Screaming Jesus is American, Mrs. Jesus (or should that be Mary Magdalene?) is Taiwanese. We married in Taiwan by means of a wedding banquet, and then filling out a government form. Now the Mrs. keeps wondering whether the U.S. will recognize our marriage, or whether we need to fill out a U.S. form in order to be legally married in the eyes of U.S. law.
I told her that unlike the Germanic legal tradition (which Taiwan inherited via Japan), the U.S. government does not maintain any central registry of marriages. Nor do subsidiary governments such as U.S. states attempt to maintain comprehensive family records.
Furthermore, every U.S. state has its own laws pertaining to marriage. However, as long as we are speaking of the union of one man and one woman–both of age, and neither with other current spouses, etc.–then if the issue ever came up in court (say, if I were to deny ever having married her) then an official document from the government of Taiwan (duly translated and notorized) would surely be found persuasive. Thus there is no legal need to register our marriage with anybody else, or any likely place to do so even if we wanted to.
So, did Jesus speak the truth? How was his omniscience today?
I agree. MT is also American and Mrs. MT Taiwanese. They married in the Shihlin Courthouse. Early in the marriage, Mrs. MT kept inquiring and pressuring MT to discover the facts on registering ones marriage in the US and to hurry up and complete the process, apparently because Taiwanese friends of Mrs. MT warned her (as nosey, untrusting Taiwanese girlfriends apparently do with regard to all marriages to foreigners) to be prepared for MT to steal their baby and all their assets, abandon her and flee to the US, leaving her without recourse.
MT assured the Mrs. repeatedly that (a) he had no immediate plans to ditch her and (b) even if he did, there’s no central registry of marriages in the US. One can register ones marriage in the local county, just as births and deaths are registered, but as far as MT knows (and he’s definitely NOT an expert on the subject either) the key questions are whether, where and when they got married, not whether it’s registered in the county courthouse. After all, in many or most states in the US, even common-law marriages are recognized (e.g. theres been no official ceremony, filing or certification, it’s just a couple that lives together a long time as if they were husband and wife). And even without common-law marriage, one partner can even recover a share of the household assets in a palimony suit. As for custody of the child, I don’t believe a mother needs to be married to have legal rights to the child, in the event the father were to steal the child and she were to file suit in court.
Marriage in the US most likely makes the rights of the parties, regarding assets, alimony, child custody and support more certain, but I don’t believe filing in the clerk’s office has much effect in that regard. As for recognition of a Taiwan marriage by US courts, I wouldn’t be so certain. We’re talking Taiwan – global outcast, party to just a paltry handful of international norms, conventions and treaties. While Taiwan marriages should be fully recognized and enforceable in the US to the same extent as those from any other nation, I could imagine there might be some difficulties regarding enforcing legal marriage or parenthood obligations in some other country, based on a Taiwan marriage.
Of course I didn’t tell my wife that. I simply told her don’t worry about it. It’ll never be a problem and, in any event, there is no central registry in the US.
I just got married on Saturday at the courthouse in KHH. As far as I know, there is no need (or way) to register the marriage in the US. We got the marriage certificates in Chinese and English. We will supply the AIT with the English version when applying for her immigration visa to the US.
She is planning on going to the Taiwan household registration office this week to “register” our marriage.
Before we were married we were advised that a Taiwanese marriage certificate would be recognized as valid and legal in the US without needing to do anything further. (We got married in the US in the end though.)