Kidd Andersson

What is the paper called where you get a statement saying you've never
been married before? (I've heard it called a Statement of Non-Marriage
but I don't know if that's right)
Anyone know where to get this? County courthouse maybe?

Kidd

Noorah101

Hi Kidd,

I don't know the answer, but for others reading your post, you might say which country you're in...it might be called different things in different countries.

Best Wishes!
Rene

Pete&Shan

I think i called my local birth/death records office. Call as soon as you can because there was not such a form for me - my age fell between the times they kept those records. They had records of divorces, but since i had never been married, there was no record. My husband and I could not get married in Scotland as we wanted, because they required the form - something about non-impediment to marriage form. We got married in England instead.

Shannon

meauxna

If this is for your case, typically US citizens have to get these No Marriage certs from the Consulate abroad.

Depending on which US state you're in, you may be able to get one from the Sec'y of State's office, but it is not a document we have in the US. You'd have to help them invent it for you.

Usually the Consulates have a version that's in English and the native language, so you don't have to have it translated at least. You have to pay to have it notarized by the ConOff.

Kidd Andersson

meauxna wrote:

If this is for your case, typically US citizens have to get these No
    > Marriage certs from the Consulate abroad.
    >
    > Usually the Consulates have a version that's in English and the native
    > language, so you don't have to have it translated at least. You have to
    > pay to have it notarized by the ConOff.
    >

Finland (where we're getting married) says I need this form so Jan can
order our marriage license. I'm still confused. So I need to get it from
the consulate in Finland? How do they know I've never been married? lol
Soooo confused. What is it? Just something I fill out and have notorized?
Sorry for all the questions but I currently live in the State of
Perpetual Confusion. :)

Kidd

Kidd Andersson

NEVERMIND! Jan got a package in the mail today from the embassy that has
my forms in it. The marriage statement was in there. Wish they had
warned me so I didn't waste your time. Sorry!

K.

Jan Andersson

meauxna wrote:
    >
    > > What is the paper called where you get a statement saying you've never
    > > been married before? (I've heard it called a Statement of Non-Marriage
    > > but I don't know if that's right)
    > > Anyone know where to get this? County courthouse maybe?
    > >
    > > Kidd
    >
    > If this is for your case, typically US citizens have to get these No
    > Marriage certs from the Consulate abroad.
    >
    > Depending on which US state you're in, you may be able to get one from
    > the Sec'y of State's office, but it is not a document we have in the US.
    > You'd have to help them invent it for you.
    >
    > Usually the Consulates have a version that's in English and the native
    > language, so you don't have to have it translated at least. You have to
    > pay to have it notarized by the ConOff.
    >
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com



Thanks. I received some forms from my local register office (I'm the
foreigner Kidd is marrying, she's the USC)
and it was titled simply "Affidavit". It needs to be notarized by the
Consular Officer as you said. Just learned this today. Here's a scanned
copy of the general Affidavit in english:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/janandersson/...galtomarry.jpg

PLEASE NOTE that it is a copy from the register office of my country,
not directly from the US Embassy. They may have changed the form since.


But this amazes me, how does an american couple prove that they are not
already married to someone else when they are going through a simple
american marriage? Surely a form-happy country like the USA would have a
form ready for this? :) (we do...)

I'm glad the register office lady was smart enough to send me
international forms and this other form that I didn't even know to ask.

Jan

Jan Andersson

Jan Andersson wrote:
    >
    > meauxna wrote:
    > >
    > > > What is the paper called where you get a statement saying you've never
    > > > been married before? (I've heard it called a Statement of Non-Marriage
    > > > but I don't know if that's right)
    > > > Anyone know where to get this? County courthouse maybe?
    > > >
    > > > Kidd
    > >
    > > If this is for your case, typically US citizens have to get these No
    > > Marriage certs from the Consulate abroad.
    > >
    > > Depending on which US state you're in, you may be able to get one from
    > > the Sec'y of State's office, but it is not a document we have in the US.
    > > You'd have to help them invent it for you.
    > >
    > > Usually the Consulates have a version that's in English and the native
    > > language, so you don't have to have it translated at least. You have to
    > > pay to have it notarized by the ConOff.
    > >
    > > --
    > > Posted via http://britishexpats.com
    >
    > Thanks. I received some forms from my local register office (I'm the
    > foreigner Kidd is marrying, she's the USC)
    > and it was titled simply "Affidavit". It needs to be notarized by the
    > Consular Officer as you said. Just learned this today. Here's a scanned
    > copy of the general Affidavit in english:
    > http://www.kolumbus.fi/janandersson/...galtomarry.jpg
    >
    > PLEASE NOTE that it is a copy from the register office of my country,
    > not directly from the US Embassy. They may have changed the form since.



More info: I have very good reason to believe that the form above is
from 1996.
- almost 10 years old.

This is what our registrer office clerk (notary) sent me however.
And it's them who require it, not the US embassy. We'll see.

Jan

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Because family law is a matter of STATE law and not Federal law [notwithstanding the Federal "Defense of Marriage Act" attacks on marriage].

