Skip to content

Marrying Under Eighteen

Iowa Code § 595.2 — at sixteen or seventeen, only with a parent's written consent and a judge's approval

A marriage is valid only if each party is eighteen years of age or older, except as the section provides.

Email
  • A license may issue when one or both are sixteen or seventeen years of age, if the parents certify their consent in writing and a district judge approves it.
  • The judge approves only on finding the underage party capable of the responsibilities of marriage, and that the marriage serves that party's best interest.
  • Pregnancy alone does not establish that the marriage is in the underage party's best interest.
Sources for this section (1)
  1. Iowa Code § 595.2 — Gender — age

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Iowa attorney.

From here

Walked through

This section is the long version of a step in one walkthrough. Each one takes the same law one decision at a time, with both sides of the moment written out.