If it is legal to have multiple spouses in your native country, what happens when you move to a nation (e.g., USA) where you cannot have multiple spouses. Do you have to go with the first? Presumably, this has come up in court before.
First of all, polygamy in and of itself can be grounds for exclusion from immigration to the US or from naturalization as a US citizen. See for example:
[ul][li]http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/howdoi/refelig.htm[/ul][/li][quote]
The following are examples of reasons for which a refugee may not be admitted to the United States…
A person who is intending to practice polygamy in the United States
[/quote]
[ul][li]http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/services/natz/general.htm[/ul][/li][quote]
Good Moral Character
…
Generally, an applicant must show that he or she has been a person of good moral character for the statutory period … A person also cannot be found to be a person of good moral character if during the last five years he or she:
is practicing or has practiced polygamy
[/quote]
However, forms I-698 and I-821 (and others) show that this is not an automatic exclusion; some practicing polygamists can indeed be admitted or made citizens:
[ul][li]http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/i-698.pdf lists Polygamy as a “Ground for exclusion which maybe waived.” [/ul] [/li]
However, even if you are admitted to the US as a practicing polygamist, you only get to keep one of them as your legal spouse. From what I understand, this in most cases means your first spouse is your only legal spouse under US law. Emory University Law school has a good summary of the issues (good, but lengthy; look for Section C, “Within the Marriage”):
[ul][li]http://els41.law.emory.edu/IFL/cases/USA.htm[/ul][/li]
The controlling legal case seems to be N.Y. v. Benu, but for the life of me, I can’t find this case anywhere. Maybe a lawyer who frequents the boards could help?
-mok
So the other wives, for instance, cannot get spousal benefits from husband’s death, etc.?
(Are they any cultures still practicing multiple husband marriage? I recall some from anthro classes…)
The April 2003 issue of Discover magazine had an interesting article on the Bari Indians of Venezuela. They believe that a successful pregnancy requires regular infusions of semen throughout the pregnancy. So their culture considers children to have a primary father and any- ah, “contributing” fathers.
doesn’t sound like marriage…
It exists in the Himalayas, though to what degree today, I don’t know. Also in parts of India (no cite handy, but I could probably dig one up). Of course, one can find some interesting arrangements here and there in the good ole U-S-of-A as well. 
Interesting, but as they are brothers, still doesn’t seem to be a sort of multiple partnering. Are multiple wives of one man often related?
Just to throw two cents in. In Lithuania, your marriage is recorded in your passport (including wife’s personal (identification) number. Thus no permission to marry a second time will be granted until a divorce is registered in your passport as well. Yes, their are local registry databanks but this rule was created before computers in order to avoid having to try to find out official information quickly and painlessly. Most people also have their address in their passport (used to also be compulsory) and a passport is the principle means of identification (meaning people often carry it). Makes it nice to women looking to see if the man is serious!
As to inheritance, this is also set by law, esp. in the case of children. This means most people do not have wills when they die. For example, when the first child is born, one third of the property becomes his/hers, which becomes enforceable mostly at divorce and death. In other words, a couple with one child divorce and joint owned apartment. Each gets one third. Thus the husband often just gives his third to the wife but there are cases where they all continue living together in the same apartment.
No laws have been specifically passed about multiple wives/husbands but someone so wishing would have a very uphill battle. On the other hand, having a mistress is not terribly frowned upon. The child by a mistress would be entitled by law to child support from the father and would be entitled to a share of the inheritance if underage but no provision for the mistress is foreseen.
The mistriss cannot take the husband’s last name.
Think that covers it.
Not typically, as I understand it, although I don’t think that it would be precluded. I remember one guy in Saudi telling me about when his family went to find him a wife, but his father liked the woman and so kept her as his second wife instead. That’s gotta hurt.
I also recently saw an Iranian film in which the plot revolved around a couple searching for a second wife for the husband since the first wife was unable to bear a child. It was pretty sad, and IIRC called Leila?
Wasn’t there some research recently that suggested a woman was more receptive fertility wise to the sperm of a man she hadn’t already fathered a child with?
Re polygamy: given in most cultures where this occurs, it’s by the man’s choice, not the woman’s, it would seem unfair to debar a woman fleeing a polygamic marriage that she had been forced into.
So with the advent of the “free love” movement of the 60’s, did anyone ever try to fight the laws of the US (or elsewhere, such as the UK) against Polygamy?
Personally, I view it as a hold over from a more restrictive time, and the only reason the laws remain the status quo is nobody wants to have to redo all the insurance and inheritance laws… heheheh…