S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
8563--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
November 16, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, COLTON, STECK, SEAWRIGHT, HEVESI, ZEBROW-
SKI, SOLAGES, DINOWITZ, SIMON, ABINANTI, RAIA, TITUS, GRAF -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. CROUCH, GALEF, LAWRENCE, THIELE -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Judiciary -- recommitted to the
Committee on Judiciary in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to increasing
the age of consent for purposes of marriage
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 15 of the domestic
relations law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 126 of the laws of
1984 and subdivision 3 as amended by section 5 of part W2 of chapter 62
of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as follows:
2. If it appears from the affidavits and statements so taken, that the
persons for whose marriage the license in question is demanded are
legally competent to marry, the said clerk shall issue such license
[except in the following cases. If it shall appear upon an application
that the applicant is under eighteen years of age, before the town or
city clerk shall issue a license, he shall require documentary proof of
age in the form of an original or certified copy of a birth record, a
certification of birth issued by the state department of health, a local
registrar of vital statistics or other public officer charged with simi-
lar duties by the laws of any other state, territory or country, a
baptismal record, passport, automobile driver's license, life insurance
policy, employment certificate, school record, immigration record,
naturalization record or court record, showing the date of birth of such
minor]. [If the] THE town or city clerk shall [be in doubt as to whether
an applicant claiming to be over eighteen years of age is actually over
eighteen years of age he shall], FOR ALL APPLICANTS, before issuing such
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13068-06-6
A. 8563--A 2
license, require documentary proof [as above defined] THAT EACH APPLI-
CANT IS EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. SUCH DOCUMENTARY PROOF SHALL BE
IN THE FORM OF AN ORIGINAL OR CERTIFIED COPY OF A BIRTH RECORD, A
CERTIFICATION OF BIRTH ISSUED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, A LOCAL
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS OR OTHER PUBLIC OFFICER CHARGED WITH SIMI-
LAR DUTIES BY THE LAWS OF ANY OTHER STATE, TERRITORY OR COUNTRY, A
BAPTISMAL RECORD, PASSPORT, AUTOMOBILE DRIVER'S LICENSE, LIFE INSURANCE
POLICY, EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE, SCHOOL RECORD, IMMIGRATION RECORD,
NATURALIZATION RECORD OR COURT RECORD, SHOWING THE DATE OF BIRTH OF SUCH
APPLICANT. If it shall appear upon an application of the applicants as
provided in this section or upon information required by the clerk that
either party is [at least sixteen years of age but] under eighteen years
of age, then the town or city clerk [before he shall issue a license
shall require the written consent to the marriage from both parents of
the minor or minors or such as shall then be living, or if the parents
of both are dead, then the written consent of the guardian or guardians
of such minor or minors. If one of the parents has been missing and has
not been seen or heard from for a period of one year preceding the time
of the application for the license, although diligent inquiry has been
made to learn the whereabouts of such parent, the town or city clerk may
issue a license to such minor upon the sworn statement and consent of
the other parent. If the marriage of the parents of such minor has been
dissolved by decree of divorce or annulment, the consent of the parent
to whom the court which granted the decree has awarded the custody of
such minor shall be sufficient. If there is no parent or guardian of the
minor or minors living to their knowledge then the town or city clerk
shall require the written consent to the marriage of the person under
whose care or government the minor or minors may be before a license
shall be issued. If a parent of such minor has been adjudicated an
incompetent, the town or city clerk may issue a license to such minor
upon the production of a certified copy of such judgment so determining
and upon the written consent of the other parent. If there is no other
parent whose consent is required by this section, then and in such
event, the town or city clerk shall require the written consent of the
guardian of such minor or of the person under whose care or government
the minor may be before a license shall be issued. The parents, guardi-
ans, or other persons whose consent it shall be necessary to obtain and
file with the town or city clerk before the license shall issue, shall
personally appear and acknowledge or execute the same before the town or
city clerk, or some other officer authorized to administer oaths and
take acknowledgments provided that where such affidavit or acknowledg-
ment is made before an official other than an officer designated in
section two hundred ninety-eight of the real property law as authorized
to take such affidavit or acknowledgment if a conveyance of real proper-
ty were being acknowledged or proved, or if a certificate of authentica-
tion would be required by section three hundred ten of the real property
law to entitle the instrument to be recorded if it were a conveyance of
real property, the consent when filed must have attached thereto a
certificate of authentication.
