Saturday, 4 January 2014

California Marriage License

By Ben Kingsley


Birth, death, marriage and divorce records are important documents because they are issued by the government and thus have the authority or validity to serve as supporting documents. Marriage records California, for one, can serve to establish a person's identity; it can also prove the legitimacy of any child born under the marriage. For some, these records can also contain information that may be relevant to a person searching for his or her ancestors or genealogical family. Now, to be able to obtain these records, the law usually requires an affinity or relationship between the parties involved and the person requesting the information. An example would be one requesting for marriage records California. Marriage records are categorized into 2 - authorized and informational. They contain the same information but authorized copies can serve as valid documents whereas the informational copy is for information purposes only and cannot be used as a supporting document. Authorized copies are restricted whereas informational copies are available to the public.

To get a copy of the marriage records, one can check the State's Vital Records division. The office contains marriage indexes ranging from 1949 - 1986 and 1998- 1999. Indexes are not certified copies but contain information where the marriage certificate was issued and the parties in the marriage. For certified copies, one can check out the County Recorder or the Clerk of the County Office. Marriage records are of two types - public and confidential marriage records. Public marriage records are available from the County Recorder's office.

Confidential records, on the other hand, are only given to the parties whose names appear in the marriage certificate and are available from the Clerk of the County Office. Each copy costs about $14 each when accessed through the CDPH. Cost for the record when obtained from the Clerk Office or County Recorder varies. It is important that one should call the office to know the updated fee.

Under the State Law (California Health and Safety Code 103526), the only people who are allowed to get a copy of authorized marriage records are those who have a relationship with the parties and those that are requesting in the performance of their duty or employment. This can be the parents, kids, siblings, spouse, law enforcers and those that are authorized to act in the parties' behalf.

To request for the copies, those requesting will have to submit an official request form that they can obtain from the CDPH site or the County Clerk site. All requests must include a notarized sworn statement for authorized copies of the record. The application will not be processed if the form and notarized statement is not included. Payments should be included in the requests as well. Payment can be made via money orders or checks, which are drawn from one of the US Banks. Money orders can be obtained from the USPS as well. Cash and credit cards are not accepted.

The processing time for State request records will be 6 months and up depending on the volume of the requests received. For faster processing time, it is best to visit one of the 58 counties or the county where the certificate is issued. For those who want a faster way to obtain their marriage and divorce records, they can also access online public search sites, which offer these services for a minimal fee. It is the most convenient way to request the records anytime of the day.




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