Common-Law Marriages in Colorado May Be Valid at Age 15

Thursday a three-judge panel issued a ruling that a 15-year old girl can enter into a common-law marriage in Colorado and it would be legal. The case began when a judge invalidated the marriage of William Rouse, 38, who is serving time for escape and a parole violation. Rouse had married a 15-year old girl with whom he had been living for a year. The girl was legally independent from her mother when they married, and her mother consented to the marriage and even went with her daughter and Rouse to apply for a marriage license.

But a judge invalidated the marriage, saying that a person under age 16 needed judicial approval for either a common-law or a traditional ceremonial marriage. Rouse filed an appeal, because Colorado is one of 10 states, plus the District of Columbia, that recognize common-law marriage. The roots of common-law marriage lie in English law dating back hundreds of years. The state appeals court said that because of that law, marriage could be legal for girls at age 12 and boys at age 14, although they did not set a specific minimum age for such marriages.

Colorado sets the minimum age at 18 for traditional marriage ceremonies, or age 16 with parental or judicial approval. But "it appears that Colorado has adopted the common-law age of consent for marriage as 14 for male and 12 for a female, which existed under English common law," the ruling said. "Nevertheless, we need only hold here that a 15-year-old female may enter into a valid common-law marriage." The ruling overturned the lower court judge’s decision that Rouse’s wife had been too young to marry when she was 15.

The panel said that Colorado courts have not determined a legal age of consent, because there is no clear legislative or statutory guidance on common-law marriages. However, the court did not determine whether or not Rouse and the girl have a valid marriage. The case will be sent back to the trial court to make that determination.