A couple married in Las Vegas in 1985. Without first divorcing, the woman married another man in France in 1995. Her husband finally discovers the existence of this first wedding ceremony in Las Vegas with another man. He first initiated divorce proceedings and then finally filed a lawsuit against his wife to seek the nullity of their own marriage.
The Court of Cassation considers that judicial annulment of the marriage is impossible. Indeed, the absence of consent to marry makes the union celebrated in Las Vegas unenforceable, that is to say, non-existent.
To characterize the absence of consent to marriage, the trial judges point through a bunch of clues to the absence of a wish to actually engage in the marriage ties of the couple who engaged in this ritual in Las Vegas.
The judges first found that the couple's trip to the United States did not have the purpose of marriage as the couple had not previously published the bans. On their return to France, the couple did not have the marriage transcribed into the French civil registry. In addition, at the birth of their child, the couple declared him or her to be a natural child and not a child born of marriage. Finally, despite the ceremony in Las Vegas, each of the couple had finally married another person in France.
Warning
a wedding celebrated in Las Vegas may, if consent to marriage is proven, have legal validity in France.
