Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: legal age

If the girl is pregnant or has given birth and has a doctor's certificate to prove it, you can marry at 16 without parental consent or 15 with it. Absent the pregnancy, you must have parental consent to marry if 16-17.

Re: legal age

Maryland's statute states that under the age of 18 requires consent of parent or guardian except as follows.

If physician certifies that a woman is preganant then parental consent is not required. Either the man or the woman may present the physician's certification.

If under the age of 16 then parental consent is required.

A woman over the age of 16 is emancipated, that is freed, from parental control over her pregnancy.

By the common law rule, if one of the parties was under the age of 7, the marriage was totally void; if the male was over the age of 14 and the female over the age of 12, the marriage was completely valid; if the male was between 7 and 14 or the female between 7 and 12, the marriage was voidable by either, and subject to ratification when the under-age spouse reached 12 or 14 as the case might be. There being no decision of the appellate courts of this State directly on the impediment of non-age, and there being no Maryland statute definitely changing the common law, unless the statute here considered be deemed to be mandatory, the common law rule prevails.

The common law has not been changed in Maryland. The case on point is where a 16 1/2 year old male mis-represented his age and altered his certificate of birth. The female was 18 years of age. Maryland law found that the marriage could not be avoided as to non-age and was therefore valid.

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