1,517. Reports of a Marriage and a Definite Marriage

Hilchos Ishus 9:25

It once happened that a particular woman was reported to be consecrated to a certain man’s son. After a while, they asked that father, who said that there was a condition attached to the kiddushin and that condition wasn’t met. The Sages did not rely on this man’s words. Rather, they ruled that the status of the kiddushin was in doubt as if there was no mitigating information at all.

Hilchos Ishus 9:26

Let’s say that word gets around that a woman was consecrated to a certain man, and another man came and consecrated her in front of witnesses. In such a case, we try to verify reports of the first man’s kiddushin. If witnesses give clear testimony that the woman was consecrated to the first man, then the kiddushin given her by the second man is meaningless. If reports of the first man’s kiddushin cannot be confirmed, he must give the woman a get. The second man, who definitely consecrated her, may then consummate the marriage. If the second man divorces her, the first man may not consummate the marriage because people will think that he consecrated a woman, divorced her, and then remarried her after she had been consecrated by someone else (which is prohibited).