Child marriage becomes a legal loophole in custody fights: "The list of horrors goes on and on"

Ryan Small was trying to keep his ex-wife from moving out of Idaho with their son early last winter when he found out the 16-year-old boy had been secretly married off to another teen, with his mother's permission, in an apparent bid to end the custody battle.

A few months earlier, Erin Carver was embroiled in a battle with her ex-husband over whether their 16-year-old girl would remain in Idaho or move to Florida with her father when she learned a similar "sham marriage" had taken place.

The children both slipped through a common legal loophole in child marriage laws across the United States: It often only takes one parent to consent to let a 16- or 17-year-old child get married, and once that child is married custody agreements are moot.