marriage laws

[Maggot]

In my state the youngest a person can get married is 13 yrs old and a bill is going through to change that to 18. Is it an outdated law?

[Duchess]

18 is almost as bad as 13. People probably shouldn't be getting married before 30 or at least until well established in their career and several thousand dollars in their savings.



I'm only kinda kidding.

[Duchess]

Yes, it's outdated.

[Maggot]

Back when the country had morals if a woman got pregnant she married the man that impregnated her. Many marriages worked out a few didn't. I thought I read that since 1987 over 600 have been married before 18.

[HairOfTheDog]

You're not old enough to drive a car, vote, buy alcohol, etc.......at age 13.

I don't think you're old/mature enough to make a legal lifelong commitment without some assessment and waiver being granted either. That's my understanding of how it is in New Hampshire now. 18 is the legal minimum marrying age, but a person as young as 13-year-old can get married with parental consent and court assessment in the state.

I wonder how many parents in New Hampshire are actually authorizing their kids to get married while they're still in puberty and why, and what's driving the proposed change in law.

Anyway, 18 seems reasonable as the minimum age these days, in my opinion. But, that doesn't mean that younger kids won't just run off and live with someone anyway (which I think is probably better, but a whole lot of people would think is worse on religious grounds).

I do think the current law might have been more reasonable back when it was initiated, but is probably outdated now.

[Maggot]

I guess if the man was 19 and the woman was 16 things might get c o m p l i c a t e d.

[Duchess]

What's the hurry?!

[sally]

16 with parental consent seems reasonable to me. That's the age I got married. 13 is too young.

[Maggot]

Yeah i knew a few girls that got married when I was in H.S. if i remember right a few went off to become baby factories and never finished school. As long as they're happy who cares?

[HairOfTheDog]

16 with parental consent seems reasonable to me. That's the age I got married. 13 is too young.

That's how it is in most states today and makes sense to me too.

The age of marriage in the United States is 18, with two exceptions—Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21). However, most states have exceptions allowing marriage at younger ages with parental consent, judicial approval, in cases of pregnancy, or in a combination of these situations. Most states allow parties aged 16 and 17 to marry with parental consent alone. In many states, children under 16 can be married too, in special circumstances. The absolute minimum age set by statute varies by state between 13 and 17, while in 27 states there is no statutory minimum age if the other legal conditions are met. Although in such states there is no set minimum age by statute, the traditional common law minimum age is 14 for boys and 12 for girls - ages which have been confirmed by case law in some states.

There's also a chart with the state-by-state legal marrying ages here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_mar...ted_States

[Carsman]

16 with parental consent seems reasonable to me. That's the age I got married. 13 is too young.

That's how it is in most states today and makes sense to me too.

The age of marriage in the United States is 18, with two exceptions—Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21). However, most states have exceptions allowing marriage at younger ages with parental consent, judicial approval, in cases of pregnancy, or in a combination of these situations. Most states allow parties aged 16 and 17 to marry with parental consent alone. In many states, children under 16 can be married too, in special circumstances. The absolute minimum age set by statute varies by state between 13 and 17, while in 27 states there is no statutory minimum age if the other legal conditions are met. Although in such states there is no set minimum age by statute, the traditional common law minimum age is 14 for boys and 12 for girls - ages which have been confirmed by case law in some states.

There's also a chart with the state-by-state legal marrying ages here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_mar...ted_States

Agree.

[Duchess]

I'm still wondering what the hurry is. There's time, people, there's time.

[HairOfTheDog]

I'm still wondering what the hurry is. There's time, people, there's time.

I don't want to legally tie the knot; no hurry here. ")

But, some teens want to get married because they're so in love, they get pregnant, their family lives suck ass and they want to escape and start one of their own...

Those are the exceptions though. The average marrying age continues to rise from generation to generation in the U.S., for both men and women, as does the percentage of people like us who choose not to legally marry.

[Duchess]

It's such an important decision. I think I might put more thought into the new furniture I want than some people do with a decision that should affect the rest of their life.

[Carsman]

IMO, It seems many people today don't put as much stock in marriage any longer as they used to.
Today many people use the marriage certificate as a "learners permit", well knowing that divorce is the easy way fix if it doesn't work out!
(And a baby at the ripe old age of 13 is way too young to marry! So is 18. Parents that give consent, are NUTS)

[HairOfTheDog]

IMO, It seems many people today don't put as much stock in marriage any longer as they used to.
Today many people use the marriage certificate as a "learners permit", well knowing that divorce is the easy way fix if it doesn't work out!

Yeah, society's view of marriage has changed a lot in my lifetime. Now that divorce is no longer considered taboo, second and third (and even more) marriages are not uncommon.

'Til death do us part' no longer applies in a lot of cases. I don't think that's a bad thing though; better to be happy than make yourself and your spouse miserable until the day you die.

At the same time, it's not generally considered strange anymore for adults of both genders to wait until their 30s or 40s to get married, or choose to remain single indefinitely.

It's either feast or famine for a lot of people in the U.S.

[Maggot]

In 20 yrs people may be able to legally marry their dogs.

[HairOfTheDog]

^ Where did that come from -- is it in reference to gay marriage?

Dick used that nutty dog-marrying claim to argue against gay marriage a few times. I think he also lamented that people would be able to marry trees!

The lack of logic kind of stumped me, but the bark is worse than the bite in both scenarios.

[Duchess]

I think he also lamented that people would be able to marry trees!

Backwoods hick.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think he also lamented that people would be able to marry trees!

Backwoods hick.

Dick was so prickly, I was surprised he wasn't fretting over people being able to marry cacti in the future.