KLS Keeping Law Simple Legislation in plain English

Straight-ahead summaries built from the official bill text. We keep the source links front and center and leave the decision up to you.

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HS1FORHB8 • 2025

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Last action
2025-03-06
Official status
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.

What This Bill Does

  • AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.
  • This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware.
  • This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware.
  • U.S.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

No action history is stored for this bill yet.

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 13 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MARRIAGES.
This Act amends Delaware’s marriage laws to recognize a valid marriage between first cousins obtained or recognized outside of Delaware (either in another state or territory of the United States or foreign country) as a valid and legal marriage in Delaware. This Act does not legalize the performance of marriages between first cousins within the State of Delaware.
U.S. Immigration Services only recognizes marriages for immigrating couples as “valid” if the marriage is valid both where the marriage was performed and in the state where the couple is currently living or planning to live. Couples planning to settle in Delaware have been advised by federal officials to move to neighboring states that recognize marriages between first cousins as legal, leading to loss of economic activity to the state and unnecessary financial hardships for families seeking legal reunification.
This substitute bill makes a technical correction and removes subsections of the Code that are unchanged.