Minimum age to marry rises to 18 years
The minimum age for a young man being able to marry in Portugal has gone to 18 years. The President of the Republic promulgated this Monday the Decree of the Assembly of the Republic (AR) that prohibits the marriage of minors.
So far, the minimum age to contract marriage has been in the 16 years, however, the authorization of parents is necessary in the event that young people were between 16 and 18 years old. At the end of February, the air increased by 18 the minimum age for a young man to be able to marry and withdrew from various articles of the legislation the reference to emancipation.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has promulgated today the decree of Parliament that prohibits the marriage of minors and includes the child marriage, early or forced in the set of danger situations that legitimize the intervention to promote the rights and protection of children and young people in danger. Deputies changed the Civil Code, the Civil Registry Code and the Child and Youth Protection Act.
The decree was voted on February 20, in Parliament, and was approved with the votes against the PSD, IL and CDS-PP and results from Left Bloc Bills (BE) and party-Animal-Nature (PAN) party, approved in the general 31 January, the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.
The document includes a transitional rule, which indicates that “the marriages of over 16 and under 18 years legally performed until the entry into force of this law, as well as the emancipation of minors arising from them, remain valid and, until the age of both spouses, continue to be governed by the rules amended or revoked by this Law”.
Regarding the Law on Protection of Children and Youth Endangered, the Assembly of the Republic decided to add the children’s marriage to the list of cases that provide for intervention.
The law materializes that it is understood by “childish, early or forced marriage, or similar union any situation in which someone under 18 years old lived with others analogous to those of the spouses, whether or not it has been constrained to such a union, regardless of its cultural, ethnic or nationality origin”.20250324 MINIMUM AGE TO MARRY RISES TO 18 YEARS
