If I'm dating someone and I am 19nd they are 16 can I get in trouble we live in California.

Quoting California Penal Code § 261.5
261.5. (a) Unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor. For the purposes of this section, a "minor" is a person under the age of 18 years and an "adult" is a person who is at least 18 years of age.

(b) Any person who engages in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is not more than three years older or three years younger than the perpetrator, is guilty of a misdemeanor.. .


I would say yes it is illegal and you will get in trouble. Date someone your own age.

There are no laws governing dating. A 19 yr old dating a 16 yr old is at the edge put not over it. As long as there is no sexual intimacy AND her parents do not object, then you are not likely to be in any legal trouble.

But parents are not just going to assume they are not having sex so dating someone closer to his age would be a better idea.

Vron1 Comment on ScottGem's post
But parents are not just going to assume they are not having sex so dating someone closer to his age would be a better idea.

Clearly dating someone closer to your own age is a better idea. But I don't find the gap between 16 and 19 to be too far. Its on the edge, but not over it, In my opinion. But that's not what I disagreed with. The OP asked if they could get in trouble by dating someone 16 when they are 19. You answered that it would be illegal. But its not illegal to date. Its only illegal to have sex and there was no question about sex, only dating. If you had answered similarly to they way I did, I would not have objected. But you answered that sex would be illegal without the OP asking that.