It was always a rumor that some BYU students, in order to flout the "law of chastity" with some modicum of legality, would go off to Vegas or some other NV place, get married, spend a few days bonking their lights out, then get a NV divorce and show back up at BYU. That way, they were able to claim that they obeyed the law of chastity whilst having a few days of wild sex. During my tenure at BYU, general authorities would make veiled remarks about staying away from Las Vegas if you were returning to CA on vacation, and especially not to go there with the opposite sex.

Anyway, I have no idea if this was a valid fear, or really happened. Do any of you know someone who knows someone?

In my understanding, it is not possible and never was. Nevada is faster than most other states, but it still takes time. AFAIK one of the parties must establish legal residence in Nevada for at least six weeks. It is quite true that several "dude ranch" type establishments existed in Reno back in the 30's and 40's- before Las Vegas got big- that would accommodate people for the six week period. And yes, you can get married in Nevada quickly. But you simply cannot get a quickie divorce. Mark it up as another urban legend.

Or am I mistaken? Any Nevada attorneys? No rumors, please.

You have to be a resident of Nevada for a minimum of 6 weeks in order to initiate a divorce. So, unless they also factored that in, along with the cost, it's just a rumor.

https://www.hg.org/divorce-law-nevada.html

"To file for divorce in Nevada, either party must reside in the state for the six weeks immediately preceding the commencement of the action."

I don't know about the divorce part - but when I worked on campus I was friends with a girl. I knew she had a boyfriend (he attended UVU - UVSC at the time). I didn't find her particularly attractive so it was easy to be friends with her and not act creepy. I was driving her home from work one day and asked her how things were with her boyfriend. She told me that they had actually gotten married a couple of weeks earlier. She said they were in Vegas together and decided to get married that day (made it sound like a spur of the moment thing). I asked if I was still taking her to the same apartment as always and she said yes. Since neither of them had the money, they had to stay in their separate leases - both in BYU housing. He would leave her place at curfew she said, and that they had gotten a hotel for one night each weekend, but that was a little pricier than they could really afford. Last time I ever talked to her was a couple of months after that when she was eager to be out of her lease finally so they could move in together.

Not a Vegas story, but also while at BYU, I home taught a guy. He had a girl that he hadn't been dating long at all - but she was an attractive girl. I was roommates with my home teaching companion (pretty common situation I'm sure) and one Saturday we got a call from one of the other guys in that house we taught. He asked if we wanted to come to the other guy's (Greg) wedding. We said sure and asked when it was. He said "right now." Sure enough, an hour later the bishop performed a wedding where we met for church - an on campus conference center (which I think has since been torn down) a little east of the stadium and Marriott Center and just north of the MTC. Never heard from/about him again so I'm not sure how long they lasted - they may even still be together, who knows.

But, how about getting a Utah divorce after all that 'socializing'?

besides that, it is a dead give away that highly vaunted MORmON priestDUD authority (supposedly from the greatest authority of all -God Himself) really does not amount to much as MORmONISM completely defers to whatever encompassing state legal authority in the MORmON temple ceremony on the validity of any marriage arrangement relative to the MORmON law of chastity.

According to the law in many states, a couple has a common law marriage after they have cohabited for so many years. So by the law and MORmON convention, a couple could live together, NOT have sex, get past the point of having a common law marriage, and then tell the local presiding priestDUD authority to shove it if he called them into a church disciplinary court, (funny thing) which is what every couple should do anyway.

If they're not having SEX, why would they be called in?

Urban Legend

"Every couple of years, somebody floats the story here of some BYU couple who runs off to Nevada, gets married on Friday, has wild sex until Monday, gets a quickie divorce, returns to Provo, safe from sanctions because they were married.

"Except the quickie divorces Nevada was famous for were called quickie because it only took six weeks to establish Nevada residency for purposes of divorce, as opposed to six months or a year in other states.

"So, it never happened. And if someone insists, well, divorces are public record. Give me a citation for a divorce of a 3 day marriage for two people residing in Provo. I just want some actual evidence firmer than 'I know somebody who....'"

He strikes me as best informed. Hope this settles the matter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2018 11:50PM by caffiend.

