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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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