Teen marriage, 1970s

[Querian]

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

 

[Zigner]

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

This is not an appropriate place for this question. You'll have to do your own research.

 

[Silverplum]

When a 12 y.o. is involved in a marital relationship, the reasoning has already been cast aside.

Name her Princess Lolita.

 

[Proserpina]

This is not an appropriate place for this question. You'll have to do your own research.

And the really fun part?

Current laws will not reflect what was and wasn't legal in 1975. So OP will have to check the requirements of every US state - and in some cases even on a county level - and every country ... all the way back to 1975.

Now, I could actually take on that project if I were writing what the author here is attempting to write. Ain't gonna.

 

[Proserpina]

I'll give the OP a hint though seeing as it's Friday and I'm just super-generous today.

Parental consent does not trump State law ...

 

[TheGeekess]

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

How many forums are you going to post this on? If you're not going to do research yourself, you need to pay someone to do that research for you.

 

[PaulMass]

See Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 207 Section 25. Last revised in 1931 (Except for a change in 1987 where the word "insane" was replaced with a more politically correct term.

 

[LdiJ]

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

Even for a story set in 1975, that is not a very believable scenario and it won't get you very far. If your story was set somewhere between the year 850 and the year 1500 it might be more likely to fly, but of course, the US did not exist then.

 

[TheGeekess]

Even for a story set in 1975, that is not a very believable scenario and it won't get you very far. If your story was set somewhere between the year 850 and the year 1500 it might be more likely to fly, but of course, the US did not exist then.

No, the Americas just had an enormous native population and civilizations that collapsed when the Europeans brought us disease and Christianity.

 

[Just Blue]

No, the Americas just had an enormous native population and civilizations that collapsed when the Europeans brought us disease and Christianity.

Extra Like!!

 

[TigerD]

When a 12 y.o. is involved in a marital relationship, the reasoning has already been cast aside.

Name her Princess Lolita.

My daughter wanted to be treated like a princess. So I sold her into an arranged marriage with a guy twice her age that she had never met to secure an alliance with Poland.

TD

 

[Proserpina]

My daughter wanted to be treated like a princess. So I sold her into an arranged marriage with a guy twice her age that she had never met to secure an alliance with Poland.

TD

I would've gone for the camels. At least you can milk those.

Aaaaand that sounded completely worse than it was meant to sound (!).

 

[Proserpina]

No, the Americas just had an enormous native population and civilizations that collapsed when the Europeans brought us disease and Christianity.

And tea.

You forgot tea.

 

[cbg]

A 12 year old being married? As recently as 1975?

Not gonna happen. Anywhere. In any state in the US. While there are still laws on the books in some states that would technically allow it with parental and/or court permission, there ain't no court ever going to permit that and you couldn't find anyone who would perform the marriage anyway.

1975 just isn't that long ago. It's the year I graduated from high school. We haven't allowed children that young to marry in a very long time.

Oh, and folks? This poster is in Latvia. He also posted this question on a board where I have access to the IP address.

 

[stealth2]

A 12 year old being married? As recently as 1975?

Not gonna happen. Anywhere. In any state in the US. While there are still laws on the books in some states that will allow it with parental and/or court permission, there ain't no court ever going to permit that and you couldn't find anyone who would perform the marriage anyway.

1975 just isn't that long ago. It's the year I graduated from high school. We haven't allowed children that young to marry in a very long time.

Oh, and folks? This poster is in Latvia. He also posted this question on a board where I have access to the IP address.

I doubt they'd even have allowed it in Latvia in the 70s.