LOS ANGELES, October 6, 2026 – The signing of Assembly Bill 1267 in Sacramento was an event that held more significance than the usual political press conferences. Court Stodden was present—this is the person who once grabbed national headlines for getting married to a 50-year-old actor when she was only 16 years old. State law, until now, permitted kids of almost any age to get married as long as a parent consented and a judge granted permission. However, this loophole is now about to be plugged.
The governor, Gavin Newsom, signed the comprehensive bill into law that sets an absolute minimum age limit of 18 for marriage. From January 1, 2027, no marriage license or domestic partnership registration can be issued by the county clerks of the Golden State to anyone below the age of 18.
It has taken years of uncomfortable debate to get here. State legislative documents reveal that California was shockingly one of just three states left in the U.S. without a minimum age requirement for marriage.
However, previous efforts at legislative reform have always been stymied in Sacramento. There had been concerns raised in the past by some legislators about a potential inadvertent harm to pregnant teenagers or young families who seek legal protection. This loophole was maintained much longer than expected due to this policy paradox.
The political landscape shifted in late August when the bill cleared the State Senate unanimously by a vote of 37-0 before being finally approved in the legislature.
But the magnitude of this legal loophole was not negligible. As per the estimates obtained by state advocates, around 35,000 minors got married in California from 2000 to 2021. The vast majority of those involved young girls getting married to older men. Under the state’s former statutes, statutory rape laws contained an explicit exemption for legal spouses, effectively allowing marriage certificates to serve as a legal shield.
Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, a Santa Cruz Democrat and sponsor of the bill, worked hard at bringing the state laws into conformity with international human rights standards. The new law does away with all provisions for parental consent and judicial discretion, putting California on track as the 18th state to impose a complete ban.
“Today, California finally joins many other states in banning child marriage with no exceptions or loopholes,” said California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Executive Director Darcy Totten.
“This is a long overdue measure to protect young Californians,” Newsom noted during the announcement, emphasizing that minors will now have stronger structural safeguards under state law. Together with AB 1267, other state legislators passed a law enabling persons threatened with forced marriages to directly apply for restraining orders in the state of California courts.
The law offers validation for the survivors, who have lobbied for several years from legislative corridors. According to Stodden, the change signals to youth that the state does not allow them to suffer from the burden of such predatory adult relationships.
