The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 13: Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 005: Adultery and Bigamy
§§ 201, 202. Repealed. 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 24.
§§ 203, 204. Repealed. 1979, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.).
§ 205. Intermarriage of or fornication by persons prohibited to marry
Persons between whom marriages are prohibited by the laws of this State who intermarry or commit fornication with each other shall be imprisoned not more than five years or fined not more than $1,000.00, or both. (Amended 1981, No. 223 (Adj. Sess.), § 16.)
§ 206. Bigamy
A person having a husband or wife living who marries another person, or continues to cohabit with such second husband or wife in this State, shall be imprisoned not more than five years. This section shall not extend to a person whose husband or wife has been continually beyond the sea, or out of the State for seven consecutive years, the party marrying again not knowing the other to be living within that time; or to a person whose former marriage has been avoided by divorce or sentence of nullity, or was contracted under the age of consent and not afterwards assented to. (Amended 1971, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 15; 2009, No. 3, § 12a, eff. Sept. 1, 2009.)
§ 207. Proof of respondent’s civil marriage
In prosecutions for crimes and penalties where it is necessary to prove the fact of the civil marriage of the respondent, acts of cohabitation by the respondent with the supposed husband or wife, and other acts, admissions, and declarations of the respondent tending to prove such marriage shall be admitted in evidence as competent testimony. (Amended 2009, No. 3, § 12a, eff. Sept. 1, 2009.)
§ 208. Alleging civil marriage in bigamy prosecution
In prosecutions for bigamy it shall be sufficient to allege in the information or indictment that, at the time of the second civil marriage, the respondent had a wife or husband living, without specifying the time or place of the former marriage or the name of the former husband or wife. (Amended 2009, No. 3, § 12a, eff. Sept. 1, 2009.)
