I remarried 10 hours before my divorce was recorded. Is that marriage still legal?

What do you mean by "recorded"? Your disso judgment will have an entry on the first page in the box below the case caption that reads "Date Marital or Domestic Partnership Status Ends:__________" and the clerk will have entered a date in the blank. That's the date you're officially divorced (if it were a same-sex relationship that would be the date your domestic partnership would end, which is unfortunately all we have now for same sex couples instead of marriage rights since the rights our Supreme Court gave us to marry last May were stripped away about 2 weeks ago by an immoral 52% majority that voted to end same sex marriage in this state, but that's another topic).

If you married before the effective date of your disso, there's still a way to fix your problem (that is, that your marriage is bigamous). You might consider filing a motion to have the judgment entered nunc pro tunc, that is effective back to the date before your remarriage. This is possible as long as the earlier date will still satisfy the 6 month waiting period required for the court to have jurisdiction to terminate status (it's 6 months and a day from the earlier of the date of service of the summons and petition or date a Response was filed). It's not hard to do.

What do you mean by "recorded"? Your disso judgment will have an entry on the first page under the box below the case caption that reads "Date Marital or Domestic Partnership Status Ends:__________" and the clerk will have entered a date in the blank. That's the date you're officially divorced (if it were a same-sex relationship that would be the date your domestic partnership would end, which is unfortunately all we have now for same sex couples instead of marriage rights since the rights our Supreme Court gave us to marry last May were stripped away about 2 weeks ago by an immoral 52% majority that voted to end same sex marriage in this state, but that's another topic).

If you married before the effective date of your disso, there's still a way to fix your problem (that is, that your marriage is bigamous). You might consider filing a motion to have the judgment entered nunc pro tunc, that is effective back to the date before your remarriage. This is possible as long as the earlier date will still satisfy the 6 month waiting period required for the court to have jurisdiction to terminate status (it's 6 months and a day from the earlier of the date of service of the summons and petition or date a Response was filed). It's not hard to do.

Wow - thank you for the quick response.

I remarried at 12:05a.m. on a 10.30.08 but the divorce didn't record until around 10a.m. on 10.30.08. Am I still safe?

Again, you are using the term "record" and I'm not sure what that means. If the judgment says you marital status ends of 10/30/08 you should be fine, even if the judgment is file-endorsed 10/30/08 at 10:00am. It's not the file stamp date and time but the date of termination of status, which is never entered with a time of day, just the date.

I've had plenty of cases, for example, where we were in court, status terminated on say 10/30 but the judgment wasn't filed until 11/30. A remarriage or new domestic partnership on 11/1/08 is fine in this case and the judgment will clearly say status ends 10/30.

Again, you are using the term "record" and I'm not sure what that means. If the judgment says you marital status ends of 10/30/08 you should be fine, even if the judgment is file-endorsed 10/30/08 at 10:00am. It's not the file stamp date and time but the date of termination of status, which is never entered with a time of day, just the date.

I've had plenty of cases, for example, where we were in court, status terminated on say 10/30 but the judgment wasn't filed until 11/30. A remarriage or new domestic partnership on 11/1/08 is fine in this case and the judgment will clearly say status ends 10/30.


Hi! It's me again. I should be fine then correct with the following: (You probably might want to kill me for my naïveté!)

The Petition was filed on 02/26/2008
There is no future hearing date scheduled.
A judgment for this case was entered on 10/21/08.
The divorce has been granted.
Effective date of the divorce is 10/30/08. 9:00a.m.

Remarriage was at 10.30.08 at 12:05a.m.

I'm curious as to how you got an effective date of termination of marital status (10/30/08) with a time reference. When the judgment is filed the clerk stamps, in the upper right had corner of the document, the date the judgment is filed in the court's file and that stamp also has a time of day noted. But on the face of the judgment, page 1, where it says "Date Marital or Domestic Partnership Status Ends:_____" only a date is to be filled in, never a time of day. So you need to see what is filled in in this blank (forget the date and time the judgment was filed with the clerk's office). Now, having said that, I have seen judgments where this blank is filled in with the words "UPON ENTRY OF JUDGMENT." (I've seen this in Sacramento County). If your judgment says that, then you would look at the date stamp entered by the clerk and there would be a time of day. Even if this is what is going on in your case, I'm not sure it matters. While the date of dissolution matters for remarriage, I've never seen the time of day on a particualar date matter. If you are worried about it, this is a matter that is correctable, as I said previously.

I'm curious as to how you got an effective date of termination of marital status (10/30/08) with a time reference. When the judgment is filed the clerk stamps, in the upper right had corner of the document, the date the judgment is filed in the court's file and that stamp also has a time of day noted. But on the face of the judgment, page 1, where it says "Date Marital or Domestic Partnership Status Ends:_____" only a date is to be filled in, never a time of day. So you need to see what is filled in in this blank (forget the date and time the judgment was filed with the clerk's office). Now, having said that, I have seen judgments where this blank is filled in with the words "UPON ENTRY OF JUDGMENT." (I've seen this in Sacramento County). If your judgment says that, then you would look at the date stamp entered by the clerk and there would be a time of day. Even if this is what is going on in your case, I'm not sure it matters. While the date of dissolution matters for remarriage, I've never seen the time of day on a particualar date matter. If you are worried about it, this is a matter that is correctable, as I said previously.

I received the information online and also contacted the court for the date and time. I don't officially have the papers in my possession.

Thank you so very much for all of your help. You are extremely knowledgeable.

Can I get remarried 10 days after I filed for divorce?

Can I get remarried 10 days after I filed for divorce?

Ah, no. The divorce isn't a divorce until the court enters a judgment of divorce. That comes later, sometimes much much later. Filing for divorce just opens up a case and gets things going.

I had a friend and they found out thiers was not valid, since they were married before the divorce was considered final.

You need to talk to the clerk where the marriage license is gotten and let them check the time line for you.

Can I get remarried 10 days after I filed for divorce?

Not unless there is a death certificate involved or you live in a middle easten country where all it takes to get a divorce is to shout from the hill divoce divorce I divorce you!!