HB3018 SFA Chapman #1 3-10
Curia 7824
Senator Chapman moved to amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
[Repealed.]
(a) At the time of the execution of the application, the clerk or the person administering the oath to the applicants shall require evidence of the age of each of the applicants. Evidence of age may be as follows:
(1) A certified copy of a birth certificate or a duplicate certificate produced by any means that accurately reproduces the original;
(2) A voter’s registration certificate;
(3) An operator’s or chauffeur’s license;
(4) The affidavit of both parents or the legal guardian of the applicant; or
(5) Other good and sufficient evidence.
(b) If an affidavit is relied upon as evidence of the age of an applicant, and if one parent is dead, the affidavit of the surviving parent or of the guardian of the applicant is sufficient. If both parents are dead, the affidavit of the guardian of the applicant is sufficient. If the parents of the applicant live separate and apart, the affidavit of the parent having custody of the applicant is sufficient.
(a) The age of consent for marriage for both the male and the female is 18 years of age. A person under the age of eighteen lacks the capacity to contract a marriage without the consent required by this section.
(b) The clerk of the county commission may issue a marriage license to an applicant who is under the age of eighteen but sixteen years of age or older if the clerk obtains a valid written consent from the applicant’s parents or legal guardian.
(c) Upon order of a circuit judge, the clerk of the county commission may issue a marriage license to an applicant who is under the age of sixteen, if the clerk obtains a valid written consent from the applicant’s parents or legal guardian. A circuit judge of the county in which the application for a marriage license is filed may order the clerk of the county commission to issue a license to an applicant under the age of sixteen if, in the court’s discretion, the issuance of a license is in the best interest of the applicant and if consent is given by the parents or guardian.
(d) (c) A consent to marry must be duly acknowledged before an officer authorized to acknowledge a deed. If the parents are living together at the time the application for a marriage license is made and the consent is given, the signatures of both parents or the applicant’s legal guardian is required. If one parent is dead, the signature of the surviving parent or the applicant’s legal guardian is required. If both parents are dead, the signature of the applicant’s legal guardian is required. If the parents of the applicant are living separate and apart, the signature of the parent having custody of the applicant or the applicant’s legal guardian is required.
(e) (d) If a person under the age of consent is married in violation of this section, the marriage is not void for this reason, and such marriage is valid until it is actually annulled.
(f) (e) A marriage by an underage person without a valid consent as required by this section, though voidable at the time it is entered into, may be ratified and become completely valid and binding when the underage party reaches the age of consent. Validation of a marriage by ratification is established by some unequivocal and voluntary act, statement, or course of conduct after reaching the age of consent. Ratification includes, but is not limited to, continued cohabitation as husband and wife after the age of consent is attained. Nothing in this section may serve to annul or void a marriage entered into prior to the enactment of this statute, nor shall it serve to annul or void an otherwise legal marriage entered into in another jurisdiction outside of the State of West Virginia.
Adopted
Rejected