Thanks. Somebody actually waded through all my verbiage! I'll pass the hat tip up a level to Richard Packham, who actually is an attorney, and debunked this particular urban legend several times here on RFM.

BTW, one can beat the 6 week limit if at least one of the members of the couple was already a Nevada resident, and a BYU student from NV could still claim NV residency. But even then, getting divorced would involve hiring a lawyer, getting a court date to appear before a judge, and getting a divorce decree issued, signed and recorded. That's an awful lot to accomplish on a Monday morning, even if you know somebody who knows somebody who can call in a favor from a judge.

Urban legend.

BoJ, there are things you say that can really peeve me, but I appreciate that you are thoughtful and articulate, even when you piss me off. :)

Brother of Jerry is a cool guy who once took me out to lunch when I was passing through. And it's well established--well established, mind you--that he is one of the Three Nephites.

Would love to meet up with youse guys if you come to New England.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/islams-sex-licenses


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikah_mut%27ah



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2018 11:59PM by anybody.

Probably same legal rules (6 weeks of residency) except that one's record looks virginal.

I haven't heard of any doing that.

But, there was a video that used to be shown at the temple visitors center (maybe it still is, but it would be about 40 years old unless it's been updated.) Of how *not* to get married.

It used the example of a Las Vegas wedding in one of those "love" chapels with Elvis impersonaters standing in for witnesses kind of place.

Emphasizing how tawdry and seedy that kind of a quickie marriage is compared to a pristine and sacred celestial one.

Viva Las Vegas! It is as of enduring effect as the other since marriage is binding whether in a temple of TSCC, or a Las Vegas chapel of love.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2018 12:53PM by Amyjo.

Yeah, Mormons are the ONLY ones who have a handle on anything, including love, apparently.

I would think an annulment would be more applicable than a divorce in the context of the conversation. For that, I would imagine it could be pretty quick, but I’m too lazy to look up NV divorce law, and I really don’t care.

You don't need a lawyer to get a divorce in Las Vegas. You can get the paperwork at the Family Law Self Help Center, and file yourself for about $200.

You don't need a lawyer to get a divorce anywhere. The court fees and residency requirements still apply.

I didn't have a lawyer. It was a very simple divorce, and I can read. There was a few thousand dollars in personal property I would have liked to argue about, but the court argument would have cost more than the property was worth. I just wrote it off and moved on. It's what an engineer would do. To fight it would have been inefficient. :)

I'm a-betting there would be paternity suits & (girls) not-so-happy parents after a few of these, also YBU speakers alerting parents...

guys Dad to son who just pulled this:

'Well son, did she do a good job on getting you off?'



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2018 08:39PM by GNPE.

I heard some pretty lurid tales of Wendover weddings when I was at the why.

The way I heard it the newlyweds would file for an annulment which unlike divorce when granted the marriage never existed, basically.

Seems to me that might refute those who point to the impracticality of divorce

You still need to be a resident for 6 weeks to get an annulment.

https://www.divorcenet.com/resources/annulment/annulment-basics/nevada

Shummy Wrote:

"The way I heard it the newlyweds would file for an annulment which unlike divorce when granted the marriage never existed, basically."

I guess that means the sex never happened either.

I know of a case sort of like that from the early 90s. I was dating the attorney (we were both kind of new order mormons) and he personally told me this. Some friends of his son who were BYU students were not ready to decide if they wanted to get married. They were going to the same place for some summer job. They asked the attorney if they went to Vegas and got married if he’d do a (Utah) divorce for them after the summer if they wanted it. He thought it was a great idea and turns out they were ready to end it well before the end of the summer. We talked about how they were so much better off than the kids who rush into an all-out marriage and when they find out a few months later that they might be stuck in a bad relationship or even pregnant just to legally fuck, they have no way out.

I think there were actually more Mormon couples who waited back in our day. I doubt there are that many who do now. If they know they’re for sure going to marry so many of them are just discreet and feel ok about getting a TR because they’ve only been with each other. Even most rabid Christians anymore feel it’s ok to have sex during engagement. Mormon kids are not THAT much different.

