California Free Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


The Freedom of Information Act has mandated the government of each state to let its residents to access their personal documents. CA marriage records have been made public since then.

Marriage records in California are vital documents in genealogy. Once an individual marries, the family tree has to be updated in a timely manner. Aside from genealogy, a marriage certificate is also required when processing transactions in the government. These transactions includes, but not limited to, insurance or financial related matters as well as the declaration of properties and assists of a couple. Ironically, a marriage certificate is needed when filing for separation.

The information that can be found on a California marriage record originally has only the basic details such as the names of the bride and the groom and the details as to when and where they got married. Also, the names of the witnesses and the official who declared them husband and wife are indicated on the file. Now, this has been expanded. A marriage certificate now would have the maiden name of the bride and the personal information of the couple such as their birth details, occupations, address and nationality. Furthermore, marriage certificates now would contain the names of the parents of the couple along with their birth details.

Marriage records in California have been available since 1850's but the state only releases certificates since July 1905. This is because of the limited information documented back then. The state has not indexed records between 1987 and 1995. One has to go to the county where the marriage was registered in order to get a copy of the license. A processing fee of $14 has to be paid when requesting it at the office of the Vital Records Section. Fees would vary if the request was made at the county office. In order to get a copy of the marriage license, one has to provide some basic information about the file being requested. By doing so, the retrieval process can go smoothly. Mail request can also be sent to the state office but it usually takes time.

The Internet now allows the retrieval of a marriage certificate online. This can greatly saves one time and energy since the search can be done even without leaving home and the results are obtained in just seconds instead of days. This is the reason why most of the residents of California prefer to conduct the search through the Internet.

One can choose to get marriage records free or to pay for the retrieval. Several websites lets first time users to test their system without any charges. This lets the user to see what the system can do and it can let them decide whether to look for another site to obtain the marriage certificate or pay for the next use.




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