Authentic California Marriage License Records

Marriage records are important records for Genealogical Research, background verification, marital history check of a spouse, etc. The office of Vital Records of the California Department of Public Health is assigned to maintain CaliforniaMarriage Records. Even though California has the largest population, they record the lowest marriage rate at below 5 marriages per a thousand people

The department does not specify if the marriage that occurred is between opposite sex or same-sex. Records available are only those filed from 1949 to 1986 and 1998 to 1999. For the remaining years not indexed, refer to county office particularly the county recorder. The country recorder is also the one assigned for the dissemination of certified copies of marriage records. Confidential records are obtainable at the county Clerk's office where the license was granted and is restricted only to the names on found on the certificate.

There are two types of certified copies that you can obtain. One is a certified authorized copy and the other is a certified informational copy. An authorized copy can only be accessed by whose names are on the records, authorized individuals, and other entities permitted by law. Informational copies, on the other hand, contains the same information as that of the authorized copy except it is not considered as a valid document and therefore cannot be used in any legal proceedings. It only serves the purpose of informing.

A charge of $14 per copy is required for every certified copy of the files. Acquiring them at the Department of Public Health entails a long time to be processed at around 6 months. The County Recorder can get you the files sooner. To get a search underway, supply the husband first and last name, wife's first name and maiden name, and the date of the matrimony.

Download a request form and fill out all the required fields to file a request for the records. A sworn statement, signed by you, should be attached together with the request form. If your request is via mail, get the sworn statement notarized. Failure to include the complete sworn statement will result to your request being rejected and will not be processed. Any payments will also not be refunded.

A more effective approach to obtain marriage documents is through professional record keepers. There are sites that require fees and there are some that are for free. You can secure marriage records from either of the two. Those that require fees is a much better option because they have a lot more sources where they can gather more information. The database that they keep is linked to public and private databases. The version of documents that they provide is sorted out to make it simpler to decipher.