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Sunday, December 1, 2013

California Free Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


For those individuals who want a certificate of marriage in California, they may get one from the Public Health Vital Record Divisions. These records are usually used to establish and serve as supporting documents to authenticate a person's identity. Some would also use the certified copies to claim spousal benefit, death and retirement benefit. The Records Division issues 2 types of copies - Authorized and Informational. Both are certified copies.

Authorized copies are copies that only certain individuals can obtain and can be used to establish the identity of the parties named in the certificate. Under the California Law, these individuals are those: that have legal affinity to the registrant including their parents or legal guardians, children and siblings, individuals that were handed with a court order such as an attorney or an agency in compliance to the requirements of the Court, law enforcement agencies who need the document in order to conduct their business, those individual(s) appointed by the court to act on behalf of the registrant and those individuals that are agents of a funeral establishment. For those individuals not mentioned above, they are only entitled to obtain an information copy. Informational copies have the same content but have a legend that indicates that it is not a valid document to establish the person's identity.

Each marriage record request costs about $14. For those who need a copy of Dissolution of marriage, the cost is $13. For affidavit to amend marriage certificate, the fee is $20 but this can be waived in certain instances. All requests must include the request form, a notarized sworn statement and a money order or check for payment. The Department does not accept cash and is not responsible for lost transactions.

Processing time ranges from 6 months onwards for marriage certificates and 2 months for amendments as the Department is experiencing heavy volume of requests. For marriages that took place recently, processing time can be shortened as the certificates are already imaged and retrieval is faster. Those who need the copies can also go to the County Recorder Office to request for their certificates. Cost and fees for the copies are different and might vary from one county to another.

The first step in obtaining a marriage certificate is to determine if the record is available from the CDPH Vital Record Division. The Office provides public and confidential marriage records. Confidential records are only obtainable by the two parties named in the certificate and are only available from the County Clerk's Office. Download the pamphlet available from the Records Division. Once all the requirements are met, send the application form, notarized sworn statement and the fee to the CDPH Office. Only checks and money order drawn from a US bank or issued by the USPS are accepted. For no records, the Office will release a Certificate of No Public Records to the person requesting the copies. Fees are not refundable. Send the entire document to the address of the office through mail or through courier.

As processing can take quite some time due to the volume that the Office is receiving, another way to obtain marriage and divorce records is by checking the County Recorder's Office as well as the Superior court office. One can also access basic information from the internet, which is another way to obtain records conveniently.




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