3. If it shall appear upon an application for a marriage license that
either party is under the age of sixteen years, the town or city clerk
shall require, in addition to any consents provided for in this section,
the written approval and consent of a justice of the supreme court or of
a judge of the family court, having jurisdiction over the town or city
in which the application is made, to be attached to or endorsed upon the
application, before the license is issued. The application for such
A. 8563--A 3
approval and consent shall be heard by the judge at chambers. All papers
and records pertaining to any such application shall be sealed by him
and withheld from inspection, except by order of a court of competent
jurisdiction.] SHALL NOT ISSUE THE LICENSE. Before issuing any licenses
herein provided for, the town or city clerk shall be entitled to a fee
of thirty dollars, which sum shall be paid by the applicants before or
at the time the license is issued. Any town or city clerk who shall
issue a license to marry any persons one or both of whom shall not be at
the time of the marriage under such license legally competent to marry
without first requiring the parties to such marriage to make such affi-
davits and statements or who shall not require the production of docu-
mentary proof of age [or the procuring of the approval and consents
provided for by this article], which shall show that the parties author-
ized by said license to be married are legally competent to marry, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined in
the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every offense. On or before
the fifteenth day of each month, each town and city clerk, except in the
city of New York, shall transmit to the state commissioner of health
twenty-two dollars and fifty cents of the amount received for each fee
collected, which shall be paid into the vital records management account
as provided by section ninety-seven-cccc of the state finance law. In
any city the balance of all fees collected for the issuing of a marriage
license, or for solemnizing a marriage, so far as collected for services
rendered by any officer or employee of such city, shall be paid monthly
into the city treasury and may by ordinance be credited to any fund
therein designated, and said ordinance, when duly enacted, shall have
the force of law in such city. Notwithstanding any other provisions of
this article, the clerk of any city with the approval of the governing
body of such city is hereby authorized to designate, in writing filed in
the city clerk's office, a deputy clerk, if any, and/or other city
employees in such office to receive applications for, examine applica-
tions, investigate and issue marriage licenses in the absence or inabil-
ity of the clerk of said city to act, and said deputy and/or employees
so designated are hereby vested with all the powers and duties of said
city clerk relative thereto. Such deputy and/or employees shall perform
said duties without additional compensation.
S 2. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
652 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
S 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. A marriage shall
not be solemnized within twenty-four hours after the issuance of the
marriage license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record as
hereinafter provided, nor shall it be solemnized after sixty days from
the date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized
pursuant to section three hundred fifty-four-d of the executive law.
Every license to marry hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in
addition to other requirements specified by this chapter, must contain a
statement of the day and the hour the license is issued and the period
during which the marriage may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the
clergyman or magistrate performing the marriage ceremony, or if the
marriage is solemnized by written contract, of the judge before whom the
contract is acknowledged, to annex to or endorse upon the marriage
license the date and hour the marriage is solemnized. A judge or justice
of the supreme court of this state or the county judge of the county in
which either party to be married resides[, or if such party is under
sixteen years of age, the judge of the family court of such county], if
it shall appear from an examination of the license and any other proofs
A. 8563--A 4
submitted by the parties that one of the parties is in danger of immi-
nent death, or by reason of other emergency public interest will be
promoted thereby, or that such delay will work irreparable injury or
great hardship upon the contracting parties, or one of them, may make an
order authorizing the immediate solemnization of the marriage and upon
filing such order with the clergyman or magistrate performing the
marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is to be solemnized by written
contract, with the judge before whom the contract is acknowledged, such
clergyman or magistrate may solemnize such marriage, or such judge may
take such acknowledgment as the case may be, without waiting for such
three day period and twenty-four hour period to elapse. The clergyman,
magistrate or judge must file such order with the town or city clerk who
issued the license within five days after the marriage is solemnized.
Such town or city clerk must record and index the order in the book
required to be kept by him OR HER for recording affidavits, statements,
consents and licenses, and when so recorded the order shall become a
public record and available in any prosecution under this section. A
person who shall solemnize a marriage in violation of this section shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished
by a fine of fifty dollars for each offense, and in addition thereto,
his OR HER right to solemnize a marriage shall be suspended for ninety
days.
S 3. Section 15-a of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
126 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
S 15-a. Marriages of minors under [fourteen] EIGHTEEN years of age.
Any marriage in which either party is under the age of [fourteen] EIGH-
TEEN years is hereby prohibited. Any town or city clerk who shall know-
ingly issue a marriage license to any persons, one or both of whom shall
be at the time of their contemplated marriage actually under the age of
[fourteen] EIGHTEEN years, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on
conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.
S 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it shall have become a law and shall apply to licenses issued on and
after such effective date and to marriages that have not been solemnized
prior to such effective date. If a license was issued for a party under
eighteen years of age, but the marriage has not been solemnized prior to
such effective date, the license so issued shall be null and void, and
the parties may present a new application for a marriage license only if
and when both parties are eighteen years of age or older.