I was at BYU in the 1980s. I was at church the day the bishop of my BYU ward stood up and read a statement he was told to deliver. The statement informed us that going to Nevada and getting married in order to have sex for the weekend, only to get it annulled/get a divorce afterward would be considered fornication and a serious violation of the law of chastity.

I don't know if such weddings actually occurred, or if the higher ups in the Morg or at BYU knew about the rumor and said something to prevent people from going to Vegas to give it a shot.

I remember this event so well because of the strong reaction I had at the time - "Wow, that's a really clever idea! I wish I would have thought of it before they put the kibosh on it."

Even if the Vegas weddings were happening, I imagine not many people did it. There was a lot of sex going on at BYU without anyone driving to Vegas to rationalize it. My friend called BYU "the land of the 20,000 virgins who aren't." After graduation I worked for a few years at the hospital in Provo. I was amazed at how many BYU coeds showed up at the emergency room complaining of "stomach flu" and left with prenatal vitamins and a referral to an obstetrician.

bezoar Wrote:

My friend called BYU "the land of the 20,000 virgins who aren't."

Grouch Marx once quipped, "I knew Doris Day BEFORE she was a virgin!"

If something happens, <ie get pregn!nt> (from this moment) then we can go to Vegas /Reno I will marry you, we can elope

Heard it all the time in collge, vestiges of a bygone era within a culture based on the assumptions idealized womens role in society: * without planned pregnancy via birth control,*without access to day after pill, *with idealyzed chastity, *beholden to male determination via priesthood authorized relationship model rather than one of mutual consent & mutual engagemdnt based on mutual trust with mutually agreed upon, not imposed, rules, with a mutuaky valued life style mutually sought to establish together some clear way which was agreed upon, proposed sought and mutually negotiated, Not priesthood arbitrated & priesthood dominated arbitrarily implied life attitude assumptions imposed upon the couple, indeed in a priesthood run world: imposed upon all couples, isnt it?

I heard this while at BYU in the late 80s. I also heard the phrase - stay moral go oral -

I don't know anyone who did things quite that fast, but I do know some people who married just so that they could have a sex life. Then they divorced 10 months to a year later.

The girls in our dorm at BYU would just tell different lies.

They didn't need to be so elaborate, complicated, premeditated, and pricey. Most didn't even require a motel room.

Give me a break. BYU students are much better at lying than that.

I remember hearing this rumor back in the early 90's when I was in high school in CA. Always wondered about that!

It costs $269 for an annulment if the marriage was performed in Nevada (regardless of residency) if both parties agree and they have a legitimate excuse, one of the parties committed fraud (which resulted in immediate end of cohabitation) or was incapacitated when they said "I do".

But you still have to establish residency in Nevada which is a minimum of 6 weeks: https://www.divorcenet.com/resources/annulment/annulment-basics/nevada

I just helped my best friend start this process earlier this month. Neither she or her short term ex-Partner are Nevada residents and neither of them are planning anytime soon to become Nevada residents. Why they are getting a Nevada annulment is because they had a marriage ceremony in Nevada. Go search for "or you must have gotten married in Nevada" in that link you provided.

Now, if for any reason, the Court does not approve the annulment then it means she will have to file for divorce in her home state. However her grounds are pretty solid, he signed all the paperwork, and so it's looking pretty good that the Court will approve.

Now where I am confused now is that I do not know what kind of sinning, in the eyes of the LDS church, she and I are doing in the meantime when we have sex. Is it adultery? Or is it fornication? I guess we have to wait for the Judge's decision to know for sure ;) And what if someone were to appeal the Judge's decision and thus we see the appeals court turn our history of numerous counts of technical fornication into numerous counts of technical adultery? This uncertainty sure make it harder to categorize our history of sinning since she and I started our relationship after she split from that man before they ever lived together. I have found that the best way to cope with this confusion is for us to have lots of sex as this causes lots of intense burnings in the bosom. Hmmm must be the Spirit ;)

OK, maybe the instant wedding/divorce in Las Vegas is another urban legend in Moville.

But how did Britney Spears manage to do it?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/britney-spears-shotgun-wedding-turns-10-remember-55-magical-hours-20140103

She must have claimed residency. It wouldn't surprise me if she was a legal resident.