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More then one wife having children and living in the same ho

J

John_John916

New Member
Long time no talk everyone. I was curious as to if anyone has any knowledge or if they have children with more then one of their spouses and they all live in the same home together. I would like to one day have a large family with my future spouses. Does American laws restrict this?
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

As for the law, here are some reminders.

One, we must keep in mind here in America we have three branches of government. It is against the law by federal law to be in a polygamous union. That is legislative law. However, there are to other branches of government. The executive branch does not enforce this law and the judicial branch does not enforce it because of some Supreme Court Decisions (if I recall it was Lawrence vs. Texas).

By not enforcing I mean they will not prosecute you simply because of your sexual lifestyle, unless there is other issues that involve criminal conduct (underage sex, prostitution, etc). The bigamy laws still exist and are rightfully still enforced. But that could not apply if all were living in the same house because the ladies would know one another. Bigamy is only when one lady/spouse does not know about the other.

Also keep in mind state law. Many states have defined adultery, sexual unions, and things of the like in their state codes. Yet too even there it is almost always the same. The legislative branch has it on the books but rarely is anything like that ever enforced because of the other two branches of government.

The biggest issue is the marriage license. In reality the govt. ought to remove itself from that but that is another point for another post. In your situation you would not be able to obtain a marriage license, which is probably not a bad thing. You would need to do something to give your ladies some protection, such as taking out a term life insurance policy for each of them should you die, and I would urge you to write a legal, civil, cohabitation agreement signed by all parties so that if you do something stupid/sinful or they do something stupid/sinful the union breaks that there is already an agreement on how matters will be resolved. That is important for each party so out of love each is protected.

Dr. Allen
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

My husband prefer that his wives and children all cohabitate under the same roof. We are currently looking for a more poly-friendly home and as we have two children of our own any sister wives that come along will be able to have her space and space for her children when they are born.

He even asked me if this was something I could live with and agree too. :) such a sweet man! Always thinking of my feelings since we live so close to my family who is not so accepting of PM.
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

Nikismom said:
My husband prefer that his wives and children all cohabitate under the same roof. We are currently looking for a more poly-friendly home and as we have two children of our own any sister wives that come along will be able to have her space and space for her children when they are born.

He even asked me if this was something I could live with and agree too. :) such a sweet man! Always thinking of my feelings since we live so close to my family who is not so accepting of PM.
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I like that idea. Do you guys worry the state will get into your business when you have more people under the same roof? You can tell I'm new to plural marriage.
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

I am not sure that the state will care about the state of one's house as long as no one invites the state in. By invite I mean, no calls to Child Protective Services, no welfare, no public assistance. Those things, while they are not wrong, do invite the government to be a part of your life, which is something most of us would rather avoid. Our family prefers to fly under the radar.

Unless you have government involvment in your life, they pretty much don't care what you do. One of the many reasons for homeschooling is that teachers don't have the opportunity to report different lifestyles to the authorities.
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

Is it legal? Not in the US. Will it be prosecuted? Doubtful. As long as you are not trying to legally marry each other, and are not commiting fraud of any sort, the state/ fed can't really get involved. There are three wives in this home, and 5 kids. We wouldn't have it any other way but to all live together! Thats what makes our family work (at least in our own, strange little way...)
 
Re: More then one wife having children and living in the sam

I have no fear of the government prosecuting such behavior, as it is against the law but as mentioned earlier, not enforced. Nor do I find a problem with the verses that say respect, honor, and submit to the governing authorities God has placed over you (The movie "Last Samurai" sums that point up well). However, in my brief exploration of practicing polygyny I have found that there are many people out that with good intentions that may and will make your life miserable by at least threatening to report you to the authorities if not on polygyny charges then on other trumped up charges. Here are two quotes that I recently read that I thought made good points.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." --British writer C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

"[A] wise and frugal government ... shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." --Thomas Jefferson
 
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