Bill Text: MI HB4294 | 2023-2024 | 102nd Legislature | Chaptered
Bill Title: Family law: marriage and divorce; minimum age of consent for marriage; establish at 18. Amends sec. 3 of 1887 PA 128 (MCL 551.103). TIE BAR WITH: SB 0209'23, SB 0212'23, HB 4295'23, HB 4296'23
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-09-19 - Assigned Pa 121'23 With Immediate Effect [HB4294 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2023-HB4294-Chaptered.html
Act No. 121
Public Acts of 2023
Approved by the Governor
September 18, 2023
Filed with the Secretary of State
September 19, 2023
EFFECTIVE DATE: September 19, 2023
state of michigan
102nd Legislature
Regular session of 2023
Introduced by Reps. Hope, Brixie, Young, Hill, Grant, Breen, Byrnes, Hoskins, Morgan, Skaggs, Paiz, Brabec and McKinney
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4294
AN ACT to amend 1887 PA 128, entitled “An act establishing the minimum ages for contracting marriages; to require a civil license in order to marry and its registration; to provide for the implementation of federal law; and to provide a penalty for the violation of this act,” by amending section 3 (MCL 551.103), as amended by 2006 PA 578.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 3. (1) An individual who is 18 years of age or older may contract marriage. As proof of age, the individual who intends to be married, in addition to the statement of age in the application, when requested by the county clerk, must submit a birth certificate or other proof of age. The county clerk on the application submitted shall fill out the blank spaces of the license according to the sworn answers of the applicant, taken before the county clerk, or some person duly authorized by law to administer oaths. The county clerk shall not issue a license until the requirements of this section are complied with. If the parties are legally entitled to be married, the county clerk must sign the license and certify the fact that it is properly issued, and the clerk must make a correct copy of the license in the books of registration.
(2) A fee of
$20.00 must be paid by the individual applying for the license and must be paid
by the county clerk into the general fund of the county. The county board of
commissioners must allocate $15.00 of each fee collected to the circuit court
for family counseling services that must include counseling for domestic
violence and child abuse. If family counseling
services are not established in the county, the circuit court may use the money
allocated to contract with public or private agencies providing similar
services. Money allocated to the circuit court under this section that is not
expended must be returned to the general fund of the county to be held in
escrow until circuit court family counseling services are established under the
circuit court family counseling services act, 1964 PA 155, MCL 551.331 to
551.344. A probate court may order the county clerk to waive the marriage
license fee in cases in which the fee would result in undue hardship. If both
parties named in the application are nonresidents of the state, the individual applying
for the license must pay an additional fee of $10.00 that the county clerk must
deposit into the general fund of the county. The county clerk must give the
license filled out and signed, together with the blank form of certificate, to
the individual applying, for delivery to the individual who is to officiate at
the marriage. On the return of the license to the county clerk, containing the
signatures of the witnesses to the marriage, who must be 18 years of age or
older, the individuals being married, and the individual officiating at the
marriage, with the certificate of the individual officiating at the marriage
that the marriage has been performed, the county clerk must record in the book
of registration in the proper place of entry the information prescribed by the
director of the department of health and human services. The licenses and
certificates issued and returned must be forwarded to the state registrar
appointed by the director of the department of health and human services on the
forms and in the manner prescribed by the director.
(3) A charter county that has a population of over 1,500,000 may impose by ordinance a marriage license fee or nonresident marriage license fee, or both, different in amount than the fee prescribed by subsection (2). The charter county must allocate the fee for family counseling services as prescribed by subsection (2). A charter county must not impose a fee that is greater than the cost of the service for which the fee is charged.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless all of the following bills of the 102nd Legislature are enacted into law:
(a) Senate Bill No. 209.
(b) Senate Bill No. 212.
(c) House Bill No. 4295.
(d) House Bill No. 4296.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Secretary of the Senate
Approved___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Governor