[WSBAPT] Mexico Religious Wedding Ceremony - valid in US as marriage?

[Dalynne Singleton]

I have new clients and their father married their stepmother in Mexico 20 years ago in a religious ceremony.  They do not know if they followed up with a civil ceremony.
Can someone tell me if that is considered a valid marriage in the US if there was never any US civil ceremony?  The stepmother was not a US citizen at time of marriage service in Mexico but later became a US citizen.

>From my understanding the civil ceremony is fully valid for legal purposes here in the United States only if a couple who has a religious ceremony in Mexico, also had the civil ceremony to make it legal in the US.

Thank you.

Dalynne Singleton
Gourley Law Group
Snohomish Escrow
The Exchange Connection
1002 10th Street / PO Box 1091
Snohomish, WA 98291
360.568.5065
360.568.1717  fax
dalynne at glgmail.com<mailto:dalynne at glgmail.com>
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