No, you cannot marry your first cousin in Tennessee. The state banned first cousin marriage on April 29, 2024, when the domestic relations code was amended to add first cousins to the list of relatives too closely related to marry.1Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-101 – Prohibited Degrees of Relationship Any first cousin marriage entered into on or after that date is void under Tennessee law.
Which Cousins Are Off Limits
Tennessee’s prohibited-relationship statute now bars marriage between any two people who are both descendants of a common grandparent. That language sweeps in first cousins, because first cousins share a grandparent. It also reaches first cousins once removed, meaning your parent’s first cousin or your first cousin’s child, because that person is still a descendant of your grandparent.1Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-101 – Prohibited Degrees of Relationship
Before the 2024 amendment, the statute stopped at aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. Adding “descendants of a grandparent” is what pulled first cousins into the ban.2UT County Technical Assistance Service. Who Can Marry?
Second Cousins Are Still Allowed
Second cousins share a great-grandparent, not a grandparent, so they fall outside the statute’s reach. Marriage between second cousins, third cousins, and more distant relatives remains legal in Tennessee.1Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-101 – Prohibited Degrees of Relationship
You Cannot Get Around the Ban by Marrying Out of State
Some states still license first cousin marriages, and couples sometimes think about marrying elsewhere and coming home. Tennessee treats any marriage that violates its prohibited-relationship rules as void regardless of where the ceremony took place.2UT County Technical Assistance Service. Who Can Marry? A void marriage is treated as if it never happened. There is nothing to annul or divorce because, in Tennessee’s eyes, no valid marriage ever existed. You would have no spousal rights to property, inheritance, or benefits based on that ceremony.
Is Marrying a First Cousin a Crime?
The marriage ban and the criminal incest statute are separate laws, and they do not cover the same relatives. Tennessee’s incest law criminalizes sexual contact with a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, half-sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, stepparent, stepchild, or adoptive parent or child. Incest is a Class C felony, or a Class B felony if the victim is a minor.3Justia. Tennessee Code 39-15-302 – Incest
First cousins are not on that list. Marrying a first cousin does not, on its own, trigger criminal incest charges under current law. The consequence is that the marriage itself has no legal force, not that the couple is prosecuted.
Other Rules That Can Block a Marriage
Kinship is only one of several ways a Tennessee marriage can fail. Even with an unrelated partner, the following requirements apply.
Age
Both parties must be at least 17. A county clerk cannot issue a license to anyone younger, and when one applicant is 17, the other cannot be four or more years older.4Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-105 – Minimum Age of Applicant for Marriage License A 17-year-old also needs a parent, legal guardian, or custodial adult to join in the application under oath.5UT County Technical Assistance Service. Minimum Age of Applicants
Free Consent
Both parties must consent freely. A marriage entered into through violence, threats, or coercion is void, and the forced party can sue anyone who compelled them.6Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-108 – Forced Marriage Prohibited – Civil Action A clerk also cannot issue a license to anyone who appears intoxicated or of unsound mind at the time of application.7Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-109 – Issuance of License to Drunks, Insane Persons or Imbeciles Forbidden
No Existing Spouse
Neither party can already be married. Any earlier marriage must be dissolved by divorce or annulment first. The one narrow exception: if a spouse has been absent for at least five years and you have no knowledge they are alive, the law presumes the earlier marriage dissolved.8Justia. Tennessee Code 36-3-102 – Second Marriage – Dissolution of First Marrying while knowing your spouse is still alive is bigamy, a criminal offense.9Justia. Tennessee Code 39-15-301 – Bigamy