On top of that, you have the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution. A freedom to marry certificate would be an administrative nightmare.

Given that there are 51 separate jurisdictions within the United States [50 states and D.C.] plus Puerto Rico, US VI -- it can be hard to determine "freedom to marry" -- and on top of everything else, all US jurisidctions give "comity" to the law of foreign jurisdictions -- such a certificate would be almost impossible to get. Generally, they just take your word on it -- and if you are wrong, then the marriage is legally invalid.

fatbrit

I had this problem as a Brit marrying a foreigner in her country. Can't remember what they called the piece of paper, either!

However, the solution there was to go down the Brit Embassy and do an affidavit to state I'd never been married before. The authorities were quite happy to accept this, and my wallet suffered accordingly.

If it's for you (a USC) to get married somewhere abroad, you could maybe ask the foreign authorities if they'd accept this from the US Embassy there? Alternatively (and most assuredly cheaper!), you could simply do an affidavit at a state notary.

fatbrit

P.S.

Think you said you were in FL. You'll also need to send the state notary stuff through here: http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/notproc7.html for "authentication".

Kidd Andersson

fatbrit wrote:

    >
    > P.S.
    >
    > Think you said you were in FL. You'll also need to send the state notary
    > stuff through here: http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/notproc7.html for
    > "authentication".
    >

I think they embassy folks told Jan they would do all the notary stuff
for me when I get there. Which means just one less thing for me to worry
about until then but yeah, I'm sure Jan's wallet's going to suffer
considerably too. :)

K.

Jan

Folinskyinla wrote:
    >>meauxna wrote:
    >>>>What is the paper called where you get a statement saying you've
    >>>>never
    >>>>been married before? (I've heard it called a Statement of Non-
    >>>>Marriage
    >>>>but I don't know if that's right)
    >>>>Anyone know where to get this? County courthouse maybe?
    >>>>Kidd
    >>>If this is for your case, typically US citizens have to get these No
    >>>Marriage certs from the Consulate abroad.
    >>>Depending on which US state you're in, you may be able to get one
    >>>from
    >>>the Sec'y of State's office, but it is not a document we have in the
    >>>US.
    >>>You'd have to help them invent it for you.
    >>>Usually the Consulates have a version that's in English and the
    >>>native
    >>>language, so you don't have to have it translated at least. You have
    >>>to
    >>>pay to have it notarized by the ConOff.
    >>>--
    >>>Posted via http://britishexpats.com
    >>Thanks. I received some forms from my local register office (I'm the
    >>foreigner Kidd is marrying, she's the USC)
    >>and it was titled simply "Affidavit". It needs to be notarized by the
    >>Consular Officer as you said. Just learned this today. Here's a
    >>scanned
    >>copy of the general Affidavit in english:
    >>http://www.kolumbus.fi/janandersson/...galtomarry.jpg
    >>PLEASE NOTE that it is a copy from the register office of my
    >>country,
    >>not directly from the US Embassy. They may have changed the
    >>form since.
    >>But this amazes me, how does an american couple prove that they are
    >>not
    >>already married to someone else when they are going through a simple
    >>american marriage? Surely a form-happy country like the USA would have
    >>a
    >>form ready for this? :) (we do...)
    >>I'm glad the register office lady was smart enough to send me
    >>international forms and this other form that I didn't even know to
    >>ask.
    >>Jan
    >
    >
    > Hi:
    >
    > Because family law is a matter of STATE law and not Federal law
    > [notwithstanding the Federal "Defense of Marriage Act" attacks on
    > marriage].
    >
    > On top of that, you have the "full faith and credit" clause of the
    > Constitution. A freedom to marry certificate would be an administrative
    > nightmare.
    >
    > Given that there are 51 separate jurisdictions within the United States
    > [50 states and D.C.] plus Puerto Rico, US VI -- it can be hard to
    > determine "freedom to marry" -- and on top of everything else, all US
    > jurisidctions give "comity" to the law of foreign jurisdictions -- such
    > a certificate would be almost impossible to get. Generally, they just
    > take your word on it -- and if you are wrong, then the marriage is
    > legally invalid.

That's interesting.

Oh, that also pretty much explains why it's so easy to get married in
Vegas on a whim.

Here, you need to ask the gov. or church to investigate impediments for
marriage and you cannot get a marriage license until 7 days from
applying, it's the minimum required. Even if they just tap into the
central database and do one little query on your name to see you're free
to marry. All of 5 minutes worth of work taking them 7 days to
complete... yup, sounds like government work :)

Jan

Jan

Kidd Andersson wrote:
    > fatbrit wrote:
    >
    >> P.S.
    >> Think you said you were in FL. You'll also need to send the state notary
    >> stuff through here: http://notaries.dos.state.fl.us/notproc7.html for
    >> "authentication".
    >
    > I think they embassy folks told Jan they would do all the notary stuff
    > for me when I get there. Which means just one less thing for me to worry
    > about until then but yeah, I'm sure Jan's wallet's going to suffer
    > considerably too. :)
    >
    > K.

This initial investment is nothing compared to decades of marriage, my
dear ;)

Jan