Los Angeles Wedding Officiant - Marriage License Information

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Obtaining Your Marriage License
in Los Angeles County

(for those desiring a state-sanctioned legal marriage)

Page One Content

u Two Types of Licenses Are Available

u The facts and the fiction of obtaining your

marriage license directly from a minister

u What information is asked for on the marriage license ?

u What to bring to the County Recorder's Office

u Dealing with INS

u Your Marriage License at the Wedding

u Obtaining Copies of Your Marriage License

u A Shocking Notice About Your Marriage License

u Your Ninety-day License

u   If Either the Bride or the Groom Is Unable to Travel
                 and he or she can't go to the county recorders office
              to obtain a marriage license

u Miscellaneous Information

Page Two Content

u Where to Obtain Your Marriage License

Marriage License Express

Los Angeles County offices

Other Southern California Registrar/recorders

Complete list of California County Clerk's Offices

Government often make changes and don't inform us of those changes. Thus the information on this page may be out of date. Before you rely of any information included here, please call your local county recorder's office to verify the information's accuracy.

Two Types of Licenses Are Available:

Both Licenses :

Blood tests are no longer required. The officiant is responsible for mailing the license back to to the county office. To order copies, see the paragraph below. Obtaining Copies of Your Marriage License

Marriage licenses must be obtained within ninety days prior to your wedding date. License are valid for ninety days after date of purchase. If you do not have your ceremony within that ninety days period, the license expires and is no longer usable.

Regular License:

Cost $70 for both of you together. Records open to public view. Certified copies available at any time by mail. Bride and groom must both go to a county office to obtain a regular license. A regular license can be obtained in any county in California, and can be used in any county.

Confidential License:

Cost $70 for both of you together. In legal terms, the confidential license is only for couples presently living together as husband and wife; however what constitutes living together is left undefined. With the confidential license, the marriage records are permanently sealed from public view. A confidential license can be obtained in any county in California, but must be used in the county in which it is issued.

You can still have your public ceremony in any county you desire as long as you first do a legal ceremony in the issuing county. Here's what is required:

You, your fiancée, and the officiant must be physically present in the issuing county, and the officiant asks each of you if you want to marry the other. You both answer yes, then the officiant says, "OK., you're married." Then he/she signs the marriage license and sends it back to the county. With the legal aspect completed, you can then have your public ceremony any where you choose, including locations outside the state.

You can also have a public ceremony outside of the state using a regular public license as long as you do the legal part first (As described above) inside the sate.

After the initial ordering of certified copies of the confidential license, additional copies are not available by mail. The couple must get a court order to view the records, and then they can purchase additional copies.

As you can see by the list below, there is no information on the form that is not already public knowledge, so unless you don't want people to know you are married, there is minimal advantage to the confidential license, and a significant downside. Obviously the choice is yours; however, for the sake of simplicity, we recommend the regular public license.

Here's one advantage of the confidential license. There's no need for you to go to the county recorder's office. Confidential licenses are available through one of The Life Center’s associates -- Marriage License Express. Our notary will come to you. However, you need to be aware that if you obtain your license from any source other than directly from a county office, the only kind of license that independent license providers (ministers, wedding chapels, etc.) can provide for you is the confidential license. Please see the section below: The Facts and the Fiction of Obtaining Your Marriage License Directly From a Minister

There's also the matter of a service fee. If you don't go to the county recorder's office, the notary goes for you and you must pay a service charge.

Why does California have two types of marriage licenses?

We don't know for sure, but we have heard two different stories. For what they are worth, here they are:

1) The religious conservatives petitioned legislators to offer confidential licenses so that couples who were "Living in Sin" could get legally married and no one would ever know that they had previously not been married.

2) Confidential licenses came about as result of the early film industry in the Hollywood (Los Angeles) area. The movie stars did not want the public to know their real names, where they lived, how old they were, and most importantly, they often did not want their adoring fans to know they were married. A married star looses some of his/her appeal to his fans and they go chasing after someone else with whom to play their fantasies.

