What Are the Qualifications for Marriage in the District of Columbia?

There are six qualifications for a marriage to be valid in the District of Columbia. These qualifications involve being single, being the right age, having the right mental capacity, voluntariness, having the right familial relationship, and gender.

Being single is self expository. One cannot already be or still be married to someone else when they enter into a valid marriage. Any previous marriage must have ended by either divorce or death or the new marriage is void from the beginning. However, if a new marriage is entered that is void because one of the persons was still legally married, it can become legal if certain criteria are met. That is beyond the scope of this article. So, I will not discuss those criteria here.

In the District of Columbia, a person must be at least 18 years old to consent on their own to be married. Parents may consent to the marriage of their child, who is at least 16 years old.

Having the right mental capacity means that a person must actually have the mental capacity to know that they are consenting to marriage and they must not have been adjudged not to have the mental capacity to consent to marriage. As a practical matter, the person must really have the mental ability to know what they are doing.

Marriage must be freely and willingly entered into. A person must not have entered the marriage by being coerced (forced or threatened) or fraudulently induced (tricked).

Close relatives cannot marry each other in the District of Columbia. The law states that, "The marriage of a person with a person's grandparent, grandparent's spouse, spouse's grandparent, parent's sibling, parent, step-parent, spouse's parent, child, spouse's child, child's spouse, sibling, child's child, child's child's spouse, spouse's child's child, sibling's child." D.C. Code 46-401(2A)

The District of Columbia allows marriage between people of the opposite gender (male and female) and people of the same gender. Same sex marriage is legal in the District of Columbia.

These are the basic qualifications to be married in the District of Columbia.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad