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Iowa Emancipation of Minor Law

Minors – Emancipation of Minor – Iowa

Period of minority – exception for certain inmates.

§599.1: The period of minority extends to the age of eighteen years, but all minors attain their majority by marriage.

A person who is less than eighteen years old, but who is tried, convicted, and sentenced as an adult and committed to the custody of the director of the department of corrections shall be deemed to have attained the age of majority for purposes of making decisions and giving consent to medical care, related services, and treatment during the period of the person’s incarceration.

Gender – Age.

§595.2

1. Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid.

2. Additionally, a marriage between a male and a female is valid only if each is eighteen years of age or older. However, if either or both of the parties have not attained that age, the marriage may be valid under the circumstances prescribed in this section.

3. If either party to a marriage falsely represents the party’s self to be eighteen years of age or older at or before the time the marriage is solemnized, the marriage is valid unless the person who falsely represented their age chooses to void the marriage by making their true age known and verified by a birth certificate or other legal evidence of age in an annulment proceeding initiated at any time before the person reaches their eighteenth birthday. A child born of a marriage voided under this subsection is legitimate.

4.A marriage license may be issued to a male and a female either or both of whom are sixteen or seventeen years of age if both of the following apply:

a.The parents of the underage party or parties certify in writing that they consent to the marriage. If one of the parents of any underage party to a proposed marriage is dead or incompetent the certificate may be executed by the other parent, if both parents are dead or incompetent the guardian of the underage party may execute the certificate, and if the parents are divorced the parent having legal custody may execute the certificate; and

b. The certificate of consent of the parents, parent, or guardian is approved by a judge of the district court or, if both parents of any underage party to a proposed marriage are dead, incompetent, or cannot be located and the party has no guardian, the proposed marriage is approved by a judge of the district court. A judge shall grant approval under this subsection only if the judge finds the underage party or parties capable of assuming the responsibilities of marriage and that the marriage will serve the best interest of the underage party or parties. Pregnancy alone does not establish that the proposed marriage is in the best interest of the underage party or parties, however, if pregnancy is involved the court records which pertain to the fact that the female is pregnant shall be sealed and available only to the parties to the marriage or proposed marriage or to any interested party securing an order of the court.

5. If a parent or guardian withholds consent, the judge upon application of a party to a proposed marriage shall determine if the consent has been unreasonably withheld. If the judge so finds, the judge shall proceed to review the application under subsection 4, paragraph “b”.

§252.16 Settlement – How Acquired – Support of the Poor

A legal settlement in this state may be acquired as follows:

1. A person continuously residing in a county in this state for a period of one year acquires a settlement in that county except as provided in subsection 7 or 8.

2. A person having acquired a settlement in a county of this state shall not acquire a settlement in any other county until the person has continuously resided in the other county for a period of one year except as provided in subsection 7.

3. A person who is an inpatient, a resident, or an inmate of or is supported by an institution whether organized for pecuniary profit or not or an institution supported by charitable or public funds in a county in this state does not acquire a settlement in the county unless the person before becoming an inpatient, a resident, or an inmate in the institution or being supported by an institution has a settlement in the county. A minor child residing in an institution assumes the settlement of the child’s custodial parent. Settlement of the minor child changes with the settlement of the child’s custodial parent, except that the child retains the settlement that the child’s custodial parent has on the child’s eighteenth birthday until the child is discharged from the institution, at which time the child acquires the child’s own settlement by continuously residing in a county for one year.

4. Minor children who reside with both parents take the settlement of the parents. If the minor child resides on a permanent basis with only one parent or a guardian, the minor child takes the settlement of the parent or guardian with whom the child resides.

An emancipated minor acquires a legal settlement in the minor’s own right. An emancipated minor is one who is absent from the minor’s parents with the consent of the parents, is self-supporting, and has assumed a new relationship inconsistent with being a part of the family of the parents.

A minor, placed in the care of a public agency or facility as custodian or guardian, takes the legal settlement that the parents had upon severance of the parental relationship, and retains that legal settlement until a natural person is appointed custodian or guardian at which time the minor takes the legal settlement of the natural person or until the minor person attains the age of eighteen and acquires another legal settlement in the person’s own right.


Inside Iowa Emancipation of Minor Law