[Retric]

The state doesn’t recognize such unions, but it doesn’t prohibit them either.

So you can’t have multiple marriage licenses, but you can legally hold a public polygamist civil ceremony followed by “cohabitation.”

Granted people want the legal befits of a recognized marriage rather than the state to treating it as two actors preforming a ceremony as part of a play. But such distinction are relevant when you say something is banned.

[scarface74]

https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/sister-wives-wi...

> If even one of the marriages is a legal, civil marriage, then Kody and the wives are probably guilty of bigamy under Utah's definition. The Utah Code states that a "person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband or wife or knowing the other person has a husband or wife, the person purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person." This is broad in three respects -- it criminalizes the behavior of both purported spouses, not just the one who is already married; it, as interpreted by the state's highest court, includes religious ceremonies undertaken without a civil license as falling under the heading of "purporting to marry"; and it criminalizes cohabitation (as well as actual marriage) with a second person while married to someone else.

[hellojesus]

Wouldn't the solution be to not marry anyone and solely cohabitate with your partners? Get power of attorney, etc. to close the gap on the marriage perks.

[scarface74]

A spouse is eligible to draw half of their spouses social security instead of their own if it would be a higher amount without affecting the working spouse’s social security.

[Retric]

There’s an actual court case you could look at. It was thrown out on appeal because the state didn’t prosecute them.

[scarface74]

You can’t minimize the chilling effect of being targeted and prosecuted by the government even if it is thrown out on appeal. Were they jailed during the appeal process? Were they allowed to leave the country or even state with a pending court case?

[Retric]

No to all of that, it was a civil not a criminal case.

The family brought the lawsuit, which was thrown out because they didn’t have standing. They lacked standing because the government hadn’t prosecuted them.

[nathan_compton]

There are federal laws against polygamy and laws against it in every state: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_polygamy_in_the_Un...

[Retric]

From the article you linked.

“On December 13, 2013, a federal judge, spurred by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups,[25] struck down the parts of Utah's bigamy law that criminalized cohabitation, while also acknowledging that the state may still enforce bans on having multiple marriage licenses.[26] The state of Utah appealed the decision, arguing that polygamist Kody Brown (whose relationships were documented in the show Sister Wives) lacked standing to bring his civil suit, since his county prosecutor, Jeff Buhman, had not followed through on any plan to prosecute the Brown family. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals (Denver) agreed with Utah and overturned the previous decision, thus effectively recriminalizing polygamy as a felony.[27]”

Of note, the state of Utah won the appeal because they didn’t bring action against the group rather than because the lower court’s decision was incorrect. Thus polygamy can remain illegal as long as nobody is ever prosecuted for it.

It also mentions: “Given that almost no polygamists bother to seek a second marriage license, the practice of forming a family with more than one spousal-styled relationship is very difficult to criminalize. In the majority of cases, the additional partner is considered a wife in the context of religious beliefs. Legally speaking, the practice is more akin to adultery.”