S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                 8563--A

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                            November 16, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, COLTON, STECK, SEAWRIGHT, HEVESI, ZEBROW-
  SKI,  SOLAGES,  DINOWITZ, SIMON, ABINANTI, RAIA, TITUS, GRAF -- Multi-
  Sponsored by -- M.  of A. CROUCH, GALEF, LAWRENCE, THIELE -- read once
  and referred to the Committee  on  Judiciary  --  recommitted  to  the
  Committee  on  Judiciary in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
  committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
  recommitted to said committee

AN  ACT  to  amend the domestic relations law, in relation to increasing
  the age of consent for purposes of marriage

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivisions  2  and  3  of  section  15  of the domestic
relations law, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 126 of  the  laws  of
1984  and subdivision 3 as amended by section 5 of part W2 of chapter 62
of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as follows:
  2. If it appears from the affidavits and statements so taken, that the
persons for whose marriage the  license  in  question  is  demanded  are
legally  competent  to  marry,  the  said clerk shall issue such license
[except in the following cases. If it shall appear upon  an  application
that  the  applicant  is under eighteen years of age, before the town or
city clerk shall issue a license, he shall require documentary proof  of
age  in  the  form of an original or certified copy of a birth record, a
certification of birth issued by the state department of health, a local
registrar of vital statistics or other public officer charged with simi-
lar duties by the laws of any  other  state,  territory  or  country,  a
baptismal  record, passport, automobile driver's license, life insurance
policy,  employment  certificate,  school  record,  immigration  record,
naturalization record or court record, showing the date of birth of such
minor]. [If the] THE town or city clerk shall [be in doubt as to whether
an  applicant claiming to be over eighteen years of age is actually over
eighteen years of age he shall], FOR ALL APPLICANTS, before issuing such

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13068-06-6
              

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license, require documentary proof [as above defined] THAT  EACH  APPLI-
CANT  IS EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER. SUCH DOCUMENTARY PROOF SHALL BE
IN THE FORM OF AN ORIGINAL OR  CERTIFIED  COPY  OF  A  BIRTH  RECORD,  A
CERTIFICATION OF BIRTH ISSUED BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, A LOCAL
REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS OR OTHER PUBLIC OFFICER CHARGED WITH SIMI-
LAR  DUTIES  BY  THE  LAWS  OF  ANY OTHER STATE, TERRITORY OR COUNTRY, A
BAPTISMAL RECORD, PASSPORT, AUTOMOBILE DRIVER'S LICENSE, LIFE  INSURANCE
POLICY,  EMPLOYMENT  CERTIFICATE,  SCHOOL  RECORD,  IMMIGRATION  RECORD,
NATURALIZATION RECORD OR COURT RECORD, SHOWING THE DATE OF BIRTH OF SUCH
APPLICANT. If it shall appear upon an application of the  applicants  as
provided  in this section or upon information required by the clerk that
either party is [at least sixteen years of age but] under eighteen years
of age, then the town or city clerk [before he  shall  issue  a  license
shall  require  the written consent to the marriage from both parents of
the minor or minors or such as shall then be living, or if  the  parents
of  both are dead, then the written consent of the guardian or guardians
of such minor or minors. If one of the parents has been missing and  has
not  been seen or heard from for a period of one year preceding the time
of the application for the license, although diligent inquiry  has  been
made to learn the whereabouts of such parent, the town or city clerk may
issue  a  license  to such minor upon the sworn statement and consent of
the other parent.  If the marriage of the parents of such minor has been
dissolved by decree of divorce or annulment, the consent of  the  parent
to  whom  the  court which granted the decree has awarded the custody of
such minor shall be sufficient. If there is no parent or guardian of the
minor or minors living to their knowledge then the town  or  city  clerk
shall  require  the  written consent to the marriage of the person under
whose care or government the minor or minors may  be  before  a  license
shall  be  issued.  If  a  parent  of such minor has been adjudicated an
incompetent, the town or city clerk may issue a license  to  such  minor
upon  the production of a certified copy of such judgment so determining
and upon the written consent of the other parent. If there is  no  other
parent  whose  consent  is  required  by  this section, then and in such
event, the town or city clerk shall require the written consent  of  the
guardian  of  such minor or of the person under whose care or government
the minor may be before a license shall be issued. The parents,  guardi-
ans,  or other persons whose consent it shall be necessary to obtain and
file with the town or city clerk before the license shall  issue,  shall
personally appear and acknowledge or execute the same before the town or
city  clerk,  or  some  other officer authorized to administer oaths and
take acknowledgments provided that where such affidavit  or  acknowledg-
ment  is  made  before  an  official other than an officer designated in
section two hundred ninety-eight of the real property law as  authorized
to take such affidavit or acknowledgment if a conveyance of real proper-
ty were being acknowledged or proved, or if a certificate of authentica-
tion would be required by section three hundred ten of the real property
law  to entitle the instrument to be recorded if it were a conveyance of
real property, the consent when  filed  must  have  attached  thereto  a
certificate of authentication.
  3.  If it shall appear upon an application for a marriage license that
either party is under the age of sixteen years, the town or  city  clerk
shall require, in addition to any consents provided for in this section,
the written approval and consent of a justice of the supreme court or of
a  judge  of the family court, having jurisdiction over the town or city
in which the application is made, to be attached to or endorsed upon the
application, before the license is  issued.  The  application  for  such

