California Marriage And Divorce Records

By Ben Kingsley


California is an open state which means that the residents of the state have access to their personal documents. CA marriage records are one of the documents that have been opened according to the Freedom of Information Act.

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.

Back in the old days, there was only little information that can be obtained in a California marriage certificate. One would only know the basics of the marriage like the names of the bride and the groom and the date and place where it took place as well as the names of the witnesses and the officiant. Now, it is a little more complex since it now includes the maiden name of the bride as well as other personal details of the bride and the groom such as their residence address, race, age and occupation during the marriage. Another thing that was added is the name of the couple's parents and their birth place.

California has started to record marriages since 1850 but only marriages since July 1905 are releases in the state. Unfortunately, marriages that took place from 1987 up to 1995 were not indexed by the state. This means that certificates from this period has to be requested at the county where the couple got married. When requesting for a copy of a marriage certificate at the Department of Health under the Vital Records Section, a $14 processing fee has to be paid. This fee is not applicable if the request was made at the county of origin. When requesting for a copy of such document, one has to know the basic details of the record being requested. This information has to be indicated on the application form to avoid having problems during the retrieval process. If it is not possible to request it at the office, a mail order can be sent to the state office but one is expected to wait for days before the result of the request can be delivered.

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.

There are a lot of websites out there that offers to get the document for you. By using these websites, one can save time in looking up for the information on your own. One can even get a copy of marriage records free of charge. There are websites that lets its users test their system for a certain period even without paying a cent. With this, the users would have plenty of time to decide if they wish to continue with the service or not.




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