Basic Trope: A married couple finds out that they're not actually legally married due to some sort of technicality.
- Straight: Alice and Bob have been married for 15 years, but one day they learn that they're not technically married because they spelled their last name wrong on the marriage certificate.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice and Bob have been married for 75 years. They find out they're not technically married, and they and their children are so distraught that they're Driven to Suicide.
- All of the married couples find out that they're not technically legally married.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob do find out that they're not technically married, but it's on the day after their wedding.
- Justified: Alice and Bob didn't realize that they spelled their last name wrong, and/or didn't realize that it actually affected whether or not they were considered to legally be married.
- Inverted: Alice and Bob are assumed to not be married to each other, but some discovery finds that for some reason they actually are married.
- Subverted:
- Alice and Bob later find that it was a mistake that they weren't reported as legally married - they actually are.
- Alice and Bob believe that they're not legally married because their last name was spelled wrong, but their lawyer deems that law outdated and considers them legally married anyway.
- Double Subverted:
- That was a different couple with the names Alice and Bob - this means that Alice and Bob have to try again to get legally married.
- Then he finds that they're not technically legally married because they didn't do the proper paperwork.
- Parodied: Alice and Bob don't even try to have a wedding or fill out any marriage paperwork, but are still surprised when they find out that they aren't legally married.
- Zig-Zagged: It goes back and forth whether Alice and Bob are legally married or not throughout the episode.
- Averted:
- There are no married couples.
- No married couples find out that they're not actually married.
- Enforced: To add some complication to Alice and Bob's marriage.
- Lampshaded: "How could we not be married?"
- Invoked: Alice and Bob's lawyer intentionally gets details on their marriage certificate wrong.
- Exploited: Bob is in an arranged marriage with Alice that he wants to get out of, so he tries spelling the last name wrong in order to make them technically unmarried.
- Defied: Alice and Bob make sure that they don't get any details wrong on their marriage certificate so that they can actually be legally married.
- Discussed: "I've been married to my wife for 15 years, but I just found out that we aren't really married after all. Weird."
- Conversed: "These characters weren't really married after all... I hope they can figure something out."
Back to "Not Really Married" Plot
