Pages

Romantic Adventure

Sunday 22 September 2013

California Public Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


Marriages in California vital records are available from the State's Department of Public Health Vital Records division. These records are important as it can establish the parties' identities as well as be used as supporting document for the parties in case of spousal benefits, death and early retirement benefits. The Division provides two types of certified copies: authorized copy and informational copy.

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.

To obtain a certified copy from the CDPH office, one must fill up an application form as well as have a sworn statement notarized and included in the request. Payment should also be attached to the request. Fees are as follows: Marriage certificates - $14, Dissolution of marriages copies - $13 and Affidavit to Amend Marriage certificate - $20. Fees for amendments may be waived by the Department in certain instances.

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 CPDH also issues only public types of marriage certificates. For those who want a confidential marriage certificate, they can make their request at the County clerk office that issued the marriage license. To request from the CDPH, download the pamphlet available at the site and together with the supporting documents and send the forms by mail or courier. Keep in mind that the Office only accepts checks or money orders issued from USPS and US bank. Fees are not fundable and in cases where no results are found, the Office will release a No Public Record Certificate.

As the CDPH is experiencing heavy volume for marriage certificates, processing can take up to 6 months. For those who urgently require marriage and divorce records, they can send their marriage request to the County Recorder's Office and divorce request to the Superior Court Office. One can also check other online search portals that offer searches for private and public records. This is by far the most convenient and fastest way for one to get the information they need.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment