Penal Law § 255.00 · Article 255. Offenses Affecting the Marital Relationship
Unlawfully solemnizing a marriage
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 255.00 Unlawfully solemnizing a marriage.
A person is guilty of unlawfully solemnizing a marriage when:
1. Knowing that he is not authorized by the laws of this state to do so, he performs a marriage ceremony or presumes to solemnize a marriage; or
2. Being authorized by the laws of this state to perform marriage ceremonies and to solemnize marriages, he performs a marriage ceremony or solemnizes a marriage knowing that a legal impediment to such marriage exists.
Unlawfully solemnizing a marriage is a class A misdemeanor.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN255.00
- Text hash
- sha256 e8c016dd699a12b0d51b395943d545138e7e33ed328a2f6b6f9c7cb4211a81d7
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.