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The certificate you own may differ slightly. UK Marriage Certificate. Morpho UK Limited is registered in England and Wales under the number 0619 57 81.

A marriage certificate (sometimes: marriage lines) is an official statement that two people are married. In most jurisdictions, a marriage certificate is issued by a government official only after the civil registration of the marriage.

In some jurisdictions, especially in the United States, a marriage certificate is the official record that two people have undertaken a marriage ceremony. This includes jurisdictions where marriage licenses do not exist. In other jurisdictions, a marriage license serves a dual purpose of granting permission for a marriage to take place and then endorsing the same document to record the fact that the marriage has been performed.

A marriage certificate may be required for a number of reasons. It may be required as evidence of change of a party's name, on issues of legitimacy of a child, during divorce proceedings, or as part of a genealogical history, besides other purposes.

Marriage Certificate Serial Number

• 1Countries

Countries[edit]

Australia[edit]

Though marriage in Australia is regulated under federal law, the registration of marriages takes place under the respective state or territory laws, generally through an agency named 'Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages'^[1] or similar, and marriage certificates are issued by these agencies. Under Federal law, a certificate is issued at the time of marriage by a celebrant, for forwarding to the state or territory registry. A similar (Sometimes cut-down) document is often given to the couple on the day of the marriage, it is generally handwritten. While legally valid as proof of marriage, is not generally acceptable as an official document. However, the state or territory marriage certificate is considered to be an acceptable and secure secondary identity document especially for the purposes of change of name, and needs to be obtained separately for a fee generally some time after the marriage. This document can be verified electronically by the Attorney-general of Australia's Document Verification Service.^[2] States and territories sometimes market commemorative marriage certificates, which generally have no official document status.^[3]

State and territory issued certificates are on A4 paper and provide: Date and place of marriage, full names, occupations, addresses, marital status (never validly married, divorced, widow/er), birth date & place, age, father's name, mother's maiden name of each the couple, the celebrant, witness names (generally two), the registrar official of the state or territory authority, and the date of registration. The registrar's signature and seal is printed/embossed on the certificate along with a number, and date of issue of certificate.

Most laws recognise de-facto relationships and the marriage certificate is not generally of use in Australia, other than to prove change-of-name, and proof of marital status in a divorce hearing. Some visa categories require a certificate (where a partner is to be associated with a primary applicant),^[4] however there are similar categories of partner visas that do not.^[5]

In 2017, Australian federal law recognised same-sex marriages.^[6] State governments have since implemented registration and documentation of these marriages in the conventional way. Prior to this, some states and territories allowed for (and some continue to allow) the recognition of relationships or civil unions (generally same sex or sex independent) to be registered,^[7] however these are not regarded as marriages, as the Marriage Act of 1961 does not currently recognise them. Associated certificates such as the DFAT 'Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage' (CNI)^[8] or state and territory 'Single Status Certificates'^[9] are also available. Proof of divorce certificates are issued by the Family Court of Australia (or the Family Court of Western Australia for residents of that state).^[10]

England and Wales[edit]

On 1 July 1837 civil registration was introduced in England and Wales, providing a central record of all births, deaths and marriages. A Registrar General was appointed with overall responsibility and the country was divided into registration districts, each controlled by a superintendent registrar. Under this system, all marriage ceremonies have been certified by the issuing of a marriage certificate whose details are also stored centrally. From that date, marriage ceremonies could be performed, and certificates issued either by a clergyman of the Church of England, in a parish church, or by a civil registrar in a civil register office. Marriages performed according to the ceremonies of Quakers and Jews also continued to be recognised as legal marriages, and certificates were issued.

The marriage certificate itself is given to the couple who have married. Copies are made in two registers: one is retained by the church or register office; the other, when the entire register is full, is sent to the superintendent registrar of the registration district. Every quarter, the minister or civil registrar prepares a further copy of all the marriage entries and sends them to the Registrar General.^[11]

The certificate lists the date of the marriage, and the full names of both the bride and groom. Their ages are included (it is also permissible to write 'full', meaning of age, and until 1850 some 75% of certificates said that; if the certificate reads 'minor' or 'under age', it means that, until 1929 when the law changed to 16, the bride was between 12 and 20 and the groom 14 and 20 years of age).

The certificate also records the previous marital status of the bride and groom. Those not previously married were 'bachelor' or 'spinster.' From 1858 to 1952 a previously divorced groom was listed as 'the divorced husband of…' with his ex-wife’s maiden name listed, and vice versa for a divorced bride. The currently used wording is 'previous marriage dissolved' with no further details given.On 5 September 2005, the Registrar General in England and Wales officially abolished the traditional terms of 'bachelor' and 'spinster' and substituted the more politically correct 'single' to coincide with the reform that introduced civil partnerships, explaining, 'The word single will be used to mean a couple who has never been through a marriage or civil partnership.'^[12]

Unlike birth and death registrations, marriage registers are held by individual Anglican churches in England. Two copies are held and when full or when the church is closed one copy is deposited in diocesan record offices or county record offices (often but not always the same office) and the other deposited at the local register office. Such records are thus available for inspection in their original form (or a direct filmed copy) without the requirement to pay a search fee or the purchase of certified copies. The availability can be somewhat random, some churches have not yet filled their original 1837 registers while others might have deposited a register in recent weeks.

