I want to use a term to mean that the speaker has been recorded as the wife of X in a civil registry officially and legally.
I don't know what is the usual word to use in this case, I have searched "formal wife", but all I got is "former wife" which means "Ex-wife". As for "official wife", I found it used mostly in titles Google Search/Google Books —there wasn't enough information about its definition and meaning.
Here's where I want to use it in a dialogue between A and B:
A: This is not something to call […] when I'm his {official/formal} wife.
B: But maybe he doesn't consider you as {official/formal} yet.
P.S. "A" got married to X in a civil registry, but they came to an agreement (while registered as lawfully wedded couples) of having a trial period to see if they are suitable to each other (I know it doesn't seem logical or sensible). As that speech occurred before the ending of the trial period, which means before deciding to continue being a married couple or having a divorce, "A" finds that she is the legal wife of X, when X probably (according to "B's" assumption) doesn't have the same point of view because of the trial period.
So, what is the usual term to use in this case? Is it "formal wife", "official wife" or something else?
Best Answer
If what's important here is not the exact way it's written, but to have dialog that sounds more natural in this convoluted scenario, this is how I would write it:
Why use adverbs instead of adjectives? Because we skip the whole "is that really a term/thing?" problem and instead emphasize the perception of the characters. If you want to add more emphasis on the absurdity/weirdness of the scenario, you can even put the bolded words above in quotes.