If you have another story, or if you know the real truth about this topic, please contact us..

list ...

What information is asked for on the marriage license?

The regular and the confidential license ask for the following information for both the bride and the groom:

1) Full name

2) Date of birth

3) Residence address

Street number and name

City

Zip Code

County (state in outside California)

4) State (location) of birth

5) Mailing address (if different from residence address)

6) Number of previous marriages

7a) How the last marriage ended

7b) Date the last marriage was finalized

8a) Usual occupation

8b) In what kind of business or industry

9) Years of education completed

10a) Father's full name

10b) Father's state of birth

11a) Mother's full name

11b) Mother's state of birth

The Facts and the Fiction
About Obtaining Your Marriage License
Directly from a Minister

What type of license can a minister issue?

A Confidential License Only.

In Los Angeles County and in Orange County, the only kind of license that an independent license provider (minister, wedding chapel, etc.) can provide for you is the confidential license. If you personally go to a Los Angeles County office, or to the Orange County office, you can obtain either type of license.

In Ventura County, the only kind of license that an independent license provider (minister, wedding chapel, etc.) can provide for you is the regular public license. If you go to a Ventura County office, you can obtain either type of license.

Who can obtain a confidential license?

Only those couples already living together as husband and wife.

The confidential license is valid only for those already living together as husband and wife; however, the definition of living together is very vague. Call a county office if you have questions about your eligibility. For phone numbers, see the section below titled: Where Marriage Licenses are Available

What's the difference between
the regular and the confidential license?

Please see the section above: Two types of marriage licenses are available

Does obtaining your license form a minister keep you
from waiting in long lines at a county office?

NO! There are no long lines at most county offices -- unless you go to the Norwalk office.

Anybody who tells you that you can speed up the process and avoid long lines by coming to then for your marriage license is being deceptive because there are no long lines. For example, in the Beverly Hills office, the Van Nuys office, the Airport area office, it will take you about twenty to thirty minutes to complete the process and walk out the door with your license. The same is true true for the Orange County office and for the Ventura County office.

What's are the major benefits of obtaining a confidential license?

1) If the license provider comes to you or if you are already at their location, you avoid travel time.

2) If you have a compelling reason to keep your legal marriage a secret, then the confidential license is for you.

What's are major drawbacks of obtaining a confidential license?

Obtaining copies of you license can be a problem.

With the regular public license, you can obtain copies by mail at any time from anywhere in the world. With a confidential license, you can obtain copies of your license by mail one time only.

Obtaining additional copies of a confidential marriage license at a later date requires a personal appearance of both spouses to obtain a court order to view the records.

Cost.

Remember the old saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." If you don't go to the county office yourself, you are paying someone else to do so for you. That hidden cost is often made up for either through a poorer quality of service or by way of a higher price somewhere else in the wedding package.

What You Will Need to Bring with You
to the Registrar Recorder's Office

1) Your wife/husband to be. (You both must appear in person.) If either spouse is incapacitated and cannot go to one of the county offices, please ask us about the alternative procedures available for obtaining a marriage license.

2) Each of you will be required to provide a valid, Picture Identification. A valid identification consists of either of the following two options:

a) A current, valid, driver’s license (or passport) with
your picture on it,

b) An official certified copy of your birth certificate along with several other items with your name on them such as credit cards, proof of insurance certificates, membership cards, social security cards, and/or other similar items.

3) In Los Angeles County, the cost is $70 for both the regular license and for confidential license. In other counties, the cost will vary slightly.

4) If you are divorced and the divorce was finalized within the last two years, you will need to show them your divorce papers. If you have been divorced for more than two years, they will ask you the date your divorce was finalized, but they will not ask to see the papers.

5) Blood tests are no longer required for obtaining marriage licenses.

6) If either party is under 18, both parents or a guardian must come with them to the county recorder’s office. Counseling is also required. Call one of the county offices for details.

Dealing with INS: (Immigration and Naturalization Service)

Frequently a bride or a groom is marrying someone who is not an American citizen, thus INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) is involved, and immigration issues must be dealt with. If you need assistance in this area, please see our reference list: http://www.wedd101.com/sp10-misc-services.html#ImmigrationConsultant.

Your Marriage License at the Wedding

At the wedding and usually shortly after the ceremony itself, the officiant will fill out the bottom portion of the license and have two adult witnesses (eighteen or over) sign the license. Although there are two spaces for witnesses to sign, only one witness, eighteen of older, is required. Commonly, the witnesses are maid of honor, best man, bride or groom's parents, someone special to the bride or groom, or whomever happens to be handy at the moment.

The witness signs his/her legal name and then fills in the space for his/her street and city address. If you purchased a confidential license, there are no witnesses required.

You will have second copy of the marriage license, clearly marked by the county as "customer copy." This, too, is filled out as described above. Sometimes, as a memento, and as is being done in the photo below, the bride and groom will have several of their guests add their signatures to the bottom blank area on customer copy.

After all that hard work signing the marriage license, it's time for a little clowning around.

Obtaining Copies of Your Marriage License:

Certified copies of license cost $13 each. Copies must be ordered directly from the county by the bride & groom. If you do not order copies, they will not send you anything.

Once the license it returned to the Los Angles County Recorder's office, they will take four to six weeks to process you license. If you send your request for copies after that six week period, the county will take another four to six weeks to return your certified copies.

If you have an urgent need to obtain a copy of your marriage license

Here are three ways to speed up the process:

1) By including your order for copies of your license when the officiant sends your license to the county office after your marriage, you will usually receive your certified copies in four to six weeks.

2) By including a U.S. Post Office, Express Mail envelope when your license is mailed to the county for processing, you will usually receive your certified copies in about two weeks. The express mail postage is $13.65. Envelopes are available at any post office. Bring the following items with you to your wedding ceremony:

a) The stamped self-addressed, express Mail envelope for
       the county to use when sending the certified copies to
        you. (The envelope should be addressed to you.)

b) Your pink order form filled out with all the required
      information.

c) A check made out to the "Registrar Recorder
      County Clerk" for $13 times how ever many copies
      you want.

d) Both copies of your marriage license.

e) The large brown envelope that the county recorder's
       office gave you when you purchased you license.

3) If you are in a critical time crunch, we suggest you contact the Ventura county office in Ventura or the Orange county office in Santa Ana. (See the addresses and phone numbers below) Contact with them prior to purchasing your marriage license. Explain your emergency to them and ask their assistance. We have had reports of same-day service from both of these offices to assist those in a dire emergency.

Orange County Office

http://www.oc.ca.gov/recorder/gen-info.htm.
12 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Room 106
(P. O. Box 238, Santa Anna, CA 92702)
Phone: 714/834-3005
Time required in the office is usually twenty to thirty minutes.

Ventura County Office

http://www.ventura.org/recorder/venclrk.htm.
Ventura County Recorder
Administration Building, Main Plaza
800 South Victoria Ave, Ventura, Ca. 93009
Phone: 805/654-2267
Time required in the office is usually twenty to thirty minutes.

A Shocking Notice about You Marriage License

In its typical bureaucratic bungling the government doesn't know what its doing. The marriage license department is no exception. After your wedding day, you can expect to get a notice from the county recorders office saying that you have not returned your marriage license and it's about to expire. If you have had your ceremony, you can ignore this notice. See the next section, below.

Your Ninety-day License

Like all other aspect of physical life, becoming legally married is a process and it takes time. Here are the steps:

1) Obtain a marriage license. Your marriage license is a permit to become legally married under the laws of the state of California. You are not legally married until you solemnize the marriage. (See step two below.) California law does not permit a legal ceremony to be performed without a license.

