Which states allow multiple wives?

Both polygamy and bigamy are illegal in every state, in spite of the fact that tens of thousands of people in North America are involved in multiple marriages.
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What states can you marry multiple wives?

No state permits its citizens to enter into more than one concurrent, legally-licensed marriage. People who attempt to, or are able to, secure a second marriage license are generally prosecuted for bigamy. The terms "bigamy" and "polygamy" are sometimes confused or used interchangeably.
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What state can you be a polygamist?

United States: Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states, De facto polygamy is illegal under federal law, the Edmunds Act.
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How many wives can you have in Utah?

Utah Polygamy Laws Today

Despite the polygamy ban, such marriages often exist through a legal loophole. The law allows a single legal union with one of the wives. Polygamous couples obtain a marriage license issued by the state for one marriage, while the other marriages are merely spiritual.
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How many wives can a Mormon have in Utah?

Mormon men can lawfully have one wife. The practice of polygamy (polygyny or plural marriage), the marriage of more than one woman to the same man, was practiced by Church members from the 1830s to the early 1900s.
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How One Polygamous Family Changed the Law | Counter-Narratives | The New Yorker



Can you have 3 wives in Texas?

No marriage limit in Texas restricts how many times you can marry, only how many people you can be married to at any given time. Like other states, it is illegal to have more than one spouse. There are a number of rules and limitations that apply to marriages in Texas.
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Can a man marry two wives legally?

Under Indian law, a person cannot marry or keep two wives at the same time. Such practice is illegal and liable to punishment.
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Why is polygamy illegal in us?

(“Bigamy” is the act of marrying someone while still legally married to another person, and it is usually the term used in laws against plural marriage. Polygamy is illegal because bigamy is. The words “bigamy” and “polygamy”—and their derivatives—are sometimes used interchangeably.)
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How many wives can a Mormon have?

The standard doctrine of the Church is monogamy, as it always has been, as indicated in the Book of Mormon (Jacob chapter 2): “Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none. …
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Is polygamy legal in Texas?

The Texas Family Code permits each adult to enter into a single marriage with one other person at a time. According to the Family Code, you may not be married to multiple people at the same time. Entering one marriage prevents you from having a legal marriage to anyone else until you legally end the prior marriage.
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Why is polygamy allowed in Utah?

Utah's laws governing polygamy can be traced back to its unique history. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormons) once practiced polygamy as part of their religion, and fled to the Utah territory when they encountered persecution.
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Can a US citizen marry two wives?

Polygamy was outlawed in federal territories by the Edmunds Act, and there are laws against the practice in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
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What is it called when a man is married to 2 woman?

Polygamist comes from the Greek: poly- means "many" and gamos means "marriage." So by definition, a polygamist can be a man with multiple wives or a woman with multiple husbands. The thing to remember is that the marriages are on-going.
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Is polygamy adultery?

Polygamy is the practice where a person is married to more than one woman. Unlike adultery, polygamy is practiced with the acceptance of society. A polygamous union also affects all those mentioned above in an adulterous relationship. The difference is that a polygamous marriage provides legal protection for everyone.
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How many times can you get married in Kentucky?

Illegal: To Marry the Same Man Four Times

In the state of Kentucky, it's illegal to remarry the same man four times. Honestly, good for Kentucky.
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Can you have 3 wives in America?

In the U.S., having spouselike relationships with more than one person under the same roof was criminalized in 1882. Today, people in the U.S. are rarely prosecuted for living with multiple romantic partners, but every state has laws against getting married while already being married to someone else.
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How many times can you be married in Missouri?

State law in Missouri sets no time limits or other restrictions on when you can remarry after a divorce or how long you have to wait once you get a marriage license. You could get divorced from one person and married to another person on the same day, at least in theory.
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Can a woman have 3 husbands?

Polyandry is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. For example, fraternal polyandry is practiced among Tibetans in Nepal, parts of China and part of northern India, in which two or more brothers are married to the same wife, with the wife having equal “sexual access” to them.
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What does the Bible say about polygamy?

New Testament. Three passages in the pastoral epistles (1Timothy 3:2, 1Timothy 3:12 and Titus 1:6) state that church leaders should be the "husband of one wife." This has been read by some Christian denominations as a prohibition of polygamy. Others argue that polygamy is allowed, but not for church leaders.
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Are men naturally polygamous?

Balance of evidence indicates we are biologically inclined towards monogamy. Science has yet to definitively pronounce on whether humans are naturally monogamous (lifelong male-female breeding pair) or polygamous (single male breeding with more than one female).
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How many wives can I marry in USA?

Family Law Implications of Polygamy

All U.S. jurisdictions prohibit polygamy by invalidating marriages involving more than two spouses. State laws against bigamy—getting married to someone while still legally married to another person—are usually grounds for an annulment.
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How many wives can you have in Mexico?

Mexico. Polygamy is illegal in Mexico, despite some cases present there. In the Federal Penal Code, there is a section called "Against Civil Status and Bigamy".
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What is the biggest polygamy family in America?

The Darger family (Joe, Vicki, Valerie, and Alina Darger) is an independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamous family living in Utah, United States.
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Can you have a sister wife in Utah?

The law, Utah Code 76-7-101, states a person is guilty of bigamy if he or she is married and cohabits with or purports to marry another person. A polygamist group, known as “The Sister Wives,” through their syndicated reality show on TLC, challenged Utah's law under the premise that the statute is unconstitutional.
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Can you marry your sister in Utah?

You cannot marry your first cousin, or anyone related more closely than a first cousin, such as an aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, parent or child, brother or sister. However, first cousins can marry if both are over 65, or, if both parties are over 55, if the court finds that they are unable to reproduce.
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