S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
4407--B
Cal. No. 404
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
February 14, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sens. LANZA, ALCANTARA, FUNKE, GALLIVAN, HAMILTON -- read
twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the
Committee on Judiciary -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee
discharged and said bill committed to the Committee on Rules --
reported favorably from said committee, ordered to a third reading,
passed by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote recon-
sidered, restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted,
retaining its place in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law, in relation to increasing
the age of consent for purposes of marriage to the age of seventeen
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1, and subdivisions 2, 3 and 4
of section 15 of the domestic relations law, paragraph (a) of subdivi-
sion 1 as amended by chapter 415 of the laws of 2014, subdivision 2 as
amended by chapter 126 of the laws of 1984, subdivision 3 as amended by
section 5 of part W2 of chapter 62 of the laws of 2003 and subdivision 4
as amended by chapter 424 of the laws of 1990, are amended to read as
follows:
(a) It shall be the duty of the town or city clerk when an application
for a marriage license is made to him or her to require each of the
contracting parties to sign and verify a statement or affidavit before
such clerk or one of his or her deputies, containing the following
information. From [the groom] PARTY ONE: Full name [of husband], place
of residence, social security number, age, occupation, place of birth,
name of father, country of birth, maiden name of mother, country of
birth, number of marriage. From [the bride] PARTY TWO: Full name [of
bride], place of residence, social security number, age, occupation,
place of birth, name of father, country of birth, maiden name of mother,
country of birth, number of marriage. BOTH PARTIES SHALL ALSO BE
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07462-10-7
S. 4407--B 2
REQUIRED TO PRESENT TO THE CLERK 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 SIMILAR DUTIES BY
THE LAWS OF ANY OTHER STATE, TERRITORY OR COUNTRY, A BAPTISMAL RECORD, A
PASSPORT, AN AUTOMOBILE DRIVER'S LICENSE, ANY GOVERNMENT OR SCHOOL
ISSUED IDENTIFICATION CARD THAT CONTAINS A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE APPLICANT,
A LIFE INSURANCE POLICY, AN EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE, A SCHOOL RECORD, AN
IMMIGRATION RECORD, A NATURALIZATION RECORD, A COURT RECORD OR ANY OTHER
DOCUMENT OR RECORD ISSUED BY A GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY, SHOWING THE DATE OF
BIRTH OF SUCH PARTIES. The said clerk shall also embody in the statement
if either or both of the applicants have been previously married, a
statement as to whether the former [husband or husbands or the former
wife or wives] SPOUSE OR SPOUSES of the respective applicants are living
or dead and as to whether either or both of said applicants are divorced
persons, if so, when and where and against whom the divorce or divorces
were granted and shall also embody therein a statement that no legal
impediment exists as to the right of each of the applicants to enter
into the marriage state. The town or city clerk is hereby given full
power and authority to administer oaths and may require the applicants
to produce witnesses to identify them or either of them and may examine
under oath or otherwise other witnesses as to any material inquiry
pertaining to the issuing of the license, and if the applicant is a
divorced person the clerk may also require the production of a certified
copy of the decree of the divorce, or proof of an existing marriage of
parties who apply for a license to be used for a second or subsequent
ceremony; provided, however, that in cities or towns the verified state-
ments and affidavits may be made before any regular clerk or designee of
the clerk's office.
2. If it appears from the affidavits and statements so taken, AND FROM
THE DOCUMENTARY PROOF OF AGE PRESENTED, 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 similar duties by the
laws of any other state, territory or country, a baptismal record, pass-
port, 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 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, before issuing such license, require documentary proof as above
defined].
3. 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] SEVENTEEN years of age but under
eighteen years of age, then the town or city clerk before he shall issue
a license shall require:
(A) 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
S. 4407--B 3
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, guardians, 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 acknowledgment 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 property were being
acknowledged or proved, or if a certificate of authentication would be
required by section three hundred ten of the real property law to enti-
tle the instrument to be recorded if it were a conveyance of real prop-
erty, 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,]; AND
(B) 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 appli-
cation for such approval [and consent] MAY BE MADE BY EITHER MINOR PARTY
TO THE PROPOSED MARRIAGE AND shall be heard by the judge at chambers.