If you choose not to legally married, you can still have a public celebration of your love and commitment. See the page: Marriages of the Heart.°

The license is valid for ninety days. This means that you must have someone with the capacity to officiate weddings solemnize the marriage within that ninety-day period. Note the expiration date on your license in box 25b. This does not mean that you marriage expires on that date, only that the solemnization process must be done prior to that date. If you do not complete step two (below) prior to the license expiring, you'll need to purchase another license if you still want to be legally married under California law.

2) Solemnize the marriage -- Have someone perform a wedding ceremony. The ceremony can be very simply or very elaborate. All the state requires is for a legal marriage is that someone with the capacity to officiate weddings to say to the couple: "__Bride__ do you want to marry __Groom__? __Groom__ do you want to marry __Bride__?" If both respond yes, the officiant says, "OK, you're married." (This is commonly done as part of a normal wedding ceremony, only it's done in a much more elaborate and heart-felt manner.)

3) After the ceremony, the officiant signs the license. If you have a regular public license, one or two witnesses also sign the license. (Only one witness is required.) If you purchased a confidential license, no witnesses are required.

4) The license is returned to the county recorder's office. This is the officiant's responsibility.

5) The County employees process the license.   In Los Angles County, this typically takes four to six weeks.   At the end of the process:
     a) Your license is recorded as a legal document, and
     b) Your check is deposited in their bank account for payment.

During this four to six weeks process, the county employees have no idea where your license is. If the above five steps are not completed within about sixty days from the time the license was issued, the county sends out a letter saying, in essence, "Where is your marriage license?"

As a result of this notice, we receive about three panic calls per month form concerned brides or grooms. If you have had your ceremony, you can ignore this notice.

If you have asked us to include your order for copies of your license when we send the license back to the state, simply be patient. When the process is complete, you'll receive your copies. If you have not ordered copies, you will receive nothing further from the county recorder's office.

If One of the Marriage Partners Is Unable to Travel

and he or she can't go to the county recorders office
to obtain a marriage license:

For Example, one partner may be in a medical facility. Under these circumstances, if you want to be legally married, you have two options:

Option One:

Use our marriage-license-notary, Rosalind Thompson, who is authorized to purchase licenses from the county recorder's office. She will travel to the location of the non-mobile partner. You'll both need to show the notary valid picture ID such as your driver's license. Call Rosalind and clarify the details with her. See Marriage License Express for contact information.

Option Two:

2- a) The partner who can go to the country recorders office, goes to one of the marriage license offices and obtains the form the county uses when one partner can't travel to the recorder's office.

2- b) He/she fills in the required information and takes the form to the partner who can't travel and obtains his/her signature on that form.

2-c) The mobile partner and the minister then go to the county recorders office with the signed form and with valid, picture ID of the non-mobile partner.

2-d) At the county office, the minister signs a form swearing to the validity of non-mobile partner. The license application form is filled out, the $70 license fee is paid to the county, and the license is obtained.

2-e) Then the wedding can take place whenever you choose at the location of the non-mobile partner.

Miscellaneous Information:

ID Requirement: Picture Identification Required. See the notes above.

Application Requirement: Both the bride and groom must appear in person at the time of applying. (Note the exception if either the bride or the groom is unable to travel to the county recorder's office.)

Residency Requirement: Do not have to be a resident of California or an American citizen. Anyone eighteen years old or older can obtain a marriage license.

Age Requirement: Anyone eighteen years old or older can obtain a marriage license. Those under eighteen, have additional requirements, parental/guardian permission and counseling. Call a county office for details.

Waiting Period: No waiting period.

Tests Required: None. California used to require a blood test. This is no longer required.

Proxy Marriages: No.

Where t0 obtain your license:

Marriage License Express.

Los Angeles County offices

Other Southern California Registrar/recorders

Complete list of California County Clerk's Offices

Common Law Marriages: None in California.

Same Sex Marriages: (Data as of 2003)*** Legal marriages not available; however, Domestic Partnership Certificates. are available in San Francisco and Marin Counties. One partner must live or work in that county and both must have photo ID.