Marriage Requirements
What you need to know about getting married.
Can anyone get
married to anyone?
You must meet
certain requirements in order to marry. These vary slightly
from state to state, but often include:
- being at least
the age of consent (usually 18, though sometimes you may
marry younger with your parents' consent)
- not being
too-closely related to your intended spouse
- having the mental
capacity--that is, you must understand what you are doing
and what consequences your actions may have
- being sober at
the time of the marriage
- not being married
to anyone else
- getting a blood
test, and
- obtaining a
marriage license.
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Incest and
Marital Prohibitions
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All states prohibit
a person from marrying his or her sibling,
half-sibling, parent, grandparent,
great-grandparent, child, grandchild,
great-grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece and nephew.
Some states have additional prohibitions.
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Does any state yet
recognize same-sex marriages?
As of March 1998,
lesbian and gay couples cannot legally marry in any state.
This may change, however, as a case is presently working its
way through the Hawaii courts that could legalize same-sex
marriages in that state. A Hawaii Circuit Court ruled in
December, 1996 that denying lesbian or gay couples the
freedom to legally marry is unconstitutional. However, the
state will not begin issuing marriage licenses to lesbian or
gay couples while the case is being appealed to the Hawaii
Supreme Court. A decision is expected in early 1998. Even if
same-sex marriages are eventually recognized in Hawaii,
same-sex couples will be fighting an uphill battle to have
their unions honored in the other 49 states. Several states,
including Georgia, South Dakota, Texas and Utah have already
passed laws designed to thwart same-sex marriages--and
others are sure to follow. In addition, the Defense of
Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 barring the federal
government from recognizing same-sex marriages and
permitting states to ignore same-sex marriages performed in
other states.
For more information
about same-sex marriage, you can contact the Forum on the
Right to Marriage (FORM), (617) 868-3676. You may also want
to contact the Marriage Project of the Lambda Legal Defense
and Education Fund, (212) 809-8585.
What
is a common law marriage?
In sixteen states,
heterosexual couples can become legally married if they:
- live together for
a long period of time
- hold themselves
out to others as husband and wife, and
- intend to be
married.
These marriages are
called common law marriages. Contrary to popular belief,
even if two people cohabit for a certain number of years, if
they don't intend to be married and hold themselves out as
married, there is no common law marriage.
When a common law
marriage exists, the spouses receive the same legal
treatment given to other married couples, including the
requirement that they go through a formal divorce to end the
marriage.
See the
section on Living Together for a list of which states allow
common law marriages
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