Marriage License

Marriage License

A marriage license is document issued, either by a church or state authority, authorizing a couple to marry. The procedure for obtaining a marriage license varies between countries and states and has changed over time. Marriage licenses began to be issued in middle ages, to permit a marriage, which would otherwise be illegal. Today there are legal requirements in some jurisdictions and may serve as the record of the marriage if signed by the couple and a witness. In other places there are not any requirements. To obtain a marriage license in New York you must do a reasonable amount of work. The first thing is that there is a marriage license fee of thirty-five dollars payable b credit card, money order or a check made out to the City Clerk. A marriage license also does have an expiration date. A normal marriage license is valid for 60 days unless one of the spouses is active in military personnel in which it will be valid for one hundred and eighty days. You can begin the application online at www.nyc.gov/portal/site/cityclerkformsonline. This will speed up the process, which then you must go to the city clerk and complete in person. Everyone who is applying for a marriage license must show up at the city clerk's office together no matter if they filled out the first application online. Once all done with the applications it will be processed while you wait. When you receive your marriage license you must wait 24 hours before you can perform your marriage ceremony. You must have two forms of proper idetifaction for both you and your spouse. You also need to have other required information with you such as current address; city, state, ZIP code and country; country of birth; date of birth; name and country of birth of your parents; Social Security number; and marital history. If you were married before, you must list all prior marriages. You must include your previous spouse's full name; the date the divorce was granted; and the city, state, and country where the divorce was issued. All divorces, annulments, and dissolutions must be finalized before you apply for a new Marriage License. If your spouse is deceased, you must provide spouse's full name and date of the death. If you or your spouse is under the age of 18 you are required to have a written form of consent from a parent or guardian. Both of the parents must be present to consent and have proper identification at the time of application for the Marriage License and at the Marriage Ceremony if the ceremony is performed in the city clerk's offices. If one parent is deceased a death certificate must be shown. If either spouse is under the age of sixteen years old, in addition to parental consent, the written approval of a Judge of the Supreme Court or Family Court is needed. Any person under 14 cannot be married.

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