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Romantic Adventure

Thursday 17 April 2014

California Public 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.

Certified copies are available for those parties including: legal guardian of the registrants, a person authorized by the court to obtain the records in compliance of a particular requirement, member of the government including law enforcement agencies and other government agency and employee of a funeral establishment. Authorized copies are used to establish the person's identity. Informational copies are those copies that are the same as authorized ones; however a written statement, "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY," is indicated.

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.

To request for a copy of the marriage certificate, one can go to the CDPH Records Division. The office issues public types of marriage certificate. Confidential marriage certificate copies are only accessible by those registrants or parties named in the certificate and available from the clerk office of the county that issued the certificate. The person requesting the certificate should download the pamphlet or guide from the official site and follow the instructions indicated therein. Include the form and other documents together with a money order or check to the Office. Only checks issued by a US bank or of the USPS are accepted. Those requests that are not complete will be returned. Records with no results will be sent a No Public Records Certificate, as fees are not refundable.

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.




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