Where you live can make a big difference in the rules about marriage, especially when it comes to marrying a cousin. In the US, state rules decide whether cousin marriages are legal or not, which can be hard to understand.
There are rules about marriage in North Carolina. If you want to marry a cousin, you should know what the law says.
Is Marrying Your Cousin Legal in North Carolina?
If you live in North Carolina, you can marry your first cousin. First cousins can get married in North Carolina, but not in some states where it is illegal or hard to do so.
This means that cousins can legally get married in the state as long as both people are of legal age and not married to someone else.
But when it comes to cousin weddings in North Carolina, there are a few things to keep in mind.
What About Double Cousins?
When two people are connected through both sides of their families, they are called double cousins. In this case, two siblings from one family marry two siblings from another family.
This makes their children double cousins. North Carolina law says that first cousins can not get married, but double first cousins can.
The fact that double cousins share more genetic material than first cousins probably has something to do with this limit. The goal of this rule is to lower the chance of genetic problems that could happen from these kinds of unions.
Understanding the General Marriage Laws in North Carolina
To fully understand the rules about cousin marriages in North Carolina, it helps to know more about marriage laws in general. Here are some of the general requirements:
Minimum age: To get married without parental permission, a person must be at least 18 years old. If you are 16 to 18 years old and want to get married, you need your parents’ permission.
If you are 14 or 15, you can only get married in certain situations, like when you are pregnant or when the court says so.
No polygamy: It is against the law to marry more than one person at a time.
Same-sex marriage: following the important decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015, same-sex marriage is now allowed in all 50 states, including North Carolina.
The Debate Around Cousin Marriages
Cousin marriages have been a source of discussion and cultural variation for a long time. In the past, it was more usual for cousins to get married.
This was especially true in royal or aristocratic families, where wealth and power were kept within the family.
These days, cousin marriages happen less often in the U.S. but still happen a lot in other parts of the world, especially in some Middle Eastern and South Asian countries.
One reason cousin marriages are becoming less common in the U.S. is that people are worried about DNA risks. Children born to first cousins are a little more likely to have genetic disorders than children born to parents who are not connected.
But new study has shown that this risk is not very big, even though it is there. Studies show that the chance of birth defects is about 4-7% higher for children of first cousins compared to 3-4% higher for children of unrelated couples.
Even though there is not much danger, cousin marriages still have a bad reputation in many places, and some states even have laws that make it illegal or severely limit cousin marriages.
Other States’ Laws Regarding Cousin Marriage
Unlike some other states, North Carolina does not mind when cousins get married. As an example:
States like Kentucky, Texas, and West Virginia do not let first cousins get married at all.
Allowable with restrictions: Some states, like Arizona and Illinois, let cousins get married, but they have to follow certain rules, like getting genetic therapy or not being able to have kids together.
In other states, like North Carolina, states like California, New York, and Georgia, there are no rules about first cousins getting married.
Conclusion
If you want to know if you can marry your cousin in North Carolina, the short answer is yes, as long as your cousin is a first cousin and not a double first cousin. Compared to other states, North Carolina law does not put a lot of limits on cousin weddings.
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