The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3891
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             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:
 
   Section 1. Section 15-a of the domestic relations law, as  amended  by
 chapter 35 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   §  15-a.  Marriages of minors under [seventeen] EIGHTEEN years of age.
 Any marriage in which either party is under the age of [seventeen] 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
 [seventeen] EIGHTEEN years, shall be guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  on
 conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.
   § 2. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
 35 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   § 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD03014-01-1

 A. 3891                             2
 
 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 at least
 seventeen 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 submitted by the parties that one of the parties is in danger  of
 imminent  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, [upon
 making written affirmative findings under subdivision three  of  section
 fifteen of this article,] make an order authorizing the immediate solem-
 nization  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.
   §  3.  Section  25 of the domestic relations law is amended to read as
 follows:
   § 25. License, when to be obtained. The  provisions  of  this  article
 pertaining  to  the  granting  of  the licenses before a marriage can be
 lawfully celebrated  apply  to  all  persons  who  assume  the  marriage
 relation  in  accordance with subdivision four of section eleven of this
 chapter. Nothing in this article contained shall be construed to  render
 void  by  reason of a failure to procure a marriage license any marriage
 solemnized between persons of full age [nor to render void any  marriage
 between  minors or with a minor under the legal age of consent where the
 consent of parent or guardian has been given and such marriage shall  be
 for  such  cause voidable only as to minors or a minor upon complaint of
 such minors or minor or of the parent or guardian thereof].
   § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 7 of  the  domestic  relations  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  313  of  the  laws  of 1962, is amended to read as
 follows:
   1. Is under the age  of  legal  consent,  which  is  eighteen  years[,
 provided  that  such  nonage  shall not of itself constitute an absolute
 right to the annulment of such marriage, but such annulment shall be  in
 the  discretion of the court which shall take into consideration all the
 facts and circumstances surrounding such marriage];
   § 5. Subdivision 3 of section 15 of  the  domestic  relations  law  is
 REPEALED.

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   §  6.  Paragraph  c  of  subdivision 1 of section 11-a of the domestic
 relations law is REPEALED.
   § 7. Section 84 of the domestic relations law is REPEALED.
   §  8.  This  act shall take effect on the thirtieth 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.