

FAQ: The Weirdest Marriage Laws Explained

Q: Are these weirdest marriage laws actually enforced today? A: Most of the truly strange ones, like criminalizing seduction or adultery, are rarely enforced and serve only as historical oddities. However, laws like North Carolina's alienation of affection are still actively used in high-stakes civil lawsuits.

Q: Why do states keep outdated laws on the books? A: Removing a law requires a formal legislative process involving drafting a bill, debating it, and getting it signed by a governor. Because this takes time and taxpayer money, politicians usually ignore harmless, outdated laws rather than actively repealing them.

Q: Can I get married in one state under a bizarre law but live in another? A: Yes! Under the legal doctrine of the Full Faith and Credit Clause, a marriage that is legally performed in one state (like a self-solemnized wedding in Colorado) must be recognized as valid by every other state in the country.

Q: What state has the most unusual laws for relationships? A: It is a tight race, but Utah and Delaware frequently top the list due to their highly specific annulment clauses and unique consanguinity rules.

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Disclaimer: The laws featured in this article are presented for entertainment purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, laws change frequently and vary by jurisdiction. Nothing on WeirdLaws.us constitutes legal advice. Always consult a qualified attorney for guidance on any legal matter.