[Vision2020] Minimum Age Legal Marriage

[Ted Moffett]

All:

Please excuse the redundancy in the following information, if it has already
been posted.  I recently researched the minimum age of legal marriage in the
USA, due to a dispute with someone who insisted it was not below 16 years
old in any state.  The minimum age of legal marriage is often lower for
females than males, I think, because of the fact females who get pregnant
are viewed as needing some protection in law so that they do not face having
an "illegitimate" child, or being an unwed mother.  These laws date from the
time when an unwed mother was a moral horror and a scandal, and the children
of unwed mothers faced negative perceptions, viewed as a burden to society
with no legally sanctioned father to provide for them.  Therefore it was
thought better to allow marriage for even very young women who became
pregnant, especially with the restrictions on abortion.  Some of the
information below may be incorrect or the laws may have been changed, as has
been posted about Kansas marriage law, but other states have low legal
marriage ages, with parental consent and/or a court order, that might shock
many:

http://www.ci.nashua.nh.us/content/51/74/190/271.aspx
**
*Age
*A male or female who has reached the age of 18 can marry without parental
permission. A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male between
the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission of their
parent (guardian) and a waiver. A female below the age of 13 and a male
below the age of 14 are not allowed to marry under any condition.
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http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=116474



State laws make various exceptions for when a teen can marry before the
legal age of adulthood at 18. The state with the lowest marriage age is New
Hampshire, which allows 13-year-old girls and 14-year-old boys to
marry  although
parents can annul their children's marriages until the children reach 18,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.



Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire and Utah set lower limits when
parents approve. Mississippi and South Carolina allow girls younger than 16
to marry, but not boys. California and Massachusetts specify no minimum age,
but they require court approval for teens under 18.

-------------------

http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_laws.htm


*New Hampshire*: A female between the age of 13 and 17 years and a male
between the age of 14 and 17 years can be married only with the permission
of their parent (guardian) and a waiver. A female below the age of 13 and a
male below the age of 14 are not allowed to marry under any conditions. If
both parties are nonresidents of NH and are below the age of 18 they cannot
be married in NH under any conditions.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-05-18-
marriage-qanda_x.htm

Q: At what age can two people legally marry?

A: A man and a woman can marry without parental consent at age 18 in
almost every state, according to the Legal Information Institute at
Cornell Law School. The exceptions are Mississippi, where boys can
marry at age 17 and girls at 15, and Nebraska, where the minimum age
is 19.

Girls can marry as young as age 12 in Kansas and Massachusetts with
parental consent or permission from a judge. And boys as young as 14
can get married in those states with their parents' permission. Most
other states allow children to marry at age 16 or 17 with their
parents' approval.

18 they cannot be married in NH under any conditions.
-----------------------
Ted Moffett
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