Because of editing errors, an article on Thursday about the new Manhattan Marriage Bureau misstated the year that the city clerk’s office issued 66,600 licenses and performed about 40,000 marriages, and also misstated the year that 106,000 licenses were issued in Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas. In 2015 and 2016, the non-profit activist group Reclaim The Records filed two Freedom of Information lawsuits to finally obtain and publish the first-ever public copies of these microfilms: the first case was brought against the NYC Municipal Archives to acquire the 1908-1929 microfilms, and the second one was against the New York City Clerk’s Office for the 1930-1972 microfilms.
These marriage license records were originally kept by the New York City Clerk’s Office. The marriage licenses represented by this 1950-1995 index database are available from the New York City Clerk’s Office. A Marriage Record older than 50 years from today’s date is considered a historical record and is available to the general public. Here is some information on how to get your marriage license from the New York City Clerk’s Office, which has five offices in the boroughs of NYC. For more information on marriage license procedures in NYC, be sure to visit www.usmarriagelaws.com
Try not to stress yourself by leaving it until the last minute if you can avoid it.. but if you are coming from out of town to get married and will have limited time before your ceremony, please make sure the Clerk’s Office is open on the days before your wedding. New York State requires all individuals who intend to get married to apply for and obtain a marriage license from any city or town clerk’s office. Before you get a marriage license in the city, you must first gather the following paperwork, according to New York City’s Office of the City Clerk: Proper identification—a driver’s license, passport, military ID, or U.S. resident’s card are all acceptable forms of identification—and, if you were previously married, proof that your divorce is final or your spouse passed away.
In New York State, a marriage certificate is issued by the New York State Department of Health or by the New York City Clerk’s office for marriages within the 5 boroughs (Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island). I’ve read through most of the comments and am unclear on whether providing a new surname through the Marriage License Application in NYC effects the legal change immediately or if I would then need to change my name on official documents such as with the SSA, DMV, etc before it takes effect. Option #1: Return to the NYC clerk, apply for a new marriage license to remarry, specify your hyphenated name on the application, then wait for your new marriage certificate to change your name.
Make sure you have a Social Security Card application dully completed, a document certifying the name change, such as a court order, divorce decree or marriage certificate, including proof of identity through documents such as ID cards issued by the state, a United States passport or a driver’s license. If you were born in any county outside New York City you need a court order to effect a name change on a birth certificate. After divorce, you can change your name legally if you have a certified copy of your New York divorce decree, identification such as passport or driver’s license, and proof of your age such as a birth certificate.
To get copies of a marriage license that has been issued within the State of New York, except within the five New York City boroughs, the marriage record’s certified copy can be obtained in the city or town clerk’s office who issued the marriage license or from the Department of Health of New York. >February 4, 2005: State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan ruled in the Lambda Legal case Hernandez v. Robles that New York City may not deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. These records are not the same as the ones available through the Italian Genealogy Group’s website or the Family History Center These marriage records were kept by the New York City Clerk’s Office, not the Health Department.
Note that a marriage license in New York must be signed and returned to the issuing office within 60 days after the completion of the wedding ceremony. Beginning in 1908 until the present, the City Clerk’s Office kept marriage license records. If your license was issued by the New York City Clerk’s Office, then they can provide you with certified copies of your marriage license.