Wedding What County do you have to apply in to get your marriage license?

[violet02]

I tried to search for an answer for this but it''s late and I''m not getting anywhere.

I live in CA in Santa Clara County. We were getting married in Monterey County in Carmel. Do we need to apply for our marriage license in Monterey County as well?

Or does it not matter where you get it?

 

[Sabine]

I did a quick search, and it I couldn''t find a statement saying that you do or don''t need to get married in the county you applied for the license in. I''m guessing if you did, it would be explicitly stated, but your best bet would be to call one of the county courthouses and ask.

 

[ladyciel]

I have no idea what the law is in Cali, but in Michigan you can get the license and marry in a different county as long as one of you is a legal resident of the state. If you''re both out of state, you need to apply and marry in the same place. Maybe it''s similar?

 

[ladyciel]

Found it!
From the
Santa Clara county clerk website: There are two types of marriage licenses: public and confidential. A public marriage license is a public record. Once issued, a public marriage license is effective immediately and valid for 90 days anywhere within the state of California.

 

[musey]

Ooh, thank you for asking this, violet, and thank you ladyciel for finding the answer! PS makes my life so much easier

 

[surfgirl]

violet, you get a license from the county you get married in, IIRC. We did out of state and got our license from the county where our wedding was. The officiant files papers that go to your home county, IIRC. We had nothing to do with the city licensing office where we live since we didn''t marry here.

 

[ringster]

Date: 6/22/2008 10:06:29 AM
Author: ladyciel
Found it!

From the

Santa Clara county clerk website: There are two types of marriage licenses: public and confidential. A public marriage license is a public record. Once issued, a public marriage license is effective immediately and valid for 90 days anywhere within the state of California.

yep this is correct for public marriage license and wedding in CA. we live in santa clara county and got married in marin county. we got the license in santa clara and then after the wedding, i went to the records dept at the same place we got the license to drop off the signed marriage license. i believe you can mail it in as well, but i wanted to get a marriage certificate and did not want to have to wait to get one in the mail.

if you are getting a confidential marriage license in CA then you need to get the license and send the signed license to the same county that you are getting married.

 

[violet02]

Thanks for the replies everyone this is a big help!

It''ll save us a trip to get the license near our home. I''ll just drop it off afterwards!

 

[neatfreak]

Yup you can get it anywhere in CA unless it''s confidential.