Nathan Collier, along with his wives Victoria and Christine have applied at the Yellowstone County Courthouse in Billings, Montana to make their triad legal.
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We first told you about the Colliers in January when the polygamist family appeared on an episode of the TLC show “Sister Wives“.
Nathan Collier and his wife Victoria were legally married in 2000, and in 2007, he and Christine were married only in a religious ceremony to avoid bigamy charges.
In the news report, Christine said the couple marked “not applicable” on the marriage application where they were supposed to note the date their last marriage was dissolved.
Marrying a second person while legally married to another is punishable by a $500 fine and up to six months in jail.
For the Colliers part, Nathan said Christine, his second wife, “deserves the legitimacy” of marriage.
“We’re not even asking for acceptance, we’re just asking for tolerance”. We’re exhausted of it. Ours is a happy, functional, loving family.
Bigamy and polygamy are illegal under both federal and Montana state law.
“We’ve been together many years”, Collier told U.S. TODAY Network.
The Collier family includes seven children, some of whom derive from Collier and his wives and some who come from previous relationships the adults have had.
Collier said if his request is denied he will file a civil rights lawsuit. “The clerk later returned, saying they’d have to check with the attorney general’s office”.
As legal foundation, the Montana polygamist has turned to Chief Justice John Roberts’ dissenting opinion, in which he stated that allowing same-sex unions would mean that polygamous couples should be afforded the same rights, Reuters added. Holding multiple marriage licenses is illegal in all 50 states.
The man, Nathan Collier of Montana, is Wednesday to one woman on paper and not married in legal terms to the other.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday made gay marriages legal nationwide. “I don’t understand why it’s looked upon and frowned upon as being obscene”.
He wrote, “much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage”. They then held off on a decision and sent the application to an attorney, who had not yet responded.
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“We hope the Supreme Court decision will show the direction the nation is going”, she said.
