Guidance on Determining Men from the Age of 20 and Women from the Age of 18 for Marriage
Based on Clause 1, Article 2 of the Joint Circular 01/2016/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BTP, the regulations are as follows:
When resolving requests to annul unlawful marriages, the Court must base its considerations on the marriage conditions stipulated in Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family to review and decide on handling the unlawful marriage, with attention to certain points as follows:
- “Men aged 20 and above, women aged 18 and above” as stated in point a, clause 1 of Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family means cases where men are 20 years old or older, and women are 18 years old or older, which is determined by the date, month, and year of birth.
In cases where the date of birth and month of birth cannot be determined, the procedure is as follows:
a) If the year of birth can be determined but the month of birth cannot, the month of birth is determined as January of the year of birth;
b) If the year of birth and month of birth can be determined but the day of birth cannot, the day of birth is determined as the first day of the month of birth.
Example: Ms. B was born on January 10, 1997, and registered to marry Mr. A on January 8, 2015, at the People’s Committee of X commune. At the time of registration, Ms. B was not yet 18 years old (Ms. B would turn 18 on January 10, 2015). Thus, according to Clause 1, Article 9 of the 2000 Law on Marriage and Family, Ms. B was of marriageable age. However, since the Law on Marriage and Family was in effect from January 1, 2015, Ms. B violated the marriageable age condition stipulated in point a, clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family.
The above outlines the age conditions for marriage requiring men to be 20 years old or older and women to be 18 years old or older.
Sincerely!
