Well. the kid will win.

Either take him for mega-bucks in a divorce later on or inherit all when he croaks.

I wonder if she has him role-play as his character from The Green Mile when they're in bed.

The only reason at all to restrict marriage based on age is under the premise that we are not fully responsible for ourselves until we have reached a certain maturity.

A fairly vague concept: maturity, and with good precedence toward the fact we reach maturity at different times in our different lives.

We should not however legislate morality, nor should we make law about having people act the way we want them to act.

I think by the age of 16 most people are indeed responsible for their actions. If she killed someone, we should lock her up, if she gets pregnant she should make the decisions, ect ect ect, if she wants to marry someone almost 3 times her age . . . so be it, as long as she was not coerced or forced into it against her will.

This is another reason I have a problem with the issue of people who are old enough to die for our country, but not old enough to drink.

I am sure he has plenty of Viagra stocked up..........

I don't know what it is with children these days. They mature physically so fast. A friend of mine has a daughter who is 12 or 13 years old. She is fully developed with large breasts, (C cup) wears make up like a hooker, has piercings, flaunts her sexuality more than most adults would dare. Plus she smokes. I pity any man who she goes after, he would have no idea what her age was...

An innocent child she is not. Is it the junk food and artificial crap that is causing this? I don't know. Some people mature faster. She is fully capable of getting pregnant.

I had a friend who was married at age 14. By age 38 she had raised 8 children. She divorced her husband and left him the last two children to finish raising himself.

In some countries the natural age to get married is 14. Its just the culture.

Yeah, IM sure such conditions on marriage will slowly be legislated away between now and the time my grandkids have kids of their own,,

It should be a minimum age of 18 under ANY circumstances.

who are you to say? if marriage is fundamental right, who are you to say 'minors' dont deserve such a right?

Well the thing is its a states issue. Clearly in some states 16 is seen as the age of responsibility. I tend to agree, at 16 you can drive, you can work, you are physically mature, you may not make the best decisions but you can make decisions which will effect your life for the rest of your life.

I am pro liberty, and pro personal responsibility. That ends up equating a very dispassionate approach to young adults making life altering decisions, the people in there lives should help influence them for the better, but ultimately you cannot control a 16 year old no matter how much you try . . .

It is our job to protect them, even from themselves. There is a reason monirs cant make decisions, enter into legally binding contracts(which Marriage is BTW), cant smoke, cant enter the military, cant quit school. Because they dont fully understand and cant comprehend the consequences of their actions.

Not to mention there are people out there who prey on the volunerability of minors, which this story is a perfect example of.

My brother is 36, has ASD and falls into the sane category as you describe for minors.

At age 16 I had been working with a valid workers permit for 1 year and working legally under the child labor laws for 4 years previously, I paid for 50% of my 4 years of college before age 18.

My friend had abusive parents and had a job and was emaciated at age 16, was able to find room-mates and continued to work completed his GED, went to technical school on grant money and now makes 95K a year. The truth about maturity and decision making is far more gray than the black and white picture you seem to be presenting, some states realize this and allow mature young adults to make life altering decisions for themselves prior to the age of 18. I believe right fully so.

Only if they are imancipated. it takes a lot for that to happen too, you have to deminstrate to the court you understand te conseuences of your actions, which most minors cant.

by 16, I think their character is usually fairly established, as well as the 'respect' they show their parents and their parents rules/expectations, but we all continue to learn and grow until our last breath,,imho

ANYWAYS.......... My niece is 16 and she is as dumb and naive as a box of rocks and could easily be taken advantage of by an older man. All teenagers are like that.