Teen marriage, 1970s

[Querian]

Jurisdiction

Washington

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

Thank you.

Maybe you can point me in the right direction? Where do I find a person knowledgeable in these things?

Google didn't really yield anything useful on the subject.

Do I contact U.S. Department of Justice?

Ever hear of literary license?

It means you can make up whatever it takes to move your plot along.

My thoughts exactly. I do not need it to be 100% historically accurate. I can write whatever I want as long as it seems reasonable. However, an educated guess from someone with at least basic knowledge of U.S. legal system would still provide a helpful guideline, so here I am, asking.

Don't be ridiculous. If you are going to be a writer, you need to learn to research and where. You want someone to do your research, you can pay them.

Right you are. But if a part of an effort of your research brings you to a forum where you think there may be experts, why not ask?

You've asked and been told. You want to pay me for my time to research your answer? Fine, then I'll do it. But the purpose of these forums is to help real people with real problems; that, I'll do on my own time.

Ah, I see. Thank you for clearing that up!

It occurs to me that a WA law school library might have the statute books from 1975.

Yes! Very good idea. Thank you so much for the tip! Most useful lead so far.

You're writing from LATVIA. Why NOT use YOUR country...

You see, if the protagonist is born and raised in Latvia in that timeline, it would mean that he is in Soviet Union, and that changes a lot of things in terms of his worldview and freedoms, makes it impossible for him to manifest his destiny. So I need him to be born in US in order for him to become who I need him to be.

Also, it is unfortunate, but I don't think I can get much use out of the links you are offering, since I am looking for the Marriageable Age, not Age of Consent, and certainly not laws on sexual practices.

As for your dissatisfaction with foreign laws, well, I agree, the world is not a perfect place today, it never was. Hopefully it wouldn't take us more than a few more centuries to balance everything out, create full equality, fairness, morality, safety for everyone, worldwide. Neither you or me will live to see that day, Super Moderator, but we can still play our small parts today, help make the world marginally better, be it by giving legal advice to other people on a form, or writing a story that inspires the reader to be a better person.

I would be willing to venture a guess that this was probably the norm in many states in the 1970's.

Definitely. Thank you for your input.



For the record, today's standards in US (may vary by state):

A) Marriageable Age - usually 18
B) Marriageable Age with consent of parents - which may be as low as 12
C) exceptions to Marriageable Age with consent of parents - which may go even lower with approval of the Supreme Court, on a case by case basis.

Technically it is possible to marry the kids in my story. And to be clear, this was known to me long before I made my first post. I was merely hoping to find a person on this forum that had implicit knowledge on these things, someone who was a lawyer or a judge in the 70s, who could give accurate data from that timeline or an informed opinion. It was a long shot anyway...

Thank you everyone for your help.

Thank you adjusterjack, very good advice, I haven't thought of that.

 

[ElleMD]

I can virtually guarantee that no one here knows the ages of consent for all 50 states in 1975. I think you are going to need to do your own research.

 

[adjusterjack]

Ever hear of literary license?

It means you can make up whatever it takes to move your plot along.

 

[KatDini]

Maybe you can point me in the right direction? Where do I find a person knowledgeable in these things?

Google didn't really yield anything useful on the subject.

Do I contact U.S. Department of Justice?

Don't be ridiculous. If you are going to be a writer, you need to learn to research and where. You want someone to do your research, you can pay them.

 

[KatDini]

My thoughts exactly. I do not need it to be 100% historically accurate. I can write whatever I want as long as it seems reasonable. However, an educated guess from someone with at least basic knowledge of U.S. legal system would still provide a helpful guideline, so here I am, asking.

Right you are. But if a part of an effort of your research brings you to a forum where you think there may be experts, why not ask?

You've asked and been told. You want to pay me for my time to research your answer? Fine, then I'll do it. But the purpose of these forums is to help real people with real problems; that, I'll do on my own time.

 

[adjusterjack]

Ah, I see. Thank you for clearing that up!

It occurs to me that a WA law school library might have the statute books from 1975.

 

[army judge]

This is for a story I am writing.

Reasoning aside, a boy of 12 and a girl of 17 want to get married, parents of both parties are giving consent, the year is 1975. They reside in WA, USA, but can travel to any other state or country if the state of Washington is not able to legally marry them.

- How can they marry?
- When can they marry?
- Does anything change legally when the girl turns 18 and the kid is still 12?

Thank you.

You're writing from LATVIA.

Why NOT use YOUR country where it's quite legal to BOFF, DEFLOWER, SULLY, or RAVISH children as young as 16 years old?????

In fact, under your LATVIAN LAWS: It is said, by some, there are no sodomy laws, and the age of sexual consent is a MERE 14 for all.


LEGAL AGE OF CONSENT (ageofconsent.com) Age du consentement à l’acte sexuel

Latvia -- Sexual Age of Consent and Information

http://www.actwin.com/eatonohio/gay/world.htm

 

[cynthiag]

Here's an example I can give you. It happened in Alaska and the kids' ages are slightly different, but this is firsthand, real life knowledge:

In 1972, when my boyfriend was 15 and I was almost 17, we "had" to get married. What was legally required in order for us to be allowed to marry was to have parental consent and to speak with a judge and get his written permission. Once we had the documentation, we were able to obtain our marriage license and be legally married. We did not need to go outside the state or the country, because once the proper steps of parental consent & consent from the judge had been taken, all the legal requirements to allow us to marry within our state had been satisfied. I would be willing to venture a guess that this was probably the norm in many states in the 1970's.

 

[army judge]

Closed............................