Friday, May 23, 2014

Florida Public Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


If one were married in Florida, some documents would require the presentation of Florida marriage records for verification or as an added requirement. To obtain the marriage record, one can request for it from the Bureau of Statistics through e-mail, phone or mail. As email addresses are public records, the Office advises those that do not want their e-mail to be released together with their request to avail of other methods such as calling the office or sending the request by mail. The Bureau collaborated with a service provider called VitalChek to ensure that all requests will be processed.

The Florida Bureau of Statistics repository includes marriage records that date back to June 6, 1927. For marriages before the said date, information or records might be available to the county clerk where the marriage license was issued. One can call the particular county clerk office to ask for assistance with regards their marriage record that they want to obtain.

If one is to send their request via mail, they can send a signed letter or a downloadable form. Fill this up, attach the $5 fee and send it to the Bureau. For additional copies of the same request, the applicant should indicate that they want copies and include the fee to their cheque or money order. Note that each additional copy costs $4 and the request should be made together with the original request. No restrictions are imposed to the number of records or copies one can request from the Office.

Should the office find no records, the former will issue a statement of "not found" to the person who requested the information. The fee for the request is not refundable. For duplicate copies of the "not found" record, the office will refund the fee; however, the person who requested the refund should send a request letter.

To fill up the request form, the applicant needs to ensure that all relevant details are filled up. This makes the processing faster. Indicate the couple's full name and the bride's maiden name. Include the marriage date and the issuing county. The applicant should also include his/her complete details including their phone number and mailing address so that the Bureau can contact them. The Office will only process completed forms with payments included.

Some applicants might have trouble remembering the exact year when a marriage was performed. One way to solve this matter is to add a time range or period to the request. Each additional year costs about $2.00. This can affect the processing time of the document and might extend the regular processing time of two to five working days into a week. The office provides "rush hour" and "express delivery" services that one can avail of to speed up their request. A fee of $10 should be added to the request. As for the express delivery, one should include a self-addressed stamped envelope to have their request delivered. Delivery for rush hour is three days. As for express delivery, one can receive the certificate after 24 hours. For those who want a faster way to receive their records of marriage, they can request information online. This is by far the easiest and most convenient way to receive the records.




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