You cannot marry your cousin in Arkansas if that cousin is your first cousin. State law classifies the union as incestuous and “absolutely void,” meaning it has no legal effect from the moment of the ceremony, and both spouses along with the officiant can face criminal charges.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-11-106 – Incestuous Marriages – Penalties for Entering Into or Solemnizing
Who Counts as a First Cousin Under the Ban
Arkansas Code 9-11-106 names first cousins explicitly among the relationships that make a marriage incestuous. The prohibition reaches both biological and illegitimate family lines, so it applies whether the shared ancestry runs through a marital connection or not.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-11-106 – Incestuous Marriages – Penalties for Entering Into or Solemnizing If you share a set of grandparents with someone, that person is your first cousin for purposes of this statute.
The ban is unconditional. Some states allow first-cousin marriage for couples above a certain age or for those who can prove infertility. Arkansas offers none of those workarounds. Age, fertility, genetic counseling, and consent to forgo children make no difference.
The statute does not extend past first cousins. Second cousins, third cousins, and more distant relatives are not covered by this prohibition.
Criminal Penalties for Entering the Marriage
Entering a prohibited marriage in Arkansas is a misdemeanor, and the same charge applies to anyone who knowingly performs the ceremony.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-11-106 – Incestuous Marriages – Penalties for Entering Into or Solemnizing A conviction can bring a fine, jail time, or both.
Section 9-11-106 does not assign the offense to a misdemeanor class, which makes it an unclassified misdemeanor. For unclassified misdemeanors, Arkansas’s general sentencing law defers to whatever limits the defining statute contains.2Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-201 – Fines – Limitations on Amount Section 9-11-106 sets no dollar cap and no maximum jail term, so the punishment is left to the jury at trial or to the judge on a guilty plea. That open-ended discretion makes the practical stakes harder to predict than with a classified offense.
What “Absolutely Void” Means for You
A void marriage is treated as though it never existed. No court has to dissolve it, because there is nothing legally there to dissolve. If a dispute later arises about whether the marriage was valid, a court can issue a formal declaration of nullity, but the marriage carries no legal weight in the meantime.
The consequences reach into every right that normally flows from marriage. Neither partner can claim spousal property rights, inherit as a surviving spouse, receive spousal insurance benefits, or exercise medical decision-making authority for the other. Anything the couple built assuming they were married sits on legally empty ground.
Marrying Out of State and Coming Back
Traveling to a state that allows first-cousin marriage does not solve the problem. Arkansas recognizes out-of-state marriages only if the marriage was valid where it took place and the parties “actually resided” in that state at the time.3Justia. Arkansas Code 9-11-107 – Validity of Foreign Marriages An Arkansas couple flying somewhere for a wedding weekend does not reside there. They remain Arkansas residents, and the state’s ban still applies.
Beyond the residency requirement, Section 9-11-106 declares first-cousin marriages absolutely void as a matter of public policy. Between the residency clause and that public-policy language, an Arkansas court is extremely unlikely to treat a first-cousin marriage as valid no matter where the ceremony happened.
Children Born to the Couple
Arkansas law protects children born to couples whose marriage turns out to be void. If two people participate in a marriage ceremony that appears to comply with the law of the state where it takes place, their children are legitimate for inheritance purposes even when the marriage itself is void.4Justia. Arkansas Code 28-9-209 – Legitimacy of Child Children do not lose their inheritance rights because the marriage was legally meaningless.
Federal benefits work on a similar principle. The Social Security Administration recognizes children of void marriages as legitimate without a court order, provided at least one parent entered the marriage in good faith.5Social Security Administration (SSA). Child Born of Void Marriage Survivor benefits and other federal programs are generally not jeopardized by the parents’ void status.
Federal Tax Fallout
A void marriage creates a tax problem that many couples miss. If you filed joint federal returns based on a marriage Arkansas considers void, the IRS treats you as though you were never married. Your correct filing status was single, or head of household if you qualified, for every year you filed jointly. The IRS expects amended returns on Form 1040-X for each affected year still open under the statute of limitations.6Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 (2025), Divorced or Separated Individuals
Depending on how the income was split, switching from joint to single status can raise the tax bill for one or both filers. Credits and deductions tied to married status have to be recalculated. If the marriage went unaddressed for several years, the exposure can be significant.