NoSSN - NoSSN Newsletter 6.10

NoSSN Newsletter 6.10
Marriage Licenses
April 26, 2006

In this issue:
A lesson in how to read the law along with the marriage license

I have mentioned before about the maxims I live by. here is another one:

MAXIM: Do not do anymore for the government than the law requires.

People find this hard to believe but what the law actually requires is much, much less than they think.

Several years ago my fiance' and I were getting ready to get married. Most people just trot on down to their local town hall or city hall and obtain a “marriage license”. This didn't seem right to me. I had questions. Must one obtain a “license” to get married? If not, will the state or anyone else recognize the marriage? What is actually required?

Obtaining a license to get married doesn't make sense. The definition of license states; Permission to do something by competent authority that without such permission would be illegal. Certainly getting married is not something which is illegal. What makes the state a competent authority on marriage? From the looks of public housing I wouldn't think the state is all that competent on much of anything.

These questions are important to me because the marriage license application asks for way too much information including SSNs. It makes no sense that one would be required to participate in socialist federal welfare entitlement programs in order to get married.

The laws regarding marriage and marriage licenses are state laws, not federal. I will be covering the Massachusetts laws here. Your state is probably a bit different. Feel free to look yours up and submit them to NoSSN.com. I'll publish all those that I get.

Before we delve into the laws themselves we need to understand a couple of things. First, what is in the laws can be just as important as what is not there. Second, no words are in the laws by accident. When a certain word is there and not another word, it's there on purpose.

Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 207: Section 19. Situs; time; fees
Section 19. Persons intending to be joined in marriage in the commonwealth shall, not less than three days before their marriage, jointly cause notice of their intention to be filed in the office of the clerk or registrar of any city or town..........

At first glance this may seem like an imperative. Not quite. Notice it uses the word “shall” and does not use the word “must”. Let's look at this from the other direction. If indeed it was an imperative, it would not only use the word “must” but there would also be a penalty for not doing what this statute requires.

I have looked in the entire Chapter 207 and have found no mention anywhere of a penalty associated with this statute.

Therefore, it appears to be a requirement, but if you don't do what it says, there is no penalty. That means it's not required.

Chapter 207: Section 38 contains a long list of persons authorized to perform or “solemnize” a marriage. This list includes ministers, priests and a myriad of other people.

Naturally these people are required to get the authorization to solemnize marriages from the state. Yes, there is a penalty clause.

If you decide to forgo the marriage license and you get married without it, that action falls under this statute:

Chapter 207: Section 49. Joining persons in marriage without certificate
Section 49. Whoever, being duly authorized to solemnize marriages in the commonwealth, joins in marriage persons who have not complied with the laws relative to procuring certificates of notice of intention of marriage shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

Keep in mind, this is only for those who are authorized by the state to solemnize a marriage. You can also think of this as an additional fee to get married. It's simply going to cost an extra $500. When you consider most weddings cost several thousand dollars and can cost much, much more then this is a small expense.

Also consider the fact that in order for the minister or “person authorized to solemnize marriages” to incur this penalty, someone will have to bring it to the attention of somebody in authority and doubt the validity of the marriage. The chances of that happening are practically nil.

So if we have a marriage without a “license” are they really married? Of course they are. But, does the law think so?

Chapter 207: Section 45. Record
Section 45. The record of a marriage made and kept as provided by law by the person by whom the marriage was solemnized, or by the clerk or registrar, or a copy thereof duly certified, shall be prima facie evidence of such marriage.

So far so good. The minister keeps a record, that's proof.

Chapter 207: Section 47. Admissions; repute; cohabitation
Section 47. Marriage may be proved by evidence of an admission thereof by an adverse party, by evidence of general repute or of cohabitation of the parties as married persons, or of any other fact from which it may be inferred.

This includes the statement, “any other fact by which it may be inferred”. That is pretty much an all encompassing statement. If you get married without a marriage license are you really married in the eyes of the state? It certainly looks that way. but wait, theres even more....

Chapter 207: Section 42. Irregular solemnization; validity of marriage
Section 42. A marriage solemnized by a person professing to have the authority to solemnize marriages under section thirty-eight or thirty-nine shall not be void, nor shall the validity thereof be in any way affected by want of authority in such person or society, or by an omission or by informality in the manner of filing the notice of intention, if the marriage is in other respects lawful and is consummated with a full belief of either of the persons so married that they have been lawfully married.

There it is. If you believe you are married, you are married. Get some witnesses. Rather than a guest book, create a big marriage certificate and have all your guests sign as witnesses. Who would doubt the validity of 200+ witnesses?

Another thing I noticed in this research is that the law appears to be written to enforce a marriage. What I mean is that it is written specifically for the case where somebody would be trying to say, “We're not really married.” This law is written to refute that statement. This way the court can say, yes, according to the law you are really married.

To answer some questions;

Can you get married without a marriage license? Yes.
Will you be in reality married? Of course
In the eyes of the state, will you be married? Yes
Why do you need a marriage license? You don't

This answers these questions for the state of Massachusetts. Your task should you choose to take it, find out what the law says in your state.

"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a
government grows, liberty decreases." -- Thomas Jefferson

DISCLAIMER: The data on this website is the collaborative experience, contributions, and research of various websites, legal books, tax documents, researchers, associates, attorneys, CPA's, etc. and does not constitute legal advice. The primary purpose of this site is education. We do not advocate any specific course of action. What you do with this information and any course of action you decide to take, if any, is entirely your responsibility.

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