STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3891
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2021
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Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS, SIMON, PAULIN, REYES, SEAWRIGHT,
JEAN-PIERRE, FAHY, COOK, AUBRY, DE LA ROSA, L. ROSENTHAL, HUNTER,
FRONTUS, EPSTEIN, HEVESI, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, COLTON, DICKENS, McDO-
NOUGH, GALEF, NOLAN, FERNANDEZ, PERRY, TAYLOR -- Multi-Sponsored by --
M. of A. ASHBY, LUPARDO, MIKULIN, MONTESANO, RA, WOERNER -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
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
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 15-a of the domestic relations law, as amended by
2 chapter 35 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 15-a. Marriages of minors under [seventeen] eighteen years of age.
4 Any marriage in which either party is under the age of [seventeen] eigh-
5 teen years is hereby prohibited. Any town or city clerk who shall know-
6 ingly issue a marriage license to any persons, one or both of whom shall
7 be at the time of their contemplated marriage actually under the age of
8 [seventeen] eighteen years, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on
9 conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.
10 § 2. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
11 35 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
12 § 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. A marriage shall
13 not be solemnized within twenty-four hours after the issuance of the
14 marriage license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record as
15 hereinafter provided, nor shall it be solemnized after sixty days from
16 the date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized
17 pursuant to section three hundred fifty-four-d of the executive law.
18 Every license to marry hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in
19 addition to other requirements specified by this chapter, must contain a
20 statement of the day and the hour the license is issued and the period
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03014-01-1
A. 3891 2
1 during which the marriage may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the
2 clergyman or magistrate performing the marriage ceremony, or if the
3 marriage is solemnized by written contract, of the judge before whom the
4 contract is acknowledged, to annex to or endorse upon the marriage
5 license the date and hour the marriage is solemnized. A judge or justice
6 of the supreme court of this state or the county judge of the county in
7 which either party to be married resides, or [if such party is at least
8 seventeen years of age,] the judge of the family court of such county,
9 if it shall appear from an examination of the license and any other
10 proofs submitted by the parties that one of the parties is in danger of
11 imminent death, or by reason of other emergency public interest will be
12 promoted thereby, or that such delay will work irreparable injury or
13 great hardship upon the contracting parties, or one of them, may, [upon
14 making written affirmative findings under subdivision three of section
15 fifteen of this article,] make an order authorizing the immediate solem-
16 nization of the marriage and upon filing such order with the clergyman
17 or magistrate performing the marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is to
18 be solemnized by written contract, with the judge before whom the
19 contract is acknowledged, such clergyman or magistrate may solemnize
20 such marriage, or such judge may take such acknowledgment as the case
21 may be, without waiting for such three day period and twenty-four hour
22 period to elapse. The clergyman, magistrate or judge must file such
23 order with the town or city clerk who issued the license within five
24 days after the marriage is solemnized. Such town or city clerk must
25 record and index the order in the book required to be kept by him or her
26 for recording affidavits, statements, consents and licenses, and when so
27 recorded the order shall become a public record and available in any
28 prosecution under this section. A person who shall solemnize a marriage
29 in violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
30 conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars for each
31 offense, and in addition thereto, his or her right to solemnize a
32 marriage shall be suspended for ninety days.
33 § 3. Section 25 of the domestic relations law is amended to read as
34 follows:
35 § 25. License, when to be obtained. The provisions of this article
36 pertaining to the granting of the licenses before a marriage can be
37 lawfully celebrated apply to all persons who assume the marriage
38 relation in accordance with subdivision four of section eleven of this
39 chapter. Nothing in this article contained shall be construed to render
40 void by reason of a failure to procure a marriage license any marriage
41 solemnized between persons of full age [nor to render void any marriage
42 between minors or with a minor under the legal age of consent where the
43 consent of parent or guardian has been given and such marriage shall be
44 for such cause voidable only as to minors or a minor upon complaint of
45 such minors or minor or of the parent or guardian thereof].
46 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 7 of the domestic relations law, as
47 amended by chapter 313 of the laws of 1962, is amended to read as
48 follows:
49 1. Is under the age of legal consent, which is eighteen years[,
50 provided that such nonage shall not of itself constitute an absolute
51 right to the annulment of such marriage, but such annulment shall be in
52 the discretion of the court which shall take into consideration all the
53 facts and circumstances surrounding such marriage];
54 § 5. Subdivision 3 of section 15 of the domestic relations law is
55 REPEALED.
A. 3891 3
1 § 6. Paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 11-a of the domestic
2 relations law is REPEALED.
3 § 7. Section 84 of the domestic relations law is REPEALED.
4 § 8. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
5 have become a law and shall apply to licenses issued on and after such
6 effective date and to marriages that have not been solemnized prior to
7 such effective date.
