Do people engaged in polyamory have any legal rights? Currently, not many. Multiple U.S. states (including California, Washington, Louisiana, and Rhode Island) have explicitly recognized the families with multiple parents, such as step-families, adoptive families, and families with CNM parents.
Since Australian law recognises both marriages and de facto relationships, you can establish de facto relationships with multiple partners. Individuals in de facto polyamorous relationships (also known as 'multiple relationships) are typically entitled to the benefits and payments typically available to couples.
United States: Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states, De facto polygamy is illegal under federal law, the Edmunds Act. Utah, in February 2020, reduced polygamy to the status of a traffic ticket; nevertheless recognizing polygamous unions is illegal under the Constitution of Utah.
“The prevalence right now of young people is somewhere around 4-5 per cent of people might be involved in a polyamorous relationship, and about 20 per cent have probably tried one.”
Marriage and multiple relationships
Australian law recognises both marriages and de facto relationships. While bigamy is a criminal offence (under section 94 of the Marriage Act 1961), it is not an offence to have multiple simultaneous de facto relationships.
As with monogamous relationships, polyamorous relationships can be healthy or unhealthy — happy or unhappy — depending on the behaviors and actions of the people who engage in them. Many people in polyamorous relationships are satisfied and happy.
Having multiple non-marital partners, even if married to one, is legal in most U.S. jurisdictions; at most it constitutes grounds for divorce if the spouse is non-consenting, or feels that the interest in a further partner has destabilized the marriage.
However, polyamory tends to be built around the ideas of honesty, communication and centring the feelings of everyone involved, so in most cases ethical non-monogamy doesn't equate to cheating.
Polyamory is not a legally protected status, like being straight or gay. You can lose your job for being polyamorous. Courts can use it against you in child custody proceedings. Polyamory and non-monogamy take many different forms.
In essence, men are only socially monogamous rather than genetically monogamous.
Same-sex relationships, throuples, polyandry, polygamy, open marriage, beta-marriage, and cohabitating couples, are all condemned by Jesus' simple statement in Matthew 19:4-6.
Legal considerations for throuple relationships
It would appear that the law says yes. If parties are deemed to be in a de-facto relationship, then in the event the relationship breaks down, the de-facto spouse is entitled to commence proceedings for a property settlement and potentially spousal maintenance.
Are throuples legal? It's perfectly legal for three consenting adults to have a relationship, but when it comes to being recognized by the state, things get a little harder. It's currently not possible for three people to be married and enjoy the benefits that come along with that, such as filing taxes together.
Polygamy in Australia is illegal. Polygamy is legal in many African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and usually involves more than one wife. Polygamy is also common in certain religious groups in other countries, such as Mormons in the United States.
Your partner uses polyamory to mask personal or psychological problems. While some pursue polyamory for healthy reasons, others may engage in polyamory for unhealthy reasons such as sex addiction, problems with novelty-seeking, or problems with risk-taking behaviour.
A survey of 340 polyamorous adults shows their polyam relationships lasting an average of eight years. The most typical polyam relationship involves a primary committed couple, with each member free to explore other relationships.
I am asked this question more than almost any other question about polyamory. My short answer – yes, it is possible. However, to make a polyamorous /monogamous relationship work takes partners who are secure in themselves and their choices, secure in the relationship, good communicators and willing to work.
Other researchers like Fleckenstein and Cox found that most polyamorous people maintain two or at the most three partnerships simultaneously.
However, according to statistics published in 2021, roughly 4%–5% of the population practices polyamory. Polyamory is a form of consensual non-monogamy in which a person is involved with multiple romantic or sexual partners.
Polyamory is a relationship orientation that is practiced by a minority of the population in the United States, about 4 to 5 percent.
They found that polyamory was perceived most positively of the three consensually non-monogamous relationships, followed by open relationships, with swinging perceived most negatively.
The biggest difference between polyamory and polygamy is the gender of the partners. In polyamory, anyone of any gender can have multiple partners—the gender of the person or their partner does not matter. Polygamy is almost universally heterosexual, and only one person has multiple spouses of a different gender.
Polys and Religion
Of those who do practice a religion, the most popular are (in descending order): Paganism, Unitarian Universalism, Judaism, Buddhism, and some form of sacred serxuality.