annulment, civil union, Divorce, Marriage, marriage ceremony, marriage license

Family Law | Who May Perform a Marriage?

by Joseph Flanders September 14, 2011 244

In the field of family law, there are laws in every state which provide who may perform a marriage ceremony.

In most states, a person may perform a marriage ceremony if they meet certain prerequisite requirements. The requirements to perform a marriage ceremony include:

1. Being over the age of 18 or 21;
2. The official must be either a sitting judge of a particular court, a retired judge of record, a court administrator or retired court administrator who has approval of a judge in the judicial district, a licensed or ordained minister of a recognized religion.

Members of religious denominations – such as ministers or priests – may perform marriage ceremonies if they have requested perfmission to do so with the state and the state has issued credentials for them to do so.

The minister must file the requested permission with the proper local authority, such as a county registrar.  The registrar must then record the application to show that the minister has applied for a license.  If approved the registrar will issue a certificate to the minister enabling him or her to lawfully perform marriage ceremonies.

Additionally, in many states a couple who is properly married by one authorized to do so must apply for a marriage license with a county registrar in the state of marriage.

In some states, there is no particular requirement that a couple must undergo other than to have a properly licensed minister, judge, or other person perform the ceremony and have the couple recognize each other as husband and wife. Additionally, some states require that a certain number of witnesses (usually 1 or 2) be present.

Once the ceremony is completed, the licensed official will sign a certificate stating that the ceremony has been completed and the couple is now married.  If witnesses are required, they too must sign the certificate.  The licensed official performing the marriage will then file the certificate with the state registrar in the county of marriage.

If a marriage is not properly performed or authorized, it is possible that a couple was never married under the law.  If this is the case, there may be an argument that could be made by a family law or Dakota County divorce lawyer that the marriage should be annulled.  I will discuss in a future post the meaning of annulment and the effect it can have under the law as opposed to a divorce.