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approval and consent shall be heard by the judge at chambers. All papers
and  records  pertaining  to any such application shall be sealed by him
and withheld from inspection, except by order of a  court  of  competent
jurisdiction.]  SHALL NOT ISSUE THE LICENSE. Before issuing any licenses
herein provided for, the town or city clerk shall be entitled to  a  fee
of  thirty  dollars, which sum shall be paid by the applicants before or
at the time the license is issued. Any town  or  city  clerk  who  shall
issue a license to marry any persons one or both of whom shall not be at
the  time  of the marriage under such license legally competent to marry
without first requiring the parties to such marriage to make such  affi-
davits  and  statements or who shall not require the production of docu-
mentary proof of age [or the procuring  of  the  approval  and  consents
provided for by this article], which shall show that the parties author-
ized by said license to be married are legally competent to marry, shall
be  guilty  of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined in
the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every offense. On or  before
the fifteenth day of each month, each town and city clerk, except in the
city  of  New  York,  shall transmit to the state commissioner of health
twenty-two dollars and fifty cents of the amount received for  each  fee
collected, which shall be paid into the vital records management account
as  provided  by  section ninety-seven-cccc of the state finance law. In
any city the balance of all fees collected for the issuing of a marriage
license, or for solemnizing a marriage, so far as collected for services
rendered by any officer or employee of such city, shall be paid  monthly
into  the  city  treasury  and  may by ordinance be credited to any fund
therein designated, and said ordinance, when duly  enacted,  shall  have
the  force  of law in such city. Notwithstanding any other provisions of
this article, the clerk of any city with the approval of  the  governing
body of such city is hereby authorized to designate, in writing filed in
the  city  clerk's  office,  a  deputy  clerk, if any, and/or other city
employees in such office to receive applications for,  examine  applica-
tions, investigate and issue marriage licenses in the absence or inabil-
ity  of  the clerk of said city to act, and said deputy and/or employees
so designated are hereby vested with all the powers and duties  of  said
city  clerk relative thereto. Such deputy and/or employees shall perform
said duties without additional compensation.
  S 2. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
652 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
  S 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
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  under
sixteen  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

A. 8563--A                          4

submitted  by  the parties that one of the parties is in danger of immi-
nent 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 make an
order  authorizing  the immediate solemnization 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.
  S 3. Section 15-a of the domestic relations law, as amended by chapter
126 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
  S  15-a.  Marriages  of minors under [fourteen] EIGHTEEN years of age.
Any marriage in which either party is under the age of [fourteen]  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
[fourteen]  EIGHTEEN  years,  shall  be  guilty  of a misdemeanor and on
conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.
  S 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth 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.  If a license was issued for a party under
eighteen years of age, but the marriage has not been solemnized prior to
such  effective  date, the license so issued shall be null and void, and
the parties may present a new application for a marriage license only if
and when both parties are eighteen years of age or older.