Saturday, January 31, 2015

Free Marriage Records Available For The People

By Claire Dowell


Marriage in Florida or any state needs to be documented. This is in the form of a marriage records kept by the office of the Vital Statistics in the Department of Health. Because Florida is an open state, residents can freely request for the document when they need it.

The state of Florida has implemented the Freedom of Information Act which allows the residents to access their personal records without difficulty. One of the documents that have been opened to the public is marriage certificates. Such document is used for a number of reasons. It is one of the resources used when conducting a genealogy research. It has information necessary in updating the family records. Some government transactions may call for a copy of a marriage certificate especially if the requests involve the couple's finances. It is used as proof of one's marital status. Checking out the marital status of an individual during a background check can use the help of a marriage certificate; this is usually done by people who want to make sure that the person they are dating is telling them the truth about their status.

Traditionally marriage certificates only contain the names of the bride and the groom as well as the date and the place when they got married. The information that can be found on a marriage certificate has evolved. Now, the maiden name of the bride is shown along with the groom's full name. Details of the marriage still include the date and the place where the marriage took place but additional information such as the names of the couple's parents as well as the witnesses are indicated on the document. Some personal information of the couple is also indicated on the document like the birth details, occupation and address.

There are several ways to obtain a copy of a marriage certificate in Florida. The most common is to file it personally at the office of the Vital Statistics under the Department of Health. Retrieval of a copy of a marriage certificate in the said office would cost only $5. The state office, however, can only release a copy of the document if it was recorded since June 6, 1927. One has to prepare the basic details of the document that is being requested. A request form has to be filled out with the information needed to conduct the search. Also, the personal details of the requesting individual have to be indicated on the file.

Records before the given year have to be obtained at the county clerk office. Fees may not be the same for each county but all of the requirements of the state are basically the same. Another way to obtain it is by sending a mail request to the state office. But it may take several days before the requested file can be obtained. The fastest method is to request it through the Internet.

Marital records in Florida are now available online. This means that there is no need to go to any office just to file the request since it can be done even without leaving your home. The record can also be obtained in just seconds. This is the reason why the residents of Florida prefer to do the search online.




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