Jewish Weddings- Who can sign the Ketubah? Males only? What makes it legal?

Answer 1

The Ketubah has to be signed by two kosher witnesses- that means males over the age of Bar Mitzvah- that are shomer shabbos and mitzvot.

There are certain minimum stipulations it must have it - such as the names of the couple, the place of the wedding and a few others. It also states that the wedding is according to the laws of Moshes v'Yisrael (a stipulation that carried a lot more legal significance when there was a sanhedrin- as they could use the stipulation to annul a marriage in exceptional situations- nowadays this is generally never used). In most communities they insist in a secular anti-nuptial contract as part of the wedding preparations to cover the legal side that used to be covered by the Ketubah in case of divorce.

Edit: Some corrections to some of what people have stated below from the Orthodox Jewish point of view:
1) The women should NOT sign the Ketubah
2) The witnesses do NOT have to be Rabbis, just observant Jewish men (I am not a Rabbi but have been a witness for two of my friends).

Answer 2

Twenty years after our civil marriage in Canada, my wife and I *finally* had our religious wedding under the hoopah. My wife actually wrote out the entire "ketuba" by hand and both she and I had to sign it as well as two male witnesses over the age of 13 (bar mitzvah).

Note: Since the "ketubah" is written in ancient Aramaic, not Hebrew, and I don't read Aramaic, I'm still wondering what she might have slipped in there . . . . :-)

Answer 3

The Rabbis sign the ketubah and only a Jewish person can sign.

Answer 4

Women are the ones who acually withhold the Ketubah its all hers.

Answer 5

All your questions should be answered in this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah

Hope that helps!