Chapter 005
2013 -- S 0038 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 05/02/13
A N A C T
RELATING TO
DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- PERSONS ELIGIBLE TO MARRY
Introduced By: Senators Nesselbush, Sosnowski, Miller, Pichardo, and Ottiano
Date Introduced: January 16, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 15-1-1, 15-1-2, 15-1-3, 15-1-4 and
15-1-5 of the General Laws in
Chapter 15-1 entitled
"Persons Eligible to Marry" are hereby
amended to read as follows:
15-1-1.
Men forbidden to marry kindred Equal access to marriage.
-- No man shall
marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, son's daughter,
daughter's daughter, stepmother,
grandfather's wife, son's wife, son's son's
wife, daughter's son's wife, wife's mother, wife's
grandmother, wife's daughter, wife's son's daughter, wife's
daughter's daughter, sister, brother's
daughter, sister's daughter, father's sister, or mother's
sister. Any person who otherwise
meets the
eligibility requirements of chapters 15-1 and 15-2 may marry any
other eligible person regardless
of gender.
15-1-2.
Women forbidden to marry kindred Marrying kindred forbidden.
-- No
woman shall marry her father, grandfather, son, son's son,
daughter's son, stepfather,
grandmother's husband, daughter's husband, son's daughter's
husband, daughter's daughter's
husband, husband's father, husband's grandfather, husband's
son, husband's son's son, husband's
daughter's son, brother, brother's son, sister's son, father's brother,
or mother's brother. No person
shall marry his or her sibling, parent, grandparent, child,
grandchild, stepparent, grandparents'
spouse, spouse's child, spouse's grandchild, sibling's child
or parent's sibling.
15-1-3. Incestuous marriages void. -- If any man or woman
person intermarries within
the degrees stated in section 15-1-1 or section
15-1-2, the marriage shall be null and void.
15-1-4.
Marriages of kindred allowed by Jewish religion. --
The provisions of sections
15-1-1 -- 15-1-3 15-1-2 and 15-1-3 shall not extend to, or in any way affect,
any marriage which
shall be solemnized among the Jewish people, within the
degrees of affinity or consanguinity
allowed by their religion.
15-1-5. Bigamous
marriages void -- Marriage of persons who are mentally
incompetent. – A
person is prohibited from marrying if such person is:
(1) A party to
another marriage; or
(2) A party to a
relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits and
responsibilities as a marriage whether entered into in this state or
another state or jurisdiction and
such marriage or relationship has not been finally
dissolved, unless the parties to the intended
marriage will be the same as the parties to such other marriage
or relationship. Any marriage
entered in violation of this prohibition when either of the parties at the time of the
marriage has a
former wife or husband living who has not been, by final
decree, divorced from that party, and
any marriage where either of the parties is mentally
incompetent at the time of the marriage, shall
be absolutely void, and no life estate created by
chapter 25 of title 33 shall be assigned to any
widow surviving spouse in consequence of the
marriage.
SECTION 2. Chapter 15-1 of the General Laws entitled
"Persons Eligible to Marry" is
hereby amended by adding thereto the following sections:
15-1-7.
Marriage codification. – Marriage is the
legally recognized union of two (2)
people. Terms relating to the marital relationship or
familial relationships shall be construed
consistently with this section for all purposes throughout the
law, whether in the context of
statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law, or
any other source of civil law.
15-1-8.
Recognition of relationships entered into in another state or jurisdiction. –
lf
two (2) persons are within the jurisdiction of
marriage that provides substantially the same rights, benefits
and responsibilities as a marriage
and the union was validly entered into in another state
or jurisdiction and the union is not
prohibited by this chapter then they shall be afforded the same
rights, benefits and responsibilities
as a valid marriage in this state.
15-1-9.
Applicability of state laws to marriages not recognized by federal law. –
(a)
Any provision of
including, but not limited to, those in title 44, shall apply
to parties recognized as married under
the laws of this state, as if federal laws recognized
such marriages in the same manner as Rhode
Island law.
(b) Notwithstanding
the unavailability of federal financial participation, no person who is
recognized as a spouse under the laws of this state shall be
denied benefits that are otherwise
available to spouses under
to 40-8.10 inclusive, due to the provisions of 1 U.S.C.
section 7 or any other federal non-
recognition of spouses of the same sex.
SECTION 3. Sections 15-2-1, 15-2-7 and 15-2-11 of the
General Laws in Chapter 15-2
entitled "Marriage Licenses" are hereby amended to
read as follows:
15-2-1. License
required -- Proof of divorce License required -- Proof of divorce –
Obligation of clerk to issue
license. -- (a) Persons intending to be joined together in
marriage in
this state must first obtain a license from the clerk of the
town or city in which:
(1) The female Either party to the proposed marriage resides; or in
the city or town in
which
(2) The male party
resides, if the female party is a nonresident of this state; or in the city
or town in which
(3)(2) The
proposed marriage is to be performed, if both parties are nonresidents of this
state.
