## Facts

- A 1973 dissolution decree required the father to pay $150 per month in child support for the parties’ minor daughter.
- In June 1976, the 16-year-old daughter went to Oklahoma, misrepresented her age, and married without parental consent.
- The daughter and her husband returned to Colorado within about a month and lived with the mother.
- The father stopped paying support after learning of the marriage, treating it as the child’s emancipation.
- On February 18, 1977, an Oklahoma court annulled the marriage based on the daughter’s underage status and lack of parental consent.
- The mother sought reinstatement of support and contempt relief, alleging unpaid support; the daughter was living with the mother and attending high school.
- The trial court held the support obligation terminated during the marriage, reinstated it effective March 1, 1977 after the annulment, and found the father $600 in arrears.

## Issues

1. Whether the underage marriage without parental consent was void from the beginning under the law of the state where it occurred, such that the child was never emancipated and support continued throughout.
2. Whether emancipation by marriage, once it occurs, permanently ends a parent’s support duty, or whether annulment can end emancipation and revive support when the minor returns to dependency.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s order.
- The court held the marriage was voidable under Oklahoma law, not void ab initio, and therefore created a legal marital status until annulled.
- The child was emancipated during the period the marriage existed, suspending the father’s support duty for that time.
- Upon annulment, the marriage ceased to be legally recognized; because the child remained a dependent minor living with the mother, emancipation ended and the father’s support obligation properly resumed as of March 1, 1977.
- The arrearage finding of $600 based on the reinstated obligation was upheld.

## Legal Principles

- Child-support obligations under a dissolution decree generally terminate upon emancipation of the minor child.
- A minor’s valid marriage effects emancipation; for marriages celebrated in another state, validity is determined by the law of the place of celebration.
- Underage marriage without parental consent may be treated as voidable (creating a legal marital status until annulled), rather than void from inception; a voidable marriage can emancipate the minor while it remains in force.
- Emancipation is not necessarily permanent; when the condition supporting emancipation (marriage) is eliminated by annulment and the minor remains dependent, parental support obligations may revive.

## Conclusion

The court treated the minor’s Oklahoma marriage as a voidable union that temporarily emancipated her and suspended child support, but held that annulment terminated the marital status and, because the child returned to dependency as a minor, the father’s support obligation could be reinstated prospectively with arrears accruing from the reinstatement date.


In re Marriage of Fetters, 41 Colo. App. 281, 584 P.2d 104 (Colo. App. 1978)