What Is Marriage Certificate Serial Number
In a certificate, the serial number is chosen by the CA which issued the certificate. It is just written in the certificate. The CA can choose the serial number in any way as it sees fit, not necessarily randomly (and it has to fit in 20 bytes).
The actual marriage certificate offers the detail: a date and place of marriage, name and surname, age (frustratingly, in the early part of the 19th century this was often given simply as 'of full age' ie 21 or over), condition (spinster, bachelor, widow, widower), rank or profession, residence at the time of marriage, father's name and surname, father's rank or profession, the couple's signatures (or marks if they are illiterate), witness names, name of officiating minister or registrar, religious denomination of the wedding and whether the marriage was by licence, certificate or banns.
The ages of the bride and groom, combined with their fathers' names, can help you identify a couple's birth certificates. However, the details of a marriage certificate have to be treated with caution.
Unlike birth and death registration, marriage registration took place in public, in front of a minister or registrar and two witnesses. Because of the public exposure, many couples - for different reasons - told blatant lies. The information they gave was taken on trust.
For example, under-21s needed their parents' permission to marry, so it was not uncommon for a 19-year-old to add a few years to his or her age to avoid any hassle.
Age gaps of more than a few years between the bride and groom were also often frowned upon so it was not uncommon for partners to subtract a few years from one of the ages and add a few to the other.
What Is Marriage Certificate Serial Number Search
And sometimes - to avoid the stigma around illegitimacy - one of the partners in a marriage simply made up a father's name. The imaginary father was usually conveniently deceased.
Divorce was rare, so sometimes, despite the seriousness with which bigamy was regarded, men and women 'forgot' about estranged spouses and claimed to be bachelors, spinsters or widowed.
Sadly, the addresses on marriage certificates are often misleading, as getting hitched on the cheap meant jumping through a few hoops. The cheapest Church of England marriages involved the reading of banns. The banns had to be read over three successive Sundays in a parish church and the parties had to be living in the parish for at least a week before banns were read. Often, therefore, the address on a marriage certificate is no more than an address of convenience.
Strange as it may sound, marriage documents are quite a commodity on the criminal black market. As reported in the Kentucky Post, a number of marriage documents were stolen from various county clerk offices. In Scott County, Kentucky, Barbary Eldrige, the Deputy Clerk, reported 200 pages were stolen. Authorities fear these documents will be used to forge illegal documents.
All marriage documents are vital documents and should be protected as vehemently as birth certificates and social security cards. A marriage license, the initial document needed to start your life as a couple, can be applied for at your local county office. The requirements in actually getting the license vary for each county and it is good to check out online sites in order to verify the paperwork needed to retrieve a marriage license. Generally, the couple, or either person (again, depending on the county), must go to the county clerk personally to complete a MN10 form, or marriage notice. Information such as you and your fiancée's name, the date and place of birth, the name of your parents, the place where they were married and your social security number is needed.
Legal identification such as a driver's license, birth certificate or passport is also necessary. If you were previously married, proper documentations should be presented as to the nullity of the previous marriage such as divorce papers or a death certificate. A sum, ranging from $20 to $80, must be paid. This is the processing fee of each county. It is best to check with the county clerk of the county you plan to get married in for the price. Some may accept checks while others may not. For minors, those who are 16 or 17, a personal or written document must be given to the County, which states that both the parents and guardians have given their consent for the marriage.
Access Marriage Documents and Forms
All marriage documents can be used for identification, verification, and paternity cases. These documents should be handled with care. A copy can usually be accessed at the Vital Records Section from the Department of Health of each county, although this depends on the county and the date on which you got married. Older documents are usually placed under a different section in the government.
Many government offices and affiliates require you to get a certified true copy: one with the proper seal and signature of the State Registrar. There are those who don't need a certified true copy but just a confirmation document of the marriage; this depends on the purpose and the formality of the matter. The certified true copy can be requested in many ways such as in person, via telephone, via fax or via mail. A new trend emerging nowadays is the request for an uncertified copy via e-mail. The uncertified true copy is called a verification letter and contains pretty much the same information found in the certified true copy except that it cannot be used for legal purposes such as getting insurance.
When getting a copy in person, the clerk usually requires some form of identification with photo such as a driver's license. A fee of $10 to $50 is generally collected for a certified true copy. The County Vital Records Section normally has an online form of contact. On their websites, you can check all the necessary information needed such as specific fees, schedule and office hours, addresses, numbers of the county clerk and vital documents like the letter of authorization to be brought during your visit.