California is one of 18 states in the U.S. to set the minimum age to get married at 18. Here is a look at the new law, how the rules compare to other states, and what prompted it.

California Bans Marriage for Minors

Approximately 35,000 kids under the age of 18 got married in California over the last two decades. A new piece of legislation just banned that practice. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1267 into law last week, effectively repealing the exceptions that allowed minors to get married or enter domestic partnerships with parental consent.

Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin authored the bill that was introduced in February of 2025. The Democrat from Santa Cruz was joined by bill sponsor Unchained at Last and the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls in support of the legislation. Prior to the bill's signing, California was one of three states that did not employ a statutory minimum marriage age. This allowed minors to get married as long as they had parental consent and court approval.

According to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, the state permitted roughly 35,000 marriages involving minors between 2000 and 2021. Most of these marriages involved an adult man marrying a minor girl. For context, almost 315,000 children were married in the legal context throughout the country during that same time period.

California joins 17 other states including Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island in requiring a minimum marriage age of 18. The other 32 states rely on their own laws regarding legal age and how parental permission plays into the decision. For example, Mississippi and New Mexico do not have a statutory minimum marriage age. Other states allow minors to get married under defined conditions.

“California kids are safer than ever before,” Newsom said. The governor of the Golden State went on to say that "This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors.”

Pellerin echoed this sentiment, saying that the “heart of this effort has always been the survivors.” The assemblywoman noted that “They told us what it means to be a child in a marriage you did not freely choose. They told us about coercion and abuse hidden behind the appearance of consent. They told us how difficult it can be for a minor to ask for help, find an attorney, leave home, or escape the very adults who are supposed to protect them.”

Former Reality Television Star Present for Bill Signing

Newsom was joined by advocate and former reality television star Courtney Stodden. Stodden famously married actor Doug Hutchison at the age of 16 in 2011. Hutchison was 51 years old at the time of the marriage. Stodden's parents consented to the marriage. The pair divorced in 2020.

When speaking about the new legislation, Stodden said that “Governor Newsom’s action today made clear to me and to survivors of child marriage everywhere that we should never have been expected to carry this burden." She continued, “I will keep fighting until children are protected from marriage in all 50 states.”

Despite the divorce, Hutchison said that he had “absolutely no regrets” about the decision to marry. Hutchison said at the time, “Do I wish I would have handled certain aspects of my life differently or said … some things differently? Yes — like everybody else. But my marriage to Courtney is not one of them. I regret none of it. It was a beautiful and powerful journey. A bittersweet journey with Courtney.”

Stodden explained to the media that survivors tend to blame themselves. But she has since learned that "what happened to me and to these other girls was wrong. And I was never the problem.” She also explained that “Even to this day, I do struggle with a feeling of guilt. I think a lot of survivors who have suffered through victimization, sexual assault, you know, there’s this kind of like, that push and pull thing, where it’s like the child and then the adult, the woman.”

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