Potentially stupid question re: marriage license legal jargon.

[musey]

I'm trying to knock the officiant off our list. FI wants someone who will "take care of all the paperwork for us, so we don't have to worry about it." So then, of course, I start stressing because I'm not sure what all that entails.

Here is the CA government site on marriage licenses.

This guy can offer a "confidential" marriage license, which means our marriage is not public record

I guess (why would we want it to not be?).

It also says on the gov site that the "person solemnizing the marriage must return the original marriage license to the County Clerk or County Recorder as applicable within 10 days of the date of the ceremony." Should it be safe to assume that all licensed officiants will do this, as a part of their package?


My entire question is this: am I right in thinking that we need to obtain a license prior to the ceremony, have it signed at the ceremony, then have whomever marries us return it to the county clerk (through MAIL or IN PERSON?)? Or am I missing some step?

 

[surfgirl]

musey you best call your local city hall and talk to them directly so they can explain it to you. For us, though we live in CA, we wed in WA and there were several copies of forms to be filled out. You have to get the forms beforehand (find out how long they''re valid for and get them well in advance!). We filled out some forms, sent them back and got a packet with all the official licensing documents, which we brought to the wedding. The officiant filled out the forms, we signed after the ceremony, and we got the official license, while she sent other copies back to the local city hall. I think that''s usually how its done. I also didn''t understand the confidential marrying thing. I think that''s for people who dont want anyone to know they''re married...which is weird to me...

 

[cara]

Got married in CA by a friend who was ordained online for the purpose, so she was a professional only in the loosest sense. Here is what we did:

FI and I go together to county clerks office to fill out forms, pay a fee, and take an oath together. You need ID and some random info (parent''s place of birth? I was calling home from the office to confirm...)

They then give you a form to fill in after the ceremony by you both, the officiant, and a witness or two. Its not complicated.

Technically the officiant is responsible for mailing the form in as the bridal couple is traditionally on honeymoon. In our case, we forgot to fill it out for two days, then got everything signed and mailed it in ourselves as we had a delay before the honeymoon and our officiant was moving across the country. Its really not hard.

Then the county clerk processes the form and mails you a copy of the license a few weeks later. You can also send a check for extra copies of the license if you choose.

 

[musey]

Thanks, surfgirl

Yeah, I completely don''t get the confidential license thing...

 

[baby monster]

The county clerk should be able to clarify it for you. I''m not sure what is a "confidential" marriage licencse. In NY, marriage licenses are not public record. Only the married couple of their attorneys can obtain the license info from the records so technically nobody can know whether you are legally married or not.

 

[musey]

Thanks cara! That''s what I was looking for. Sounds simple, definitely not complicated enough to warrant needing an officiant capable of issuing our license on the spot.

 

[neatfreak]

Musey, it's totally not a big deal, so don't worry about getting someone else to do it for you.

You go get the license before your wedding (no one can do this for you anyway).

They'll issue it, and you bring it to your wedding and the officiant signs it, then sends it back in (in SF they even gave us an envelope to do this pre-addressed).


As for the confidential marriage license, YOU don't need it but some people might like it that way. It's really a privacy thing because that way your marriage/license aren't public record (which they ARE in CA otherwise), which is important to some people, but they still want to marry and get the tax benefits, etc.

 

[sumbride]

Our officiant took our signed license to the courthouse for us while we were off on our honeymoon. She had it recorded and then mailed it back to us. It was nice for us because we wouldn''t have been able to do it since we were from out of state and were leaving before they re-opened, and I was more willing to trust her than to ask a family member to take care of it. It''s definitely not something you HAVE to have someone else do, but if you can find someone that will do it, it is a nice benefit. I hadn''t even thought about it until she mentioned that she''d take care of it for us. (This was in Arkansas)

I think the confidential marriage thing in CA may be used by celebrities and such who may have legal reasons for doing it. I can''t imagine the average person would benefit from such a thing. My mom saved the paper that reported our names in "Marriage Licenses Granted". She was proud!

 

[musey]

Date: 1/22/2008 2:23:48 PM
Author: sumbride

I think the confidential marriage thing in CA may be used by celebrities and such who may have legal reasons for doing it. I can''t imagine the average person would benefit from such a thing.

AH, this makes sense! Thanks, sum.

 

[AmberWaves]

Hey Musey,

I just got married in So Cal in November, and I filled out the marriage license online, so that way when we showed up (the two of us had to go together) it would be in their system. I went here:
https://regrec2.co.la.ca.us/SECURED/MARRIAGE/mrglicense.asp

And filled it all out, and printed myself a copy. Then, we went to the Bev. Hills office since we were told the wait was shortest (and it seriously was), handed the clerk the printed copy and she made us say the oath and everything and handed our real license over, along with the addressed manilla envelope it''s supposed to be sent back in.

More info here:
http://www.lavote.net/CLERK/Marriages.cfm

About the confidential license:
http://www.losangelesmarriagelicense.com/confidential-marriage-license.html

That last one is really helpful!!

Goodluck!

 

[gtn]

I was told that marriage records are public records,but in order for a person to look up your "confidential" marriage certificate, they would have to go to the county where your got married and filed your certificate and the person requesting the information must know the couple''s full name.

I could be wrong about this, but I know that celebrities might find this useful

 

[AmberWaves]

From what I've read, a confidential marriage certificate is legal, but not public record. It can only be obtained by court order or by request of one of the members of the couple.

ETA: It says this about who can get a confidential marriage license: Confidential Marriage License Fee: $70 (not minors) must be living together as man and wife.

interesting.

 

[TravelingGal]

Musey, unless there is any reason you don''t want your marriage to be public record, I''d just go with that. I researched quite a bit when I got married, and we have confidential licenses because (as others said) we live in Cali...home of the celebrity.

We went public because if our kids or grandkids or whatever wanted to look us up, we would want them t do so. With a confidential, only you or your hubby can unseal that record.

Also, apparently with a regular one, you''re supposed to get more junk mail...but we got nothing.