{"id":401349,"date":"2026-09-16T09:58:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401349\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:58:15","slug":"can-you-marry-your-cousin-in-florida-heres-what-the-law-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401349\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you marry your cousin in Florida? Here\u2019s what the law says"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A new bill introduced during Florida\u2019s latest Legislative session sparked major headlines earlier this year<\/a> after it failed to get approval from lawmakers.<\/p>\n

And it also sparked an unusual question for many: is it legal to marry your cousin in Florida?<\/p>\n

The bill \u2014 HB 733<\/a> \u2014 was first filed back in December by state Rep. Anne Gerwig (R-Greenacres), though it deals with a lot more than just marriage.<\/p>\n

In fact, the bill aimed for a variety of changes involving the Department of Health and Florida\u2019s healthcare workforce.<\/p>\n

However, a smaller provision included in the bill sought to prohibit marriage between first cousins. The specific text included in the bill is as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cA man may not marry any woman who is a lineal descendant of his grandparent. A woman may not marry any man who is a lineal descendant of her grandparent. Marriages included in this subsection entered into after July 1, 2026, are not recognized for any purpose in this state.\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 733 (2026)<\/p>\n

Current law already prohibits incestuous marriages<\/a>, such as those between siblings, parents, nieces, nephews, and grandparents. HB 733 would have simply added first cousins to that list.<\/p>\n

But while the full bill was unanimously approved by the state Senate back in March, it ultimately died after returning to the House.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have already begun filing bills for the next Legislative session, though it remains to be seen whether this proposal will be considered again.<\/p>\n

Which states still allow first cousins to marry?<\/p>\n

So far, more than 20 states have blanket bans on first-cousin marriage.<\/p>\n

According to The U.S. Sun<\/a>, Florida remains among 16 states that have no restrictions on first-cousin marriage. They are as follows:<\/p>\n

Alabama<\/p>\n

Alaska<\/p>\n

California<\/p>\n

Colorado<\/p>\n

Florida<\/p>\n

Georgia<\/p>\n

Hawaii<\/p>\n

Maryland<\/p>\n

Massachusetts<\/p>\n

New Jersey<\/p>\n

New Mexico<\/p>\n

New York<\/p>\n

Rhode Island<\/p>\n

South Carolina<\/p>\n

Vermont<\/p>\n

Virginia<\/p>\n

North Carolina (first-cousin marriages are allowed, but not double first cousins)<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A new bill introduced during Florida\u2019s latest Legislative session sparked major headlines earlier this year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[28,100,571,99,2546,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-401349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-florida","tag-florida-legislature","tag-health","tag-politics","tag-strange-florida","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}