Marriage in the Metaverse.

• Author: Solomon, Aron
• Position: FRONTIER HORIZONS

IN WHAT LIKELY was a slow news day, The New York Times recently reported that a couple, with virtual avatars dressed in wedding garb, was married in the metaverse. While some poked fun at the wedding as a bad copy of what people used to do in Second Life and other virtual communities (I personally was a fan of this tweet from someone who was married in Animal Crossing), it happened; a newspaper wrote about it; and so here we are: marriage in the metaverse is now a thing.

However, is this type of marriage legally binding? The short answer is that if your metaverse marriage also is done legally in real life, then there is nothing stopping virtual marriage from being a new incarnation of love, American style.

New York's marriage requirements are similar to those of many other jurisdictions: fill out a marriage application; you and the person you want to marry must appear together at the town or city clerk's office to complete the processing of the license and to receive the license; you must wait at least 24 hours after receiving the license to get married, unless a court gives you permission to get married without waiting.

Until recently, virtual marriages were legal in New York, but this was an exceptional thing. While the Times describes these virtual pandemic weddings as "a symbol of love persevering in a trying time," Executive Order No. 202.20--which empowered the New York City Clerk's office to allow couples to apply for a marriage license online and have a virtual wedding ceremony using video conference technology with a legally appointed and licensed marriage officiant--expired June 25,2021.

Under this executive order, it would have been very easy to meet the qualifications to marry in the metaverse, had you found an appointed and licensed marriage officiant to marry you and your partner through the virtual representation of your IRL selves. To be clear, the officiant would have needed proof that the two physical people in our universe assented to be married. Then there is no reason why an officiant could not also be present as a metaverse avatar and ask those (here is the key) identity-confirmed avatars whether they take each other's hand in marriage.

Yet, even today, there still is an easy way to get around all of this and legally get married in the metaverse. You just need to be sure to check off the legal boxes. The technology already is there to get married in, say, a private ceremony in New York, while at the...