From recent news stories it appears that in some Middle Eastern countries men have married their brides when they were 13 years old (the bride). So what happens to these married folk if they want to visit the US or immigrate here?
jerry lee will tell you that the DJ’s stop playin’ your records and you can’t get a gig anywhere…
Didn’t Loretta Lynn get married when she was 13?
Presumably, the guy would have his visa application denied if he wanted to bring an under-age wife to the US with him.
There was a case a few years ago about a pair of male immigrants (brothers?) already in the US (possibly Iraqis; possibly in the mid-west somewhere - memory a bit hazy). They were convicted of statutory rape after performing and consumating marriages with under-age girls from their community. No-one in their community had any idea that they’d done anything wrong.
I think I remember from a law class that, in California, any marriage that was legal where it took place is legal here. Thus, if it was legal to marry your brother, a minor, or two wives where ever you did it, it’s ok with us out here.
IIRC, they were well aware that it was against U.S. law, but felt that their own customs superseded the law.
Isn’t it legal for a 13-year-old to marry with parental consent? One would presume that such marriages were arranged by the parents of the younger party.
Um… not exactly. For instance, most US states don’t recognize same-sex marriages. And I’m pretty sure none of them will recognize plural (more than two) marriages except some remote regions of Utah and Nevada.
There ARE states in the union where it is legal to marry a 13 or 14 year old with parental consent, and presumably if you did this in, say, Alabama then New York would be forced to recongize it - but the neighbors would probably think you pretty creepy. Likewise, some states permit first cousins to marry, and others don’t, but would still have to recognize the marriage.
Questions like these are one of the things that keep lawyers in business.
Not in Utah. A lot of mormon splinter groups exist that practice ‘the covenant’ of plural marriage, but none of their marriages after the first one are legal. Every year or so they arrest some local religious nut for it. The latest one was Tom Green. Here’s his story if you’re interested.
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/news1/an010512-02.html
NC just changed the laws about marriage of young people. I think it used to be a girl could marry at 14 with parents permission. Now the age is higher but I am not sure what it is.
The US constitution says all states must honor certain legal acts from other states. Marriage is one of those items. This is the “full faith and credit” clause. If that was not the case people could move to another state to avoid having to pay debts or to avoid various legal rulings - in other words it would be a mess.
If a state were to have fully legal gay marriages then this clause would be tested if a gay married couple moved to another state - it probably would wind up in the Supreme Court.
I don’t think this applies to foreign marriages so that would be a different problem.
IIRC, in the case discussed above–the two brothers that lived here in the states–the marriges were with the consent of the parents, but not of the brides. That is what brought it to the attention of the police.
According to the Legal Information Institute at http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Marriage.htm
Girls in Kansas and Massachussetts can mary at 12 with parental consent and/or permission of judge.
Girls in New Hampshire and Texas can marry at 13 with parental consent and permission of judge.
Anybody in Alabama or Utah can get married at 14 with parental consent and they don’t even need parental consent if they have been previously married. However, in Alabama other statutory requirements apply.
Girls can get married at 14 in South Carolina with parental consent and younger children may obtain a marriage license in case of pregnancy or birth of child.
13 ? Why not make this discussion really interesting. In Iran, you can marry a female child when she is nine years old. Could the Iranian husand of such a couple be charged with paedophilia when visiting America?
just because they got married dosen’t mean they did the deed!
I don’t know how helpful this is, but Woody Allen married a 16 year old (from an Oriental country, i think), and I remember they had to keep out of the US until she turned 18. This might have been because Woody is a US citizen.
I’ve always heard that you could marry at any age, as long as the parents were okay with it. That might just be in Louisiana, but I’m not sure.
Back in Texas in the late 1950s, I worked with an eighteen year old guy who had a fourteen year old wife.
I always thought it strange that neither of them could legally drink, nor could they vote, but they could get married. The child bride couldn’t even get a drivers license and had to make do with a learners permit.
I had a young sailor from Illinois in one of my shops that had a 15-yo wife. He was 19, so the age gap wasn’t all that great, but the bureuocracy had fits over how to ‘deal’ with him. Every time his wife went to the clinic, or wanted to establish credit at the NEX, or any number of other official “grown-up” actions, I’d get another call from some outraged Commander, Chief, or civilian.
A real pain in the butt. I was so happy when she turned 18.
To the best of my knowledge, they had a happy marriage, and last time I saw them, there were still no children (he was 23 at that point, had just made Second Class, and she was 19).
Cornelia writes:
> I don’t know how helpful this is, but Woody Allen married
> a 16 year old (from an Oriental country, i think), and I
> remember they had to keep out of the US until she turned
> 18. This might have been because Woody is a US citizen.
No, not even close. Woody Allen started having an affair with Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his girlfriend (and mother of his son) Mia Farrow, when she was about 20. (She was born in Korea, but had lived in the U.A. for over a decade at that point. There’s some uncertainty about her age because she was found wandering the streets as a child.) At no time did they leave the U.S. to escape prosecution. They didn’t get married till she was about 27. Please do some research in the future before you post. All of this information is available on the Internet Movie Database.
Woody Allen’s latest film: “Honey, I screwed the kids”
I wrote:
> . . .had lived in the U.A. for . . .
I meant U.S., of course.