23-2505. (a) The clerks of the district courts or judges thereof, when applied to for a marriage license by any person who is one of the parties to the proposed marriage and who is legally entitled to a marriage license, shall issue a marriage license in substance as follows:
MARRIAGE LICENSE
(Name of place where office located, month, day and year.)
TO ANY PERSON authorized by law to perform the marriage ceremony,
Greeting:
You are hereby authorized to join in marriage A B of ____________, date of birth _______, and C D of ____________, date of birth _______, (and name of parent or guardian consenting), and of this license, duly endorsed, you will make due return to this office immediately after performing the ceremony.
E F, (title of person issuing the license).
(b) No clerk or judge of the district court shall issue a marriage license before the third calendar day (Sunday, holidays, and days on which the office of the clerk of the court is not accessible included) following the date of the filing of the application therefor in such clerk's or judge's office except that in cases of emergency or extraordinary circumstances, a judge of the district court may upon proper showing being made, permit by order of the court the issuance of such marriage license without waiting three days. Each district court shall keep a record of all marriages resulting from licenses issued by the court, which record shall show the names of the persons who were married and the date of the marriage.
(c) No clerk or judge shall issue a license authorizing the marriage of any person:
(1) Under the age of 16 years, except that a judge of the district court may, after due investigation, give consent and issue the license authorizing the marriage of a person 15 years of age when the marriage is in the best interest of the person 15 years of age; or
(2) who is 16 or 17 years of age without the express consent of such person's father, mother or legal guardian and the consent of the judge unless consent of both the mother and father and any legal guardian or all then living parents and any legal guardian is given in which case the consent of the judge shall not be required. If not given in person at the time of the application, the consent shall be evidenced by a written certificate subscribed thereto and duly attested. Where the applicants or either of them are 16 or 17 years of age and their parents are dead and there is no legal guardian then a judge of the district court may after due investigation give consent and issue the license authorizing the marriage.
(d) The judge or clerk may issue a license upon the affidavit of the party personally appearing and applying therefor, to the effect that the parties to whom such license is to be issued are of lawful age, as required by this section, and the judge or clerk is hereby authorized to administer oaths for that purpose.
(e) Every person swearing falsely in such affidavit shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500. A clerk or judge of the district court shall state in every license the birth dates of the parties applying for the same, and if either or both are 16 or 17 years of age, the name of the father, mother, or guardian consenting to such marriage.
(f) Every marriage license shall expire at the end of six months from the date of issuance if the marriage for which the license was issued does not take place within the six-month period of time.
History: L. 1867, ch. 84, § 5; G.S. 1868, ch. 61, § 5; L. 1905, ch. 302, § 1; L. 1913, ch. 224, § 2; R.S. 1923, 23-106; L. 1947, ch. 240, § 1; L. 1967, ch. 202, § 1; L. 1968, ch. 207, § 3; L. 1969, ch. 184, § 1; L. 1972, ch. 161, § 3; L. 1976, ch. 145, § 116; L. 1977, ch. 109, § 18; L. 1987, ch. 119, § 1; L. 1994, ch. 120, § 1; L. 1996, ch. 142, § 2; L. 2006, ch. 184, § 1; L. 2010, ch. 11, § 1; April 1.
Source or Prior Law:
23-106.
Law Review and Bar Journal References:
Compared with K.S.A. 59-202a, Dan Hopson, Jr., 4 K.L.R. 224, 240 (1955).
Survey of Kansas family law, Harvey S. Berenson, 17 K.L.R. 349, 353 (1969).
Alimony termination after a voidable marriage, Myron Hausheer, 12 W.L.J. 391 (1973).
"Is He or Isn't She? Transsexualism: Legal Impediments to Integrate a Product of Medical Definition and Technology," Jeannine S. Haag and Tami L. Sullinger, 21 W.L.J. 342, 347 (1982).
"For Love or Money: The Kansas Supreme Court's Problematic Acceptance of the 'Best Interests of the Child' Standard in an Intestate Claim [Reese v. Muret, 150 P.3d 309 (Kan. 2007)]," Angela Chesney Herrington, 47 W.L.J. 177 (2007).
Attorney General's Opinions:
Rules of the supreme court; reproduction and disposition of court records. 79-296.
Period of minority; effect of marriage upon; compulsory school attendance. 80-246.
Marriage; performance of ceremony using a proxy. 80-261.
Administering of oaths for marriage license, alternative therefor. 2000-42.
CASE ANNOTATIONS
1. License issued without consent of parents not grounds for annulment. Browning v. Browning, 89 Kan. 98, 99, 130 P. 852.
2. Conviction for swearing to false affidavit sustained under facts stated. The State v. Rupp, 96 Kan. 446, 151 P. 1111.
3. Probate judge pro tem may issue license. State, ex rel., v. Anderson, 114 Kan. 297, 302, 217 P. 327.
4. Fraud in procurement of license does not vitiate marriage. In re Reeves' Estate, (Tex.) 7 S.W.2d 683. Reversed: Reeves v. Reeves, 15 S.W.2d 606.
5. Cited in discussing when effect of court order for child support ceases. Trunkey v. Johnson, 154 Kan. 725, 730, 121 P.2d 247.
6. Marriage of girl 17 years of age not void; remarriage prior to annulment; void. Castor v. United States, 78 F. Supp. 750, 753.
7. Either parent, noncustodial or custodial, may give consent to minor child's marriage. Yoder v. Yoder, 11 Kan. App. 2d 330, 333, 721 P.2d 294 (1986).
8. Cited; marriage considered; "non-marriage" implied by construction of information; minimum age considered. State v. Wade, 244 Kan. 136, 766 P.2d 811 (1989).
9. Intent of statute is to prevent, not void, marriage of one under 18 without parental consent. State v. Sedlack, 246 Kan. 305, 308, 787 P.2d 709 (1990).
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