May Minor with Child Marry Without Parental Consent

[MrsB]

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Ohio

I have done some research but am still uncertain on one point-can my minor (step)daughter (age 17 with a child), marry the father if her custodial mother does not give consent? Can they petition the court for this, or is it out of the question, without her mother's consent?

All the parents except the custodial mother are in favor of the marriage. It is strongly suspected that the mother wants to move and take the minor daughter and her child across the country, and may be trying to sabotage the relationship between the minor parents. (As if a young couple in this situation needed any more complications!)

Can they petition the court anyway? Or is my husband's only option to sue for custody of our minor daughter?

Thank you.

[cyjeff]

There is only one state where the parents do not have to sign off on a minor's marriage.

[jk]

I have done some research but am still uncertain on one point-can my minor (step)daughter (age 17 with a child), marry the father if her custodial mother does not give consent?

I have found nothing that allows a minor to marry based on mothering a child.

Can they petition the court for this, or is it out of the question, without her mother's consent?

everything I have read leaves it in the hands of the guardian of the minor.

All the parents except the custodial mother are in favor of the marriage. It is strongly suspected that the mother wants to move and take the minor daughter and her child across the country, and may be trying to sabotage the relationship between the minor parents. (As if a young couple in this situation needed any more complications!)

well, that is a parents prerogative but I suspect the court order for custody would come in to play here. Moving across the country without other parent or court knowledge is often prohibited.

Can they petition the court anyway?

I saw nothing that would allow this.

Or is my husband's only option to sue for custody of my minor daughter?

Huh? Oh, I see. I suppose this would be a possibility but your husband would have to have sole legal custody of the girl. If mom has legal and physical custody of the girl, I doubt your husband would be given sole legal custody. Even then, the mom could argue in court to prevent permission to marry and she could also argue the only reason dad is fighting for custody is to allow the marriage. I doubt the court would act in favor of dad considering this.

In this day and age, some parents need to realize that rushing in to marriage causes more problems than they can imagine. If there is love, it can wait the less than a year until the girl turns 18. This may be a blessing in disguise.

[steph_rwlnd]

i only speak from expierence i was 16 and my now husband was 21 in the state of texas only one parent had to sign for us to get married.

[jk]

i only speak from expierence i was 16 and my now husband was 21 in the state of texas only one parent had to sign for us to get married.

and texas law is important because?

[cbg]

Since the poster is in Ohio, where both parents have to sign off and in some parts of Ohio a judge does as well, what you did in Texas is completely irrelevant.

[LG37]

Don't quote me on this, but I was reading up on this particular topic a while back for myself. In the state of Ohio, you cannot marry without consent. I didn't look into all the gory details about if you're pregnant/have a child. However, I DO know if the 17 year old and her boyfriend/the baby's father were to go to a DIFFERENT state, they may not need consent to marry since they have a child. Please note that not ALL states allow this, just certain states.

*Source: http://marriage.about.com/cs/teenmar...a/teenus_4.htm


P.S. I'm new to this site, please don't eat me with sarcastic quotes to my post. :P

[gbg5683]

Possibly if the kids were legally emancipated they could be legally married. However, I don't see that happening either as the parents would have to agree that they are self sufficient enough to become emancipated.

How about looking at why the necessity to be married at that age. Is this due to medical bills and the parents that are fighting over who is responsible? If they are 17, should we assume they are both still in High School? Maybe they just need to be shown love and support they need to make it through life now after such an error in judgement. Help them finish school. Teach them how to become more responsible adults. Show them how caring parents raise a child. A custody battle in court will only make matters worse. And, if you think about it, would anything even be settled by the time they are 18??

Been there. My dtr went to live w/her father. We hated each other. She turned up pregnant at 17. We fought. Then realized it was doing nobody any good. We loved her and helped her cope. They are now 18, living together and raising their child together. He is working and she is in school. Where do you think they would be now if her father and I just kept fighting and showed them thats how to handle things?

[cbg]

The laws on this issue have been tightening up. There is currently no state where parental consent, judicial consent, or both, is not required. The days when a couple of kids could run away across the state line and get married without anyone knowing or able to stop it are gone. Even in the last remaining state where parental consent is not always required, judicial consent is still needed.

Some of these laws have only been finalized in the last couple of years, so don't count on all the websites being up to date.