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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.

Authorized copies are copies that only certain individuals can obtain and can be used to establish the identity of the parties named in the certificate. Under the California Law, these individuals are those: that have legal affinity to the registrant including their parents or legal guardians, children and siblings, individuals that were handed with a court order such as an attorney or an agency in compliance to the requirements of the Court, law enforcement agencies who need the document in order to conduct their business, those individual(s) appointed by the court to act on behalf of the registrant and those individuals that are agents of a funeral establishment. For those individuals not mentioned above, they are only entitled to obtain an information copy. Informational copies have the same content but have a legend that indicates that it is not a valid document to establish the person's identity.

Each marriage record request costs about $14. For those who need a copy of Dissolution of marriage, the cost is $13. For affidavit to amend marriage certificate, the fee is $20 but this can be waived in certain instances. All requests must include the request form, a notarized sworn statement and a money order or check for payment. The Department does not accept cash and is not responsible for lost transactions.

Processing time varies depending on the volume of requests that the office receives. As the Office is under heavy volume request for marriage certificate, processing can exceed six months for marriage records and two months for amendments. Newer marriages can expect faster processing time as the certificates are already imaged. For those who urgently need the copies, they can also request the County Recorder Office for copies of the certificate. Fees for the copies vary from county to county and such, it is important to call or check the site for the updated fee info.

The CPDH also issues only public types of marriage certificates. For those who want a confidential marriage certificate, they can make their request at the County clerk office that issued the marriage license. To request from the CDPH, download the pamphlet available at the site and together with the supporting documents and send the forms by mail or courier. Keep in mind that the Office only accepts checks or money orders issued from USPS and US bank. Fees are not fundable and in cases where no results are found, the Office will release a No Public Record Certificate.

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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