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In Halacha, is it permissible to use written and signed ketubah that predates the actual wedding ceremony?

So basically, the ketubah is written and signed like a day or so earlier than the actual wedding ceremony, but the actual marriage ceremony and “acceptance” of the ketubah happens a bit later.

Is this considered invalid (i.e., does it have to be signed at the ceremony) or not?

mbloch
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Kirk
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    This is a machlokes amongst modern day poskim ,some say it's fine(as long as a kinyan was performed) and others discourage the practice ... – sam Feb 07 '24 at 02:08
  • relevant: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/67069/11501 – mbloch Feb 13 '24 at 11:37

1 Answers1

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R David Brofsky, an Israeli dayan, writes the following regarding your question

One should write the actual date of the wedding on the ketuba. If the ketuba was written and dated before the day of the wedding ceremony, and the kinyan and signing of the ketuba happened at a later date, the ketuba is deemed a shtar mukdam, which is invalid (see Gittin 18a; Shulchan Arukh, CM 43:7).

If the ketuba was written and the groom was engaged in wedding matters (asukin be-oto ha-inyan) and the kinyan and signing of the ketuba did not happen until evening, some Acharonim validate the ketuba bedieved (see Shulchan Arukh, CM 43:16, and Ha-Nisu’in Ke-Hilkhata 11:28).

Note the lack of validity of the ketuba most often doesn't mean the marriage is invalid, but requires re-doing the ketuba.

Of course, anyone facing such an issue should consult their rabbi before implementing anything they learn here.

mbloch
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