Virginia Code

Va. Code Ann. § 20-48 (2026)

Minimum age of marriage

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section VA-LISlaw.lis.virginia.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

The minimum age at which persons may marry shall be 18.

Code 1919, § 5090; 1932, p. 529; 1942, p. 230; 1946, p. 500; 1960, c. 363; 1972, c. 823; 1974, cc. 44, 45; 1975, c. 644; 1989, c. 733; 2008, cc. 174, 206; 2016, cc. 457, 543; 2024, c. 737.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 1975–2024 · leading case: Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U.S. 815 (1988). · cites it 2× “Va. Code § 20-48 (1983) Wash. Wash. Rev. Code § 26.”

PSINet, Inc. v. Chapman, 167 F. Supp. 2d 878 (W.D. Va. 2001). · cites it 2× “Section 20-48 (Michie Supp.2000). Like the exposure of minors to indecent sex material, the marriage of children under sixteen years of age is unlikely to have an immediate and tangible negative impact on third parties.”

James Farmer v. State of Florida, 268 So. 3d 1009 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019). “18 § 5154 (2018); Va. Code Ann. § 20-48 (2018); Wash. Rev. Code § 26.”

Da'Marcus Sharraya English v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2022). · cites it 2× “Code § 20-48. - 10 - He also stated that, when Brown disciplined O.”

Curtis Ray Spurlock v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2024). · cites it 2× “3 Code § 20-48. In this case, the evidence sufficiently establishes that Spurlock had a supervisory relationship with the victims, was not married to either, and sexually abused them.”

George Thomas Smith, Jr. v. Commonwealth (Va. Ct. App. 1995). · cites it 4× “Code § 20-48. When viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the circumstantial evidence was sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the parties were not married.”

Jeffrey Lewis Haley v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Va. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “Code § 20-48. At the time of these offenses, the younger girl was between four and eight; the elder was between eleven and twelve.”

MacDougall v. Levick, 87 Va. Cir. 160 (Fairfax Cir. Ct. 2013). “1 or where either or both of the parties are, at the time of the solemnization of the marriage, under the age of eighteen, and have not complied with the provisions of § 20-48 or § 20-49, are void, (b) All marriages solemnized when either of the parties lacked capacity to…”

Pifer v. Pifer, 12 Va. Cir. 448 (Frederick Cir. Ct. 1975). · cites it 2× “In furtherance of the plan and because the complainant needed parental consent for issuance of a Virginia marriage license, Section 20-48, Code of 1950 (1974 Cum. Supp.”

Irons v. Irons, 20 Va. Cir. 421 (Lancaster Cir. Ct. 1990). “1 or where either or both of the parties are, at the time of the solemnization of the marriage, under the age of eighteen and have not complied with the provisions of § 20-48 or § 20-49 are void .... By the enactment of § 20-45.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.