Turning Eighteen
ORC 3109.01 — one sentence, and the things it does not move
The age of majority in Ohio is one sentence long. All persons of the age of eighteen years or more, who are under no legal disability, are capable of contracting and are of full age for all purposes. It has read that way since January of 1974.
What the section does is make an eighteen year old capable of contracting and of full age for all purposes. What it does not do is set every age threshold in Ohio law. Several sit somewhere else and were written separately, which is why a person can be an adult for all purposes and still find a specific door that opens at a different number.
| The threshold | Where it is actually set |
|---|---|
| Capable of contracting, full age for all purposes | ORC 3109.01, at eighteen |
| Marriage | ORC 3101.01, at eighteen |
| Marriage at seventeen | ORC 3101.02, and only on a juvenile court consent |
| A parent's duty of support | ORC 3103.03, which can run past eighteen |
Marriage has its own floor. Section 3101.01 puts it at eighteen. Section 3101.02 is the narrow opening under it: where both persons are seventeen, they may be joined in marriage only if the juvenile court has filed a consent under section 3101.04. That consent is not a rubber stamp. The court consults the minor's parent, guardian or permanent custodian, appoints a guardian ad litem, and has to find the minor independent, the decision free from force or coercion, and the marriage in the minor's best interests.
The ages for alcohol, tobacco and vapour products, a concealed handgun licence, jury qualification and voter registration are each set by their own sections rather than by 3109.01, and this page does not reproduce them. Nor does it cover how a support order is actually terminated, which is a court and child support agency process with its own paperwork. Whether a particular order ends, and when, is a question for the court that issued it and for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (5)
- ORC 3109.01 — Age of majority, and the one sentence that carries it
- ORC 3101.01 — Persons who may be joined in marriage
- ORC 3101.02 — Marriage at seventeen, and the juvenile court consent it needs
- ORC 3103.03 — Married persons' obligations of support, and the duty that runs past eighteen
- ORC 3101.04 — What a juvenile court has to find before it consents to a minor's marriage
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Talk to a licensed Ohio attorney about your situation.