Bill Text: NY A03891 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Increases the age of consent for purposes of marriage to the age of eighteen.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 59-13)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-06-02 - substituted by s3086 [A03891 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A03891-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3891

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 28, 2021
                                       ___________

        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.