(b) Before any license
shall be issued to any person who, having been previously married
or a party to another relationship that provides
substantially the same rights, benefits and
responsibilities as a marriage,
has been divorced, the person shall present to the town or city clerk
an authenticated copy of the decree granting the divorce
or an authenticated copy of the final
dissolution of the previous relationship.
(c) The town or city
clerk shall issue a license to any person eligible to marry under the
provisions of chapter 15-1.
15-2-7.
Form and contents of certificates, reports, and other returns.
-- The forms of
certificates, reports, and other returns required by this chapter,
or by regulations adopted pursuant
to this chapter, shall include as a minimum the items
recommended by the federal agency
responsible for national vital statistics, subject to approval of
and modification by the state
director of health. Both the bride and groom parties
shall subscribe to the truth of data in the
application in the presence of the local registrar or his or her
assistant.
15-2-11. Consent
and procedure required for license to minors and persons under
guardianship. -- (a)
No minor or person under the control of a parent or guardian shall be
allowed to give and subscribe to the information provided for
in sections 15-2-1 -- 15-2-10, or
shall receive the license provided for in these sections,
unless the consent in writing of the parent
or guardian, given in the presence of the town or city
clerk or any clerk employed in that office,
has first been obtained; provided, that proof shall be
submitted that the minor, if a female, has
attained the age of sixteen (16) years; and provided, that
this information may be given and
subscribed to by a minor, if a female, who has attained
the age of sixteen (16) years, residing in
this state upon the consent in writing of the director of
public welfare of the town or city in which
the minor resides, given in the presence of the town or
city clerk or any clerk employed in that
office.
(b) In addition to the
requirements in subsection (a) of this section, no license shall be
issued to any minor, if a female under the age of
sixteen (16) years, and if a male under the age of
eighteen (18) years,
unless and until the following requirements have been complied with, and the
town or city clerk is directed in writing to issue the
license by the family court:
(1) The town or city
clerk, upon receiving information provided for in sections 15-2-1 --
through 15-2-10, shall immediately transmit a certified copy
of the information to the family
court. The court shall immediately transmit a copy of the
information, together with a written
request for a complete investigation of and a report upon the
advisability of the issuance of the
license, to the department of human services. The department
shall within fifteen (15) days after
the receipt of the information, the request, and the
report file in the court its complete report in
writing.
(2) The court shall
then conduct a hearing in chambers to determine the advisability of
the issuance of the license and shall notify the town or
city clerk of its determination. The court
shall have the power to summon at the hearing any persons
that it may deem advisable.
(3) The court shall
also file the report and a notation of its determination in the office of
the clerk of the court, but any papers filed at the
office of the clerk shall not be matters of public
record and may be examined only upon the written
authorization of the court.
(4) During the pendency
of the proceedings, the court shall exercise the authority of a
guardian in respect to the minor or minors involved.
SECTION 4. Chapter 15-3 of the General Laws entitled
"Solemnization of Marriages" is
hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:
15-3-6.1.
Protection of freedom of religion in marriage. – (a) Consistent with
the
guarantees of freedom of religion set forth by both the First
Amendment to the
constitution and article I section 3 of the
exclusive control over its own religious doctrine, policy, and
teachings regarding who may marry
within its faith, and on what terms, as long as such
policies are consistent with sections 15-1-2,
15-1-3, 15-1-4 and 15-1-5. No court or other state or
local governmental body, entity, agency or
commission shall compel, prevent, or interfere in any way with
any religious institution's
decisions about marriage eligibility within that particular
faith's tradition.
(b)
Consistent with the guarantees of freedom of religion set forth by both the
First
Amendment to the
constitution, no regularly licensed or ordained clergyperson,
minister, elder, priest, imam, rabbi,
or similar official of any church or religious
denomination as described and authorized in sections
15-3-5 and 15-3-6 of the general laws to officiate at
a civil marriage, is required to solemnize any
marriage. A regularly licensed or ordained clergyperson,
minister, elder, priest, imam, rabbi, or
similar official of any church or religious denomination
shall be immune from any civil claim or
cause of action based on a refusal to solemnize any
marriage under this chapter. No state agency
or local government may base a decision to penalize,
withhold benefits from, or refuse to contract
with any church or religious denomination on the refusal
of a person associated with such church
or religious denomination to solemnize a marriage under
this chapter.
