NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3891
SPONSOR: Ramos TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to increasing
the age of consent for purposes of marriage to the age of eighteen; and
to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
PURPOSE:
To increase the age of consent, for purposes of marriage, to the age of
eighteen.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 15-a of the domestic relations law, prohibiting
any marriage in which either party is under the age of eighteen.
Section 2 amends section 13-b of the domestic relations law, removing
criteria stating that parties must be at least seventeen in order for
clergyman or magistrate to solemnize such marriages without waiting
specified periods of time.
Section 3 amends section 25 of the domestic relations law, removing text
that would prohibit marriage licenses to be void if either party is
below the legal age of consent where the consent of a parent or guardian
has been given.
Section 4 amends subdivision 1 of section 7 of the domestic relations
law, removing text in order to strictly make any marriage where either
party is under the age of eighteen voidable.
Section 5 REPEALS subdivision 3 of section 15 of the domestic relations
law, removing a list of requirements that a town or city clerk must meet
before issuing a marriage license to a couple when either party is less
than eighteen year of age but at least seventeen.
Section 6 REPEALS paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 11-a, removing
text that declares it a duty of a city clerk to solemnize the rites of
matrimony between said party in which one or both individuals are under
the legal age of consent, eighteen, being it that the parents of such
parties have submitted written requests to said city and shall be
personally present at such request of solemnization.
Section 7 REPEALS section 84 of the domestic relations law. The section
currently reads: The lawful marriage of a person before he or she
attains majority terminates a general guardianship with respect to his
or her person, but not with respect to his or her property.
Section 8 states that this act will take effect thirty days after it
becomes law, it will apply to•licenses issued on and after such date and
to marriages that had not been solemnized prior to said date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Many states have laws that allow the marriage of parties under the age
of consent solely based on having parents' consent. This leads to chil-
dren as young as 10 years old being married to adults. With the United
Nations declaring forced marriages akin to slavery, it is only right
that New York State take a stance against this practice by prohibiting
any marriages between parties under the age of consent. In December of
2018, The Tahirih Justice Center reported that from 2000 to 2015 over
200,000 children under the age of eighteen were married. Of those
200,000, 87% were girls and 86% married adults. While the legal age to
consent marriage is eighteen in most states, many have laws that allow
for exceptions including 13 states that have no minimum age requirement
for such restrictions.
Child marriages in the United States lead to the diminishment of the
mental and physical health of the girls involved. U.S. women who married
as children experience higher rates of psychiatric disorders, are more
likely to seek mental health services and have a 23% higher greater risk
of developing a serious health condition. Additionally, young women aged
16-24 experience intimate partner violence at three times the national
average amongst all such victims and the younger that the adolescent is,
the higher chance there is of them having experienced coercive sex.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.8447 of 2019-20: Referred to judiciary
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become law and shall apply to licenses issued on and after such effec-
tive date and to marriages that have not been solemnized prior to such
effective date
