Grenada is preparing to raise the legal minimum age for marriage from 16 to 18, eliminating all exceptions currently allowed under parental or guardian consent. The 2025 Marriage (Amendment) Bill is scheduled to be tabled in the Lower House on July 24, marking the first step in the parliamentary process.
The bill proposes to amend Chapter 184 of the Marriage Act, officially increasing the minimum marriage age to 18 and aligning it with the Age of Civil Legal Responsibility Act (2011), which defines 18 as the age at which individuals gain full legal capacity to handle civil matters independently.
“This Bill seeks to amend the Marriage Act… to increase the minimum age at which a person may marry from 16 years of age to 18 years of age, and to remove any exceptions thereto, with consequential amendments to related regulations,” the bill’s explanatory note states.
Currently, individuals aged 16 and older can marry with parental or guardian consent. That provision will be removed entirely once the bill is passed and enacted, standardizing the age requirement and ensuring that minors can no longer marry under any circumstances.
The proposed changes also extend to the Marriage (Special Licences—Destination Wedding) Regulations, repealing and replacing Regulation 8. The amendment will require all applicants for a special marriage licence — including foreign visitors who have been in the country for at least 24 hours — to be at least 18 years old. Under the current law, underage applicants can marry if they provide documented parental consent.
Once approved by both Houses of Parliament, the new law will effectively prohibit child marriage in Grenada and bring the country in line with international human rights standards that call for 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage.
