1,820. Refusal of Marriage by a Minor

Hilchos Geirushin 11:1

One should not marry a girl who has not yet reached the age of majority. If a man marries a minor orphan girl and she doesn’t want to remain married to him, she can simply refuse the marriage and leave. She doesn’t need a get because the betrothal of a minor doesn’t fully effect marriage, as was discussed in Hilchos Ishus 4:8. Similarly, if a minor girl was married off by her father but then widowed or divorced while still a minor, she is considered an orphan even if her father is still alive. If she marries again while she still a minor, she can annul that marriage by refusal.

Hilchos Geirushin 11:2

Even though the marriage of a woman with congenital deafness is a rabbinic enactment like the marriage of a minor, the Sages did not grant her the ability to annul this marriage through refusal. This is so that men shouldn’t refrain from marrying such women.