1,512. Disagreements About Who Consecrated Whom

Hilchos Ishus 9:15

Let’s say that a man claims to have consecrated a woman but she denies it. In this situation, he is forbidden to marry her close relatives but she remains permitted to marry his. If she claims that he consecrated her and he denies it, he is permitted to her relatives and she is prohibited to his. If he says he consecrated a woman and she says it was her daughter that he consecrated, he is prohibited to the mother’s relatives but she is permitted to his. He is permitted to the daughter’s relatives and she to his (because she never said she was consecrated by him; her mother said that). If he says he consecrated the woman’s daughter and she says it was she herself that he consecrated, he is prohibited to the daughter’s relatives but she is permitted to his. He is permitted to the mother’s relatives but she is prohibited to his.

Hilchos Ishus 9:16

The previous halacha applies in a case where the one making the claim says that kiddushin was given in front of witnesses but the witnesses have either traveled abroad or died (and are therefore unavailable to corroborate the claim). If the claimant admits that kiddushin was given without witnesses present, then kiddushin is ineffective, as was discussed in chapter 4. Whenever a woman says that a man consecrated her and he denies it, we ask him to give her a get to enable her to marry others, since doing so causes him no detriment. If he gives her a get on his own (i.e., without being asked to in order to resolve the situation), then he is obligated to pay her the value of her kesubah.