A French town hall mistakenly listed the name of the city’s mayor in place of the husband of a 51-year-old woman, and the latter only recognized him 17 years later.
“It’s well written there that I got married in 2006, the problem is that it’s not my husband’s name at all, it’s that of the mayor who brought us together,” explains Catherine in an article by Demotivator.
So Catherine is officially married to two men. Her marriage certificate has her husband’s name on it, but her birth certificate has the name of the mayor of her parish’s town on it.
The problem is that bigamy is illegal in France and the birth certificate takes precedence in the event of succession. Catherine is therefore legally married to the mayor.
“If anything happens to my husband, I have no right to anything because I’m not actually married to him,” she laments.
The 50-year-old has tried to resolve the situation but town halls are passing the buck to each other and don’t seem too concerned about it.
According to the lawyer handling this file, the error was made “by the birth office at the time the marriage certificate was transcribed.” Katharina therefore has to ask her birth office for a certificate of correction in a civil act.