Massachusetts Public Marriage Records

By Ben Kingsley


The Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics is the office in-charge of safeguarding Massachusetts Marriage Records. The office started to safeguard the documents in 1916. An individual can place a request at the registry or at the county where the marriage was finalized. Once every five years, the documents from the first five years of the state registry's list are transferred to the State Archives for better safekeeping.

Marriage documents are deemed as part of public documents. Every individual has the right to place a request for the documents but there are certain limitations as to who gets access to everything that is written in them. A full document is only revealed to the husband, wife, their attorneys, and individuals or parties that have the approval of the court. Requesting the documents of other individuals is also allowed but the requestor must state why he or she wants to obtain them. If the reason is valid, the requestor will still be given just the basic pieces of information of the documents which include the names of the husband and the wife, the place and date of marriage, and may even the names of witnesses amongst others. If the requestor's reason for requesting the documents is to check the marital history of a special partner, the requestor will be given access.

In a legal proceeding, only marriage records are accepted by a judge to support the validity of a marriage. If the marriage takes a downfall and the couple decides to end it, they need to provide a copy of their marriage record when they file for a divorce. If there is no record of any marriage between them, then filing for a divorce is no longer necessary.

Before you commence a search, make sure that you are knowledgeable of the name of either the husband or the wife. If their names are too common, add more related information to increase the likelihood of locating the right documents. Also prepare a government-issued ID along with your personal contact details. Placing your request at a particular county is also allowed. Fees may vary depending on which county. Regardless of where you placed you request, whether at the state registry or at a particular county, the fees that you paid will not be returned to you even if the requested documents are not located.

There are search tools that you can find online, which have the approval of the court, that specializes in storing and providing marriage documents to the public. There are many search tools out there but not all have the capacity to provide you with valuable information. To gauge the reliability of a search tool, check their backgrounds first by looking at what other people think of their service.

These search tools will either charge you with a fee or give it to you for free. If it charges you with a fee, expect that you will get a lot of important information. If it gives you Free Public Marriage Records, the basic details will be given to you.




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