Bigamy Laws States H-L

Please note there is no centralized database for jurisdictions to check to see whether or not a person is being truthful on their application. The sentences and fines for bigamy are less than for a DUI. If a National Marriage Database were in place, this would not be a problem. I urge you to sign the petition urging Congress to institute such a database.

Hawaii 

HRS 572-1 Marriage
The man does not at the time have any lawful wife living and that the woman does not at the time have any lawful husband living. However, I could not find any statute in Hawaii making bigamy a crime--OneOfSeven   HRS 709-900: This section is intended to serve two purposes: (1) to protect a party to a purported marriage from imposition and deception, and (2) to reinforce the statute setting forth the minimal requirements for valid marriage. The Code imposes its lowest form of criminal liability for intentionally marrying or purporting to marry when the actor knows the actor is ineligible to do so. Except to the extent that the previous offense relating to incest[1].

Idaho

18-1101. BIGAMY DEFINED. Every person having a husband or wife living, who marries any other person, except in the cases specified in the next section, is guilty of bigamy.
18-1102. EXCEPTIONS TO PRECEDING SECTION. The last section does not extend: 1. To any person by reason of any former marriage, whose husband or wife by such marriage has been absent for five (5) successive years without being known to such person within that time to be living; nor, 2. To any person by reason of any former marriage which has been pronounced void, annulled, or dissolved by the judgment of a competent court.
18-1103.  PUNISHMENT FOR BIGAMY. Bigamy is punishable by fine not
exceeding $2,000 and by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding three(3) years.
18-1104. MARRYING SPOUSE OF ANOTHER. Every person who knowingly and wilfully marries the husband or wife of another, in any case in which such husband or wife would be punishable under the provisions of this chapter, is punishable by fine not less than $2,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding three (3) years.
19-2113. BIGAMY -- PROOF OF MARRIAGE. Upon a trial for bigamy, it is not necessary to prove either of the marriages by the register, certificate, or other record evidence thereof, but the same may be proved by such evidence as is admissible to prove a marriage in other cases; and when the second marriage took place out of this state, proof of that fact, accompanied with proof of cohabitation thereafter in this state, is sufficient to sustain the charge.
19-308. BIGAMY OR INCEST. When the offense either of bigamy or incest is committed in one county, and the defendant is apprehended in another, the venue is in either county.

Illinois

(720 ILCS 5/11-12) (from Ch. 38, par. 11-12) 

Sec. 11-12. Bigamy. 
(a) Any person having a husband or wife who subsequently marries another 
or cohabits in this 
State after such marriage 
(b) It shall be an affirmative defense to bigamy that: 

(1) The prior marriage was dissolved or declared invalid; or 
(2) The accused reasonably believed the prior spouse to be dead; or 
(3) The prior spouse had been continually absent for a 
period of 5 years during which time the accused did not know the prior spouse to 
be alive; or 
(4) The accused reasonably believed that he was legally eligible to remarry. 
(c) Sentence. Bigamy is a Class 4 felony. (Source: P.A. 81-230.) 

Indiana

C35-46-1-2 Bigamy
Sec-2 (a) A person, who being married and know that his spouse is alive, marries again commits bigamy, a Class D felony.
(b) It is a defense that the accused person reasonably believed that he was eligible to remarry.As added by Acts 1976, PL 148, SEC.6. Amended by Acts 1977, PL 340, SEC.85

Iowa

726.1 Bigamy .
Any person, having a living husband or wife, who marries another, commits bigamy . Any of the following is a defense to the charge of bigamy :
1. The prior marriage was terminated in accordance with applicable law, or the person reasonably believes on reasonably convincing evidence that the prior marriage was so terminated.
2. The person believes, on reasonably convincing evidence, that the prior spouse is dead.
3. The person has, for three years, had no evidence by which the person can reasonably believe that the prior spouse is alive.
Any person who marries another who the person knows has another living husband or wife commits bigamy . Bigamy is a serious misdemeanor.
[C51, §2706 - 2708; R60, §4348 - 4350; C73, §4009 - 4011; C97, §4933 - 4935; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 12975 - 12977; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §703.1 - 703.3; C79, 81, §726.1]

Kentucky
530.010 Bigamy -- Defense.
(1) A person is guilty of bigamy when he:
(a) Purports to marry another person knowing he has a husband or wife or
knowing the other person has a husband or wife; or
(b) Cohabits in this state after a bigamous marriage in another state.
(2) It shall be a defense to bigamy that the accused believed he was legally eligible to
remarry.
(3) Bigamy is a Class D felony.
Effective: January 1, 1975
History: Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 406, sec. 257, effective January 1, 1975.

Kansas

:21-3601. Bigamy

1. Bigamy is any of the following:
   1. Marriage within this state by any person who shall have another spouse living at the time of such marriage;
   2. Marriage within this state by an unmarried person to a person known to such       unmarried person to be the spouse of some other person;
   3. Cohabitation within this state after marriage in another state or country       under circumstances described in subsection 1.1 or subsecttion 1.2 of this section.
2. It shall be a defense to a charge of bigamy that the accused reasonably beleived the prior marriage had been dissolved by death, divorce, or annulment.
3. Bigamy is a class E felony

Louisiana

Subpart B-Sex Offenses involving the family
RS-14§76. Bigamy is the marriage to another person by a person already married and having a husband or wife living; or the habitual cohabitation, in this state, with such second husband or wife, regardless of the place where the marriage was celebrated. 

The provisions of this article shall not extend:

(1)  To any person whose former husband or wife has been absent, at the time of the second marriage, for five successive years without being known to such person, within that time, to be living; or (2)  To any person whose former marriage has been annulled or dissolved at the time of the second marriage, by the judgment of a competent court; or (3)  To any person who has, at the time of the second marriage, a reasonable and honest belief that his or her former husband or wife is dead, or that a valid divorce or annulment has been secured, or that his or her former marriage was invalid. 
Whoever commits the crime of bigamy shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both. 

RS-14§77. Abetting in bigamy is the marriage of an unmarried person to the husband or wife of another, with knowledge of the fact that the party is married and without a reasonable and honest belief that such party is divorced or his marriage annulled, or that the party's husband or wife is dead. 

Whoever commits the crime of abetting in bigamy shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.