Any Lawyers please chime in on this one

[ls317]

Brunswick County teacher resigns, marries 16-year-old student


By Ana Ribeiro
Staff Writer

A South Brunswick High School cross country coach and science teacher has resigned amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a student.

Brenton Wuchae, 40, of Oak Island, submitted his resignation June 13, and the Brunswick County Board of Education approved the personnel action during a closed session meeting today.

According to a statement from Superintendent Katie McGee, Wuchae and a Brunswick County student were married Monday. The marriage license says Wuchae married Windy Hager, 16, of Oak Island.

Wuchae had worked for the school system since Oct. 25, 2004.

Hager’s parents had previously complained at a public meeting of the school board that officials had not done enough to alert them to a relationship between the teacher and their daughter. They said they found out about the situation through rumors.

McGee said in her statement, however, that “I want to assure the public that we along with law enforcement always investigate each and every allegation brought to our attention. Had either organization been able to prove anything inappropriate was going on between Mr. Wuchae and a minor student charges would have been filed.”

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/200770619006

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

1. I'm not a lawyer & don't play one on TV, but I'm pretty

sure she had to have parental approval to marry since she's under 18.

[Solo_in_MD]

6. Are there states or countries where 16 would have been legal?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

7. I found this.

It's wiki, so take it with a grain of salt, but it appears there are a few countries where 16 is the age of consent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriageable_age

[silverweb]

2. Parental consent needed.

SECTION 20-1-100. Minimum ages for valid marriage.

Any person under the age of sixteen is not capable of entering into a valid marriage, and all marriages hereinafter entered into by such persons are void ab initio. A common-law marriage hereinafter entered into by a person under the age of sixteen is void ab initio.

SECTION 20-1-250. Applicants under age of consent; consent of relative or guardian.

A marriage license must not be issued when either applicant is under the age of sixteen. When either applicant is between the ages of sixteen to eighteen and that applicant resides with father, mother, other relative, or guardian, the probate judge or other officer authorized to issue marriage licenses shall not issue a license for the marriage until furnished with a sworn affidavit signed by the father, mother, other relative, or guardian giving consent to the marriage.

Source: http://www.scstatehouse.net/code/t20c001.htm

So either the marriage is invalid or the parents are full of shit in their protestations.

[onenote]

3. North Carolina law -- effectively same as South Carolina

Your citation is to South Carolina law and since the folks involved in this situation are from North Carolina, I'm guess the marriage took place in and is governed by North Carolina law.

With regard to North Carolina, it appears to be, for relevant purposes, substantively similar to the South Carolina provision you cited: 16 and 17 year olds need parental consent to marry.

http://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_51/gs_51-2.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

4. But were they married in NC?

Or perhaps the girl's parents are actually one biological and one step parent, and the other biological parent gave consent?

There is too much information missing from the article to make judgements.

[silverweb]

5. Oops.

My mistake. Posting before verifying again. :blush:

[pitohui]

8. in another article the parents admit to having given consent

these parents seem to be fuckwits, i have a suspicion as to why the daughter wanted out of the home and was willing to marry an older man to do it, they seem to be parents who play a lot of head games

as i said in the other thread i just hope the girl is not out of the frying pan and into the fryer

maybe the two have truly bonded over their common interest in sport and will have a good life together, at this point all we can do is hope for the best

i'm not a lawyer of course but if the question is, is this legal, it was answered in the other thread/article, yeah, the parents did give consent