Search For Free Marriage Records Online

By Claire Dowell


The state of Florida has become an open state since the Freedom of Information Act has been in place. This has mandated the local government to let the residents' access their personal files. This includes the Florida Marriage License Records. Making such document available for public access has helped the residents get their files easily for them to use it in legal transactions.

Transactions in the government usually call for a marriage certificate. Without it, one may have hard time processing the request. Transactions such as insurance claims and other legal matters which may involve both spouses such as dependent declaration would need marriage certificate. Ironically, it is also one of the important files required when a couple decides to separate. Genealogy research is also another use of the file since it is used as one of the primary sources of information needed to update the family tree. Without it, the family tree may not be updated thus may have problems tracing one's ancestors.

Marriage records would primarily focus on the details about the union of a couple. One would know their complete names as well as their parents'. The date and the place where the marriage was done are also indicated on the record along with the names of the witnesses. The document would also contain other personal details about the couple such as their birth date and birth place.

One has to pay $5 per requested copy of a marriage license. Registered marriage which dated from 1917 is the only records available at the Vital Records Section. Records registered before 1917 may need to be obtained at the county where the couple got married. It is a lot faster to go directly to the county court office to get the certificate since the search is done only on the local files instead of the statewide search.

Only the couple and their immediate family members are given access to the marriage certificate. One has to provide the accomplished request form and their personal information to have the request processed. By providing all the necessary information, it can help hasten the retrieval process. One may need to wait at least 2-3 weeks for the certificate to be released and sent to the requesting individual. One can add $10 to rush the service and get the record after 3 days only. However, this can be avoided by doing the search online.

The Internet is now used as a medium to communicate and deliver information to its users. This is also true for marriage license records since it can be obtained easily without going through all the effort of lining up at the office. It has also eliminated the need to wait for several days since the record can be obtained in just seconds. There several websites that offer to do the search for you some would charge for a fee and others would do the search for free. However, many would prefer to go for the paid option because they can ensure quality and accurate results as compared to the free search.




About the Author: