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Texas Family Code - Section 2.102. Parental Consent For Underage Applicant

Legal Research Home > Texas Laws > Family Code > Texas Family Code - Section 2.102. Parental Consent For Underage Applicant

§ 2.102. PARENTAL CONSENT FOR UNDERAGE APPLICANT.  (a) If 
an applicant is 16 years of age or older but under 18 years of age, 
the county clerk shall issue the license if parental consent is 
given as provided by this section.
	(b)  Parental consent must be evidenced by a written 
declaration on a form supplied by the county clerk in which the 
person consents to the marriage and swears that the person is a 
parent (if there is no judicially designated managing conservator 
or guardian of the applicant's person) or a judicially designated 
managing conservator or guardian (whether an individual, 
authorized agency, or court) of the applicant's person.
	(c)  Except as otherwise provided by this section, consent 
must be acknowledged before a county clerk.
	(d)  If the person giving parental consent resides in another 
state, the consent may be acknowledged before an officer authorized 
to issue marriage licenses in that state.
	(e)  If the person giving parental consent is unable because 
of illness or incapacity to comply with the provisions of 
Subsection (c) or (d), the consent may be acknowledged before any 
officer authorized to take acknowledgments.  A consent under this 
subsection must be accompanied by a physician's affidavit stating 
that the person giving parental consent is unable to comply because 
of illness or incapacity.
	(f)  Parental consent must be given at the time the 
application for the marriage license is made or not earlier than the 
30th day preceding the date the application is made.
	(g)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly 
provides parental consent for an underage applicant under this 
section and the person is not a parent or a judicially designated 
managing conservator or guardian of the applicant.  An offense 
under this subsection is a Class A misdemeanor.
	(h)  A parent or judicially designated managing conservator 
or guardian of an applicant commits an offense if the parent, 
managing conservator, or guardian knowingly provides parental 
consent under this section for an applicant who is younger than 16 
years of age or who is presently married to a person other than the 
person the applicant desires to marry.  An offense under this 
subsection is a felony of the third degree.

Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 7, § 1, eff. April 17, 1997.  
Amended by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 268, § 4.09, eff. Sept. 1, 
2005.

Last modified: August 11, 2007