Teens tying knot prompt legal debate

ATLANTA - Pondering the what-ifs of state marriage laws, state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver cut to the point. "There are a lot of things we can't envision happening," she said bluntly.

Sitting in the front row of a cramped Capitol committee room, Brandon Balch turned and shot a knowing glance at his sister Sharon Cline, who swallowed a sarcastic chuckle.

A few moments later, Mr. Balch told lawmakers how his ex-wife and daughter stole across the Alabama border into Georgia with a pregnancy test in hand so the 13-year-old could get married.

In a week, Mr. Balch's ex-wife would have faced a child custody hearing. But the moment the couple's child was married, she was legally emancipated from her parents.

Mr. Balch's daughter was wed thanks to a 1962 law that raised the minimum marrying age in Georgia from 14 to 16 but made an exception in the case of pregnancy.

Ms. Oliver backs a bill requiring a parent's permission for any minor to marry. But state Rep. Ron Forster, R-Ringgold - a town nicknamed the "wedding capital of Georgia" - said the law should leave room for "romantic" notions. His version bans children younger than 16 from marrying but allows couples who are 16 or 17 to marry without parental consent if the girl is pregnant.

After a House subcommittee meeting Thursday, legislators seemed likely to strike a compromise between the two ideas. The proposal, which is still being drafted, would likely bar teens younger than 16 from marrying but allow pregnant 16- or 17-year-olds to appeal to a judge for a marriage license.

When Mr. Balch discovered his daughter had been married, he rolled out a map of Georgia's 159 counties and began calling probate judges in each one to find out who oversaw his daughter's wedding. Finally, after 32 calls, he found the judge and harangued him for allowing the marriage. The judge replied that he was just following the law.