Great Wedding! But Was It Legal?

[AGBF]

"Great Wedding! But Was It Legal?" was the heading of an article in "The New York Times" today. It explains that some states, including Connecticut and Virginia, do not recognize marriages performed by people ordained for the sole purpose of performing marriages. One couple in Connecticut, two attorneys, who were married by a friend who was ordained as a mininister in the Universal Life Church found that their marriage was invalid and, as the article said, if two attorneys can be taken in, who else can be?

I thought that this would interest some prospective brides and grooms as well as some people like me who just find marriage laws fascinating.

Deborah

 

[FireGoddess]

Interesting. I was ordained for the sole purpose of marrying my 2 friends...but I had to do notarized paperwork sent to the state of California...not the Universal Life Church.

 

[musey]

Date: 8/7/2007 6:36:31 PM
Author: FireGoddess
Interesting. I was ordained for the sole purpose of marrying my 2 friends...but I had to do notarized paperwork sent to the state of California...not the Universal Life Church.

We''re thinking of having a friend do this as well, but haven''t put any research into it yet. I''m glad to hear it can be done through the state, rather than the/a church

 

[Tacori E-ring]

How interesting Deb. We had a family friend marry us. He is a lawyer and became a "commissioner of the court" for 48 hours (or whatever it was).

 

[ephemery1]

Very interesting.... my FIL recently got ordained online to marry our cousin and her fiance this September in NJ. Now I''m a bit concerned...

FG, how was your notarized paperwork sent to CA different from the Universal Life Church? Was the wedding in CA? Just curious... trying to decide whether I should mention anything to FIL and/or our cousin. What do you guys think?

 

[snlee]

It depends on the state. I know CA recognizes marriages performed by people ordained for the sole purpose of performing marriages.

 

[Selkie]

Our friend who married us was ordained by the ULC church some time ago so he could perform weddings on his ranch in California. However, he ALSO had to go through an approval process with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to perform our wedding there, because he is not a resident of the state. There was an application that had to be submitted at least six weeks before the wedding, letters of recommendation, and a fee involved. He had to include the final solemnization document with our completed marriage license to have it all be legal. Actually, his ULC ordination was irrelevant, anyway, since MA lets any Tom, Dick or Harry (or, in our case, Gary) perform a marriage with this one-day marriage designation dealie if they are approved. Every state is different, so DEFINITELY double and triple check well in advance.