The Plural Marriage Project
Illustrative draft · not enacted law

The model bill

This is what the framework looks like as statute. It is model language for discussion, written to be adopted by a single pioneering state. It turns the framework's instruments and its accountability safeguards into the kind of plain legislative text a legislature could actually mark up.

Read this first

The following is a model bill, an educational drafting exercise. It is not law anywhere, has not been introduced in any legislature, and is not legal advice. It exists to show that the framework can be written in ordinary statutory language. A real bill would require professional legislative drafting, fiscal analysis, and review by family-law counsel.

    Download as plain text

The Plural Marriage Recognition Act

A Model Act · For discussion only · The Plural Marriage Project

Section 1. Short title and purpose

This Act may be cited as the Plural Marriage Recognition Act. Its purpose is to extend lawful civil marriage to households of three or more consenting adults, to define their rights and obligations, and to protect every spouse equally.

Section 2. Definitions

(a) Plural marriage means a lawful civil marriage among three or more adults, each of whom has consented under this Act.

(b) Spouse means any adult party to a plural marriage, with equal legal standing unless a recorded contract provides otherwise.

(c) Multi-Spouse Marriage Contract (MSMC) means the standardized instrument required by Section 3.

Section 3. Formation; the Multi-Spouse Marriage Contract

(a) A plural marriage is formed by filing a completed MSMC with the county clerk, signed by every existing and entering spouse.

(b) The MSMC shall state each spouse's rights, financial responsibilities, any agreed order of priority, and the terms governing a spouse's entry and exit.

(c) Adding a spouse to an existing marriage requires the documented, written consent of every current spouse.

Section 4. Consent and safeguards

(a) Every party must be at least eighteen years of age, of demonstrated legal capacity, and free of coercion.

(b) Before formation, all parties shall complete (i) a background check, (ii) independent legal counseling, and (iii) an attested declaration of voluntary consent.

(c) Coercion, fraud, or the inclusion of a minor voids the marriage and carries the penalties otherwise provided by law.

Section 5. Taxation

A plural marriage is recognized as a Multi-Spouse Household for state tax purposes. Spousal income is pooled, deductions are allocated proportionally, and dependents attach to the household. The Department of Revenue shall publish the corresponding filing forms.

Section 6. Inheritance

(a) Absent a valid will, surviving spouses share the spousal portion of the estate equally, and children share the remainder as otherwise provided by law.

(b) Any spouse may alter this default by will, trust, or the MSMC.

Section 7. Medical decision-making

Spouses hold co-equal authority to make medical decisions for an incapacitated spouse, unless the MSMC or an advance directive designates a Medical Priority Order. Health facilities shall honor the recorded order.

Section 8. Dissolution

(a) Any spouse may petition to exit the marriage without dissolving it as to the remaining spouses.

(b) Property is divided according to contribution and the MSMC; custody and support are determined per parent under existing family law.

(c) The marriage dissolves entirely only when fewer than two spouses remain or all parties so petition.

Section 9. Insurance and benefits

Insurers offering coverage in this state may issue multi-spouse riders for health, life, and beneficiary designation, and may price them actuarially. No insurer shall deny a household coverage solely because it is a plural marriage.

Section 10. Fiduciary duty of the head of household

(a) Any spouse designated in the MSMC as head of household or primary spouse owes every other spouse and child a fiduciary duty of loyalty, good faith, and fair dealing, equivalent to the duty a trustee owes a beneficiary and a managing partner owes a partner.

(b) This duty includes providing for and dealing justly with every spouse and child. Material favoritism that harms a spouse is an actionable breach.

(c) Breach of this duty is grounds for civil liability and for removal from any position of financial or managerial control over the household.

(d) Where the MSMC designates no head of household or primary spouse, the same fiduciary duty of loyalty, good faith, and fair dealing binds every spouse mutually to every other spouse and child. The protections of this Act do not depend on the existence of a head; they apply equally to a marriage governed jointly.

Section 11. Financial transparency and disclosure

(a) The household shall maintain formal financial records. Every spouse has the right, on demand and at least annually, to full disclosure of household income, assets, and liabilities.

(b) Each spouse's separately owned and earned property remains separate unless that spouse freely agrees otherwise in writing.

(c) Concealing assets or income from a spouse constitutes fraud, and any spouse may bring an action for an accounting, restitution, and surcharge.

Section 12. Coercive control; prohibited conduct; penalties

(a) Using money, immigration status, children, isolation, or threats to compel a spouse to enter, remain in, or surrender rights within a plural marriage constitutes coercive control, an offense under this Act.

(b) Commission of that offense by the head of household is an aggravating factor that enhances the penalty. Leadership is never a defense. Where the marriage has no head of household, the same enhancement applies to any spouse who holds financial or managerial control over the household in fact.

(c) Penalties are graded to the harm: material favoritism yields civil liability and a support adjustment; concealment of finances yields fraud liability and loss of financial control; adding a spouse without unanimous consent voids the addition; coercion yields the enhanced coercive-control penalty; and any conduct involving a minor or coerced consent voids the marriage and carries full criminal prosecution.

Section 13. Oversight, registry, and ombudsman

(a) Plural marriages are recorded in a state registry. Every adult spouse shall, on a periodic schedule, privately and independently re-attest that participation remains voluntary; a missed or coerced attestation triggers a welfare review.

(b) An independent family-welfare ombudsman shall be reachable by any spouse without the knowledge or permission of any other member, and may arrange protective housing and support during an exit.

(c) The oversight function is funded by filing fees and penalties, in the manner a Secretary of State's business division is funded by its incorporation fees.

Section 14. Federal coordination

(a) This Act governs state law. Federal income tax, Social Security survivor, and immigration treatment are reserved to federal authority and are not created by this Act.

(b) The state shall request that federal survivor-benefit treatment be scored by the Social Security actuary and that immigration recognition follow a primary-spouse rule, under which one spouse holds priority and others follow existing family-reunification categories.

(c) Recognition under this Act stands independently of whether and when federal treatment is resolved.

(d) Until federal law changes, spouses beyond the primary spouse should not represent the marriage to federal agencies (joint tax returns, Social Security survivor claims, immigration sponsorship), because that is where misrepresentation exposure lives, and the primary-spouse rule exists precisely to avoid it.

Section 15. Equality of spouses

This Act is gender-neutral. It applies equally to marriages of any spousal-gender composition, including marriages of one woman with multiple husbands, and guarantees each spouse equal rights of exit, property, custody, and protection.

Section 16. Severability

If any provision of this Act is held invalid, the remaining provisions remain in effect.

Section 17. Effective date

This Act takes effect on the first day of the calendar year following enactment, allowing agencies time to publish forms and rules.

See how this answers each objection ›   Back to the legal case