Russia[edit]

A certificate of marriage is the only legally valid document on the registration of marriage in Russia. Issued in the certification of the fact of state registration of the civil status act, signed by the head of the registry office and is sealed with its seal.^[13]

A state registration fee of 350 rubles is charged for state registration of acts of civil status.

For the marriage, the couple must file a joint statement confirming mutual voluntary consent for the conclusion of the marriage union, as well as the absence of circumstances preventing marriage. Future spouses sign a joint statement and indicate the date of its compilation. Simultaneously with the application it is necessary to provide documents proving the identity of future spouses; documents confirming the termination of the previous marriage, if any; permission to enter into marriage before reaching the marriageable age, if the person (person) entering into marriage is a minor.^[13]

The certificate of marriage contains the following information:^[13]

• Surname (before and after the marriage), name, patronymic, date and place of birth, citizenship and nationality (if indicated in the record of the act of marriage) of each of the persons married
• Date of marriage
• Date of compilation and the number of the record of the marriage certificate
• Place of state registration of marriage, namely the name of the registry office chosen by future spouses at will in the territory of the Russian Federation
• Date of issue of the marriage certificate

United States[edit]

In parts of the United States, the certificate of marriage is recorded on the same document as the marriage license or application for marriage. While each state creates their own form for use with the recording of marriages, most states have a specific portion of the record to be completed by the official performing the ceremony. In some states, this portion also includes places for the parties to indicate a change in name, if any. (The marriage certificate can be used as documentation to justify a legal name change but not as proof that a name change has occurred.) If there is not a place for a name change, the name is changed as requested on government documents with proof of marriage.

• A wedding certificate issued in 1883 in lake Michigan

• 1875 marriage certificate, United States

References[edit]

1. ^Agency, Digital Transformation. 'Births, deaths and marriages registries - australia.gov.au'. Australia.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
2. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
3. ^'Marriage certificate'. Bdm.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
4. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2017.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
5. ^'Partner visa (subclasses 820 and 801)'. Border.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
6. ^'Marriage Act'. Federal Register of Legislation. 9 December 2017. Refer to Part 1 (Subsection 8) of the Act
7. ^'Relationship register'. Bdm.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
8. ^'Getting married overseas'. Smartraveller.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
9. ^'Single Status certificate'. Bdm.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
10. ^'eServices'. eservices.comcourts.gov.au. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
11. ^'Marriage Act 1949'. Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
12. ^'R.I.P Bachelors and Spinsters'. News.bbc.co.uk. 14 September 2005. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
13. ^ ^abc'Федеральный закон от 15.11.1997 N 143-ФЗ (ред. от 31.12.2014) 'Об актах гражданского состояния''. Российская газета, №224. 20 November 1997. Retrieved 17 February 2018.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marriage certificates.

Marriage certificates are a rich source of family information that directly link one generation to another. The General Register Office's indexes give only the basic details of a marriage: name, the surname of the spouse (only from March 1912), the registration district and a reference number (volume and page). The entries for the bride and groom will always have the same index reference number, so if you know the names of both parties you can cross-reference to ensure you have found the right marriage.

The actual marriage certificate offers the detail: a date and place of marriage, name and surname, age (frustratingly, in the early part of the 19th century this was often given simply as 'of full age' ie 21 or over), condition (spinster, bachelor, widow, widower), rank or profession, residence at the time of marriage, father's name and surname, father's rank or profession, the couple's signatures (or marks if they are illiterate), witness names, name of officiating minister or registrar, religious denomination of the wedding and whether the marriage was by licence, certificate or banns.

The ages of the bride and groom, combined with their fathers' names, can help you identify a couple's birth certificates. However, the details of a marriage certificate have to be treated with caution.

Unlike birth and death registration, marriage registration took place in public, in front of a minister or registrar and two witnesses. Because of the public exposure, many couples - for different reasons - told blatant lies. The information they gave was taken on trust.

For example, under-21s needed their parents' permission to marry, so it was not uncommon for a 19-year-old to add a few years to his or her age to avoid any hassle.

Age gaps of more than a few years between the bride and groom were also often frowned upon so it was not uncommon for partners to subtract a few years from one of the ages and add a few to the other.

And sometimes - to avoid the stigma around illegitimacy - one of the partners in a marriage simply made up a father's name. The imaginary father was usually conveniently deceased.

Divorce was rare, so sometimes, despite the seriousness with which bigamy was regarded, men and women 'forgot' about estranged spouses and claimed to be bachelors, spinsters or widowed.

Sadly, the addresses on marriage certificates are often misleading, as getting hitched on the cheap meant jumping through a few hoops. The cheapest Church of England marriages involved the reading of banns. The banns had to be read over three successive Sundays in a parish church and the parties had to be living in the parish for at least a week before banns were read. Often, therefore, the address on a marriage certificate is no more than an address of convenience.