Monday, September 23, 2013

Illinois Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


One of the most noteworthy happenings in an individual's life is the matrimonial ceremony. Evidence of this lifetime vow is the marriage certificate of the couple. Basically, this is a legal document which is very useful in various situations such as genealogy research, legalizing a name, doing a background check, etc. If you want to acquire Illinois marriage records, either your personal record or somebody else's you want to investigate, you can do this by going to the office of the clerk in the county where the wedding happened.

The Vital Records in Illinois verifies the facts of a marriage that date back to 1962 through the current index date available. However, this office cannot issue a copy of a marriage certificate in Illinois as appeals for copies of a marriage record in the state should be directed to the county clerk's office where the matrimonial ceremony occurred.

In obtaining a copy of a marriage record, you have to go to the office of the clerk in the county where the ceremony happened. When requesting for a marriage record, full names of both the husband and wife are needed including the wife's maiden name, the date of the marriage, and the city or county the marriage license was issued. If you want to order the marriage record through mail, a signed letter and a marriage certificate request including the same identifying details must be provided together with your information as the requestor. This includes your full name, mailing address, and a phone number where you can be reached. The fee is $14 for the first copy and $2 for each additional copy of the same certificate, requested at the same time.

For genealogy purposes, marriage records should be 75 years ago or earlier to be classified as genealogy records. The application is the same and the fee is $1 per record. Genealogical records are not certified, but are stamped "For Genealogical Purposes Only." In getting a marriage certificate, the processing time for each request usually takes two to five business days once the request is confirmed. Turnaround times for copies of marriage certificates vary widely from state to state and from county to county.

Technological advancements of today even make most, if not all, transactions be accomplished in such a way that is more practical compared to how things were done in the previous centuries. The existence of computers most especially the Internet has really helped people greatly. That means that even obtaining records such as marriage certificates can be done over the computer too. There are several online record providers which can actually offer you the same service the traditional method provides but in a more expedient and practical way. Compared to the traditional way, you can actually obtain a marriage record in a matter of minutes instead of the usual two to five days with these online record providers. Choices for online record providers which you can hire range from free service providers to fee based service providers. However, if quality assurance is what you're after, then you are better off with the one that charges a minimal fee for a fast acquisition and comprehensive results.

In genealogy, free marriage records, along with the other important records are very essential. Aside from the fact that a marriage certificate is a licit document which can be used for legal purposes, it can also be very beneficial when doing background checks if you want to investigate on an individual's marital history. Checking an individual's background is really helpful most especially if you are interested to build an intimate relationship with that person.




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