THE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OR THE JUDGE OF THE FAMILY COURT SHALL
APPOINT AN ATTORNEY FOR THE CHILD FOR EACH MINOR PARTY IMMEDIATELY UPON
THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL. THE ATTORNEY FOR THE CHILD MUST HAVE
RECEIVED TRAINING IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INCLUDING A COMPONENT ON FORCED
MARRIAGE. 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. BEFORE ISSUING ANY APPROVAL, THE
JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OR THE JUDGE OF THE FAMILY COURT SHALL:
(I) PROVIDE NOTIFICATION TO EACH MINOR PARTY OF HIS OR HER RIGHTS,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, RIGHTS IN RELATION TO TERMINATION OF THE
MARRIAGE, CHILD AND SPOUSAL SUPPORT, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES AND
ACCESS TO PUBLIC BENEFITS AND OTHER SERVICES, WHICH NOTIFICATION SHALL
BE DEVELOPED BY THE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION, IN CONSULTATION WITH
THE OFFICE FOR THE PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE;
S. 4407--B 4
(II) WITH RESPECT TO EACH PARTY, INCLUDING A MINOR PARTY, CONDUCT A
REVIEW OF RELATED DECISIONS IN COURT PROCEEDINGS INITIATED PURSUANT TO
ARTICLE TEN OF THE FAMILY COURT ACT, AND ALL WARRANTS ISSUED UNDER THE
FAMILY COURT ACT, AND REPORTS OF THE STATEWIDE COMPUTERIZED REGISTRY OF
ORDERS OF PROTECTION ESTABLISHED AND MAINTAINED PURSUANT TO SECTION TWO
HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE-A OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW, AND REPORTS OF THE SEX OFFEN-
DER REGISTRY ESTABLISHED AND MAINTAINED PURSUANT TO SECTION ONE HUNDRED
SIXTY-EIGHT-B OF THE CORRECTION LAW; AND
(III) HAVE AN IN CAMERA INTERVIEW, SEPARATELY WITH EACH MINOR PARTY,
AND MAKE THE FOLLOWING WRITTEN AFFIRMATIVE FINDINGS:
A. THAT IT IS THE MINOR'S OWN WILL THAT THE MINOR ENTER INTO THE
MARRIAGE;
B. THAT THE MINOR IS NOT BEING COMPELLED BY FORCE, THREAT, PERSUASION,
FRAUD, COERCION OR DURESS; AND
C. THAT THE MARRIAGE WILL NOT ENDANGER THE MENTAL, EMOTIONAL OR PHYS-
ICAL SAFETY OF THE MINOR.
IN MAKING SUCH FINDINGS, THE COURT SHALL CONSIDER, AMONG OTHER RELE-
VANT FACTORS, THE AGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PARTIES INTENDING TO BE
MARRIED, WHETHER THERE IS A POWER IMBALANCE BETWEEN THE PARTIES INTEND-
ING TO BE MARRIED, WHETHER THE PARTIES ARE INCAPABLE OF CONSENTING TO A
MARRIAGE FOR WANT OF UNDERSTANDING, WHETHER THERE IS A HISTORY OF DOMES-
TIC VIOLENCE BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND WHETHER THERE IS A HISTORY OF
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BETWEEN A PARTY AND EITHER PARTIES' OR LEGAL GUARDI-
ANS' FAMILY MEMBERS. THE WISHES OF THE PARENTS OR LEGAL GUARDIANS OF THE
MINOR INTENDING TO BE MARRIED SHALL NOT BE THE SOLE BASIS FOR APPROVAL
UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION.
UPON THE APPROVAL OF THE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OR THE JUDGE OF
THE FAMILY COURT OF THE APPLICATION TO MARRY, EACH MINOR PARTY SHALL
HAVE ALL THE RIGHTS OF AN ADULT, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ENTER INTO A
CONTRACT, EXCEPT FOR THOSE SPECIFIC CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY AGE
REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, VOTING, USE OF ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES, AND OTHER HEALTH OR SAFETY STATUTES RELEVANT TO HIM OR HER
BECAUSE OF HIS OR HER AGE.
4. 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 affidavits and statements or who shall not require
the production of documentary proof of age or the procuring of the
approval and consents provided for by this article, which shall show
that the parties authorized 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.
S. 4407--B 5
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 applications, investigate and issue
marriage licenses in the absence or inability 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.
[4.] 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the city
clerk of the city of New York, before issuing any licenses herein
provided for, shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five dollars, which
sum shall be paid by the applicants before or at the time the license is
issued and all such fees so received shall be paid monthly into the city
treasury.
§ 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:
§ 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] AT LEAST SEVENTEEN 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 submitted by the parties that one of the parties is
in danger of imminent death, or by reason of other emergency public
interest will be promoted thereby, or that such delay will work irrepar-
able injury or great hardship upon the contracting parties, or one of
them, may, UPON MAKING WRITTEN AFFIRMATIVE FINDINGS UNDER SUBDIVISION
THREE OF SECTION FIFTEEN OF THIS ARTICLE, 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
S. 4407--B 6
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.
§ 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:
§ 15-a. Marriages of minors under [fourteen] SEVENTEEN years of age.
Any marriage in which either party is under the age of [fourteen] SEVEN-
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] SEVENTEEN years, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on
conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars.
§ 4. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth 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.
