W. Va. Code § 48-2-601

This is the official text of W. Va. Code § 48-2-601, part of West Virginia’s Va. Code — part of the compiled statutory law of West Virginia, published by the state as "Va. Code." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§48-2-601. Belief of parties in lawful marriage validates certain defects.

Official statutory text

PART VI. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

If a marriage is solemnized by a person professing to be authorized to celebrate marriages when, in fact, the person is not authorized, or if a marriage is solemnized after the license is expired, the marriage is not void and subject to a judgment of nullity based on that fact alone if:

(1) The marriage is lawful in all other respects, and

(2) The marriage is consummated with a full belief on the part of either or both of the persons married that they have been lawfully joined in marriage.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.