Marriage license

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAR : Marriage license

Example of marriage license issued in San Francisco

A marriage license (a marriage certificate in the UK) is permission from a legal authority for the marriage of two people to be performed. The requirements differ depending on the time and place: licenses to marry have been granted since the Middle Ages. Valid marriages can occur without a license (for example, by obtaining pardon for having married without license, or by cohabitation and representation as husband and wife in jurisdictions permitting common law marriage).

Every state in the United States issues marriage licenses. After the marriage ceremony, both spouses and the officiant sign the marriage license (some states require a witness). The officiant or couple then files for a certified copy of the marriage license and a marriage certificate with the government.

The requirements for getting a marriage license vary widely between governments. While many US states require a waiting period of 1 to 6 days, in Brazil, for example, the process can take 60 days. During this time the state conducts an investigation, which may include checking prior marriage records, analyzing any relationship between the fianceés, and checking each partner's blood to make sure they are not likely to produce diseased offspring due to both being likely to have the same recessive disease-causing gene.

International human rights law, and many constitutions guarantee the right to marry a partner of one's choice. The rationale in such states for marriage licenses is that the state has an overriding right on behalf of its other citizens to protect them from disease or improper marriages being performed, to keep accurate state records, or even to assure that marriage partners have had adequate time to think before marrying, in the interests of the greater society.

Controversy

See also

• banns of marriage
• Birth certificate
• Death certificate

External links

• [Marriage Laws Chart of the USA]
• [Complete guide to getting copies of marriage licenses by US State - www.vitalrecordsguide.com: marriage license]
• [U.S. Vital Records - How to Get Marriage License Copies by State]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.