Why a Woman Would Marry Her Dead Lover

In France it is legal to marry a dead fiance or fiancee. But why would a woman marry her dead fiance?
In France it is legal to get married to a dead person.
Posthumous marriage is the marriage in which one of the participating members is deceased. Since World War I, hundreds of people have applied for posthumous marriage and have actually gone ahead to marry their deceased fiancés or fiancées.

Anyone in France who wants to marry his or her deceased engaged lover has to send an official request to the President of France, who forwards the request to the Justice Minister. The Justice Minister then forwards the request to the prosecutor for the surviving partner’s district. If the family of the deceased approves of the marriage, then the prosecutor sends the application back to the President to give the go-ahead for the marriage to proceed.

Reasons why people get married to the dead

• The major reason why posthumous marriage is done in France is to legitimize the children that the woman might have had with the man.
• Psychologists have also said that posthumous marriages are usually done for emotional reasons on the part of the posthumous spouse.
• Posthumous marriage is a way of bringing the posthumous spouse into the family of the deceased spouse, which creates some sort of moral satisfaction and a sense of alliance.
• The posthumous spouse can sometimes even be entitled to insurance benefits and pensions from the deceased spouse.
Before the posthumous marriage can be accepted, the surviving partner should show ample enough proof that they planned on getting married. One out of every four applicants for posthumous marriage is rejected.