Kansas setting minimum marriage age: 15

State has had no minimum if parents or court approved

Video: Life

Couple marries in line for Black Friday sales
Nov. 27: A Michigan couple gets married while waiting in line outside a Best Buy store early on Black Friday. WDIV's Frank Holland reports.

One girl’s wish for an organ transplant

Father of missing man speaks out

Family ditches home for RV

Moms brigade moves mountains in Appalachia

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

Reuters	The Week in Pictures A starry night, cat’s mouth, a lighthouse stands tall, bear attack, a sea of balloons, H1N1 reaction and more news and feature photos from around the globe.
Reuters	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

updated 12:39 p.m. ET May 5, 2006

TOPEKA, Kan. - Kansas may have seen the last of its child brides.

After a pregnant 14-year-old from Nebraska drove to Kansas last year to marry her 22-year-old boyfriend, now serving time for having sex with the minor, Kansas lawmakers decided it was time the set a minimum marriage age.

On Thursday, the Kansas House voted 119-0 to approve a bill that would prohibit anyone under the age of 15 from marrying in Kansas and would set strict limits for would-be brides or grooms under the age of 18. The Senate approved it a day earlier, 36-4.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Under the legislation, requested by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a 15-year-old could marry only if a district court judge decided it was in that person’s best interest.

Those who are 16 or 17 could marry if they met one of three conditions: permission from a parent or legal guardian and judicial consent; permission from both parents and any legal guardian; or permission from judge if the parents are dead and there is no legal guardian.

Currently, Kansas has no minimum age for marriage if the minor has parental or judicial approval.

In the case of the Nebraska girl — a person must be at least 17 to marry in that state — the girl’s mother gave permission for the couple to get married in Kansas last spring after learning that her daughter was pregnant. The couple’s daughter was born a few months later, in August.

The groom, Matthew Koso, was charged with sexual assault and sentenced in February to 18 to 30 months in prison for impregnating the girl.

Last month, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue set 16 as that state’s minimum marriage age after a 37-year-old woman married a 15-year-old boy, a friend of her teenage son. Lisa Lynnette Clark pleaded guilty in March to statutory rape and was sentenced to nine months in prison.