(c)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a religions organization,
association, or
society, and any nonprofit institution or organization
operated, supervised or controlled by a
religious organization, association or society, or a fraternal
benefit or service organization that
has among its stated purposes the promotion and support
or protection of a religious organization,
association or society and that restricts membership to
practicing members of that religious
organization, association or society, shall not be required to
provide services, accommodations,
advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges to an individual if
the request for such services,
accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges is
related to:
(1)
The solemnization of a marriage or the celebration of a marriage, and such
solemnization or celebration is in violation of its religious
beliefs and faith; or
(2)
The promotion of marriage through any social or religious programs or services,
which violates the religious doctrine or teachings of
religious organization, association or society.
Any refusal by an entity
described above or an officer, employee or member thereof acting in an
official capacity on behalf of that entity to provide
services, accommodations, advantages,
facilities, goods, or privileges in accordance with this
subsection shall not create any civil claim
or cause of action. This subsection shall not be
construed to limit a religious organization,
association, or society, or a fraternal benefit or service
organization as described in this
subsection, from selectively providing services, accommodations,
advantages, facilities, goods, or
privileges to some individuals with respect to solemnization or
celebration of a marriage but not
to others.
(d)
Nothing in the marriage laws of this state shall be deemed or construed to
limit the
protections and exemptions provided to religious organizations
under GL paragraph 28-5-6(7)(ii)
and subsection 34-37-4.2(a).
(e)
A fraternal benefit or service organization that is operated, supervised or
controlled by
a religious organization and a fraternal benefit or
service organization which has among its stated
purposes the promotion, support or protection of a religious
organization and which restricts its
membership to practicing members of that religious organization
shall not be required to admit
any individual as a member or to provide benefits to any
individual. A refusal by a fraternal
benefit or service organization by a member, officer or
employee thereof acting in an official
capacity on behalf of a society described herein, to admit an
individual as a member or to provide
benefits related to a marriage which is in violation of the
religious doctrine or teachings of the
religious organization to which its members are required to
adhere, shall not create a civil claim
or result in any government action to penalize, withhold
benefits from the fraternal benefit or
service organization or discriminate against a society or a
member, officer or employee described
herein.
SECTION 5. Chapter 15-3.1 of the General Laws entitled
"Civil Unions" is hereby
amended by adding thereto
the following sections:
15-3.1-12.
Merger of civil union into marriage by action of the parties.
– (a) On and
after the effective date of this section, two (2) persons who
are parties to a civil union entered into
pursuant to this chapter may apply for and be issued a
marriage license and have such marriage
solemnized pursuant to chapters 15-1 to 15-3 of the general
laws, provided such persons are
otherwise eligible to marry under chapter 15-1 as
amended herein, and the parties to the marriage
will be the same as the parties to the civil union. After
the solemnization of such marriage, and
upon filing of the license and certificate of marriage
with the clerk in the town or city from which
the license was issued pursuant to section 15-2-1, of the
civil union of such persons shall be
merged into the marriage by operation of law as of the date
of the recording of the marriage
certificate and shall be effective as of the date of the
recording of the marriage certificate.
(b) Such parties may
also apply to the clerk of the town or city in which their civil union
is recorded to have their civil union legally designated
and recorded as a marriage, without any
additional requirements of payment of marriage licensing fees or
solemnization contained in
chapters 15-1 to 15-3 of the general laws, provided that such
parties' civil union was not
previously dissolved or annulled. Upon application, the parties
shall be issued a marriage
certificate and the civil union of such persons shall be merged
into the marriage by operation of
law as of the date of the recording of the marriage
certificate and shall be effective as of the date
of the recording of the marriage certificate.
15-3.1-13.
Recognized date of marriage. – For purposes of
determining the legal rights
and responsibilities involving individuals who previously
entered into a civil union in this state,
and whose civil union has merged into a marriage under
this chapter, the date of the recording of
the marriage certificate shall be the operative date by
which legal rights and responsibilities are
determined.
SECTION 6. Sections 15-3.1-3 and 15-3.1-4 of the General
Laws in Chapter 15-3.1
entitled "Civil Unions" are hereby repealed.
15-3.1-3.
License requirements. -- (a) Persons
intending to form a civil union in this
state must first obtain a license from the town or city in
which:
(1) One of the
parties to the civil union resides; or
(2) In the case of
both parties being nonresidents of this state the city or town in which
the proposed civil union is to be performed.
(b) Before any
license shall be issued to any person who, having previously been married
or been a party in a civil union to someone other than
their intended civil union partner, the
person shall present to the town or city clerk a certified
copy of the decree granting the divorce or
dissolving the civil union.
(c) The license
required in: (a) shall be valid for three (3) months after the date of issue,
and if unused at the expiration of the three (3) months,
the party or parties having the possession
of the license shall immediately return it to the town
or city clerk from whom it was obtained.
