Short answer. Yes. Between eighteen and twenty-one you have the capacity to marry, but the registrar cannot issue a license without your parents' consent — father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, in that order. It must be in writing, given personally before the registrar or by sworn affidavit.
What the law says
In case either or both of the contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous marriage, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their marriage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned.
Family Code, Article 14 — Parental Consent for Applicants Aged 18 to 21. Read the full provision →
Consent is an extra requirement, not a substitute for capacity
At nineteen you already have legal capacity to marry; Article 14 adds something on top of it. The consent is required in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, which is why it is exhibited to the local civil registrar rather than announced at the ceremony. The requirement attaches to each party individually, so if one of you is twenty-four and the other nineteen, only the nineteen-year-old needs it. It also stops entirely at twenty-one — a party who has turned twenty-one before the license is applied for is outside this article, whatever their parents think.
Who may give it, and in what order
The article names father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned. That last phrase is the operative one: the sequence is not a menu. Where both parents are living, you do not get to approach whichever of the two is likelier to agree and treat that as compliance. A guardian's consent becomes relevant only where there is no parent to give it. The article also excludes from its scope a party who has been emancipated by a previous marriage, which covers the young widow or widower who is marrying again.
The two acceptable forms
Consent may be given in either of two ways, and both are documentary. The first is a personal manifestation in writing by the parent, who personally appears before the proper local civil registrar. The second is an affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested before an official authorised to administer oaths, which is the route used when the parent is far away. The article then says where the record goes: the personal manifestation is recorded in both applications for the marriage license, and the affidavit, if one is executed instead, is attached to those applications.
What happens if you marry without it
A marriage celebrated without the required parental consent is not void; it is voidable. Article 45 makes it a ground for annulment, and Article 47 sets who may sue and for how long — the parent or guardian may bring the action at any time before the party reaches twenty-one, and the party themselves within five years after turning twenty-one. Crucially, the ground disappears if, after reaching twenty-one, the party freely lives together with the other as husband and wife. So the practical question is not only whether consent was obtained, but what the parties did once the age bar fell away.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 14 — Parental Consent for Applicants Aged 18 to 21
- Family Code, Article 45 — Grounds for Annulment
- Family Code, Article 47 — Who May File; Prescriptive Periods