(d) License fee. -
For issuing the civil union license the town or city clerk shall collect a
fee of twenty-four dollars ($24.00). The city or town
shall retain eight dollars ($8.00), and
transmit sixteen dollars ($16.00) to the general treasurer of
the State of
responsible for depositing eight dollars ($8.00) of the sixteen
dollars ($16.00) received into the
family and children trust fund created by
shall keep an accurate account of all fees charged and
received under this section and shall
transmit all sums due to the general treasurer at least
monthly in the manner and with the forms
which the general treasurer shall prescribe.
(e) The several town
and city clerks shall record, in separate books to be kept by them
for that purpose, the information furnished to them and
subscribed to as provided in this section.
Further, town and city clerks shall treat the civil
union certificate as a vital record pursuant to
Rhode Island general laws chapter 23-3.
15-3.1-4.
Certification of civil unions. --
Officials empowered to certify persons in civil
unions:
(1) Every ordained
clergy or elder in good standing, every justice of the supreme
court,
superior court, family court, workers' compensation court,
district court or traffic tribunal, the
clerk of the supreme court, every clerk or general chief
clerk of a superior court, family court,
district court, or traffic tribunal, magistrates, special or
general magistrates of the superior court,
family court, traffic tribunal or district court,
administrative clerks of the district court,
administrators of the workers' compensation court, every former
justice or judge and former
administrator of these courts and every former chief clerk of the
district court, and every former
clerk or general chief clerk of a superior court, the
secretary of the senate, elected clerks of the
general assembly, any former secretary of the senate or any
former elected clerk of the general
assembly who retires after July 1, 2007, judges of the
III of the United States Constitution, bankruptcy
judges appointed pursuant to Article I of the
United States Constitution, and
may certify a civil union in any city or town in this
state; and every justice and every former
justice of the municipal courts of the cities and towns in
this state and of the police court of the
town of
union in any city or town in this state, and wardens of the
town of
persons in civil unions in New Shoreham.
(2) Every
certification of a civil union shall be held in the presence of at least two
(2)
witnesses besides the person officiating the certification and
no minister, justice or other
authorized person shall perform the civil union certification
until the persons to be certified in a
civil union have presented him or her the license named in
this section.
(3) Every minister,
justice, or other authorized person who certifies any persons in a civil
union shall endorse the "License and Certificate of
Civil Union" presented to him or her by the
persons and certify that the persons were certified in a
civil union in accordance with the laws of
the State of
all the information on the "License and Certificate
of Civil Union" and file the form within
ninety- six (96) hours following the date of the civil union
certification with the clerk in the town
or city from which the license was issued.
(4) The town or city
clerk to whom the civil union certificate is returned shall carefully
file and preserve the return.
(5) If any person
has any lawful objection to the civil union of any two (2) persons, he or
she may state the objection in writing, under his or her hand,
to the minister, justice or other
authorized person about to certify the civil union, at which
time the minister, justice or other
authorized person shall proceed no further in the civil union
until the lawful objection has been
removed.
(6) Every minister,
justice, or other authorized person who certifies persons in a civil
union without first receiving the license required by this
chapter containing the required
information, or whenever the certification of the civil union has
been lawfully objected to and the
impediment is not removed, or when the person certifies parties
in a civil union that he or she
knows to have a husband, wife, or other civil union partner
shall be imprisoned not exceeding six
(6) months or fined not
exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(7) No civil union
certified before a person professing to have a license or professing to
be qualified to certify the civil union shall be deemed
or adjudged to be void, nor shall the
validity of the civil union be in any way affected by want of
jurisdiction or authority in the person
by noncompliance with any of the requirements of this
chapter, if the civil union is in other
respects lawful and has been certified with a full belief on
the part of the parties to the civil union,
or either of them, that they have lawfully certified in
a civil union.
(8) Every person who
certifies a civil union without being legally authorized to do so
shall be fined five hundred dollars ($500).
(9) If, as the
result of a court decision, any civil union which has occurred in Rhode
Island is declared invalid, the court shall order the
state registrar of vital records to mark "invalid"
the original civil union record on file at the division
of vital records and to note the invalidity of
the civil union on all other files or references to the
civil union.
(10) Whoever
provides any false information as to the requirements under this chapter,
or whoever enters into a civil union without duly
proceeding as is required by this chapter, shall
be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500).
SECTION 7. Severability.- If any
provisions of the act or the application thereof to any
person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect any other provisions or
applications of this act, which can be given effect without the
invalid provision or application,
and to this end the provisions of this act are declared
to be severable.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect on August 1, 2013.
=======
LC00055/SUB A/3
=======