Marrying a Friend

You can just sign papers at the courthouse, I think. You'd need witnesses too. The exact procedure probably depends on the state/country/planet we're talking about, of course. :)

{Wherever you go, there you are...}

1. Yes, you contact the Justice of the Peace and set up an appointment. You will need two witnesses. It doesn't cause any problems unless you want a specific church to recognize your marriage... I think the Catholics get a little weird about that, not really sure though. Legally it's a done deal either way. Family's a whole story in its own.

2. Depends on the people. I knew a guy a few years ago that had married an online friend within a week of meeting her, and they were far from the typical elopement areas. Really, depends on the people, how long they have to live, how drunk they are--though if either partner is incompetent at the time its void, if the girl's pregnant, and all kinds of stuff.

2. How much of a whim can one get married on outside of Los Vegas? Month? A week?

24 hours in New York City. I read an article a few weeks ago in the NY Times describing how you go about eloping in NY with only a weekend to do so. They require a 24 hour sobering period between getting the license and actually marrying.

As for other places, I wouldn't expect it to be much longer than 24 hours. Maybe 48. I think 72 would be the maximum in most areas. But if you have a specific place in mind, you can always look it up.

When we got our marriage license (and we were in no hurry), it was valid for something like a month, no longer. That was for a nice traditional wedding at a church. No one said anything about how long we had to wait to use it.

I know we had to go together to apply for it, but I'm fuzzy on whether they gave us one right then or mailed it to us or something. Y'all are making me wonder, because there was no mention of a wait time, and it sounds like most places have one. Hmm. I can ask my husband, I guess.

Either way, you've got to have someone 'official' to do the ceremony ... and it is a ceremony with vows, however short. A Justice or a wedding chapel person or someone. So you'll have to work on their timetable. But there are places that can accomodate that. Then you and the witnesses and the official sign the marriage thingummy and the person in charge mails it in.

THEN you're married. I do know of a couple whose pastor father married them, then forgot to mail in the paperwork ... and it expired before they got it sent in. So they WEREN'T legally married all that time, and were rather horrified about it. They had to do all the paperwork all over again, and the witnesses, and everything.

Including the vows? Are the vows really required by state law, or can you ask to skip it? Like ask him to say, "And now you're married."

The FMC I think wants a non-commitment marriage... i.e. without the love and death do you part. And without the kissing. She just wants to be married for the sake of it. So the less fuss and the less she actually has to think about it, the better.

Telling someone you're a writer is like telling them you're an obsessive compulsive bipolar schizophrenic that goes to AA meetings once a week.

You certainly don't need the 'till death do us part" vows stuff - your Justice of the Peace can put in whatever vows you want. Our vows were in Hebrew and in English they translated to "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" That's it, that's the sum total of our vows.

Your vows could be something like "I promise I'll try not to screw this up" if you wanted them to be.

__________________________________________

http://sf-girl.livejournal.com

No husbands were harmed in the writing of this novel.

Cups of coffee: 0

Fast food fed to kids: 0

You certainly don't need the 'till death do us part" vows stuff - your Justice of the Peace can put in whatever vows you want. Our vows were in Hebrew and in English they translated to "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" That's it, that's the sum total of our vows.

Your vows could be something like "I promise I'll try not to screw this up" if you wanted them to be.

__________________________________________

http://sf-girl.livejournal.com

No husbands were harmed in the writing of this novel.

Cups of coffee: 0

Fast food fed to kids: 0

In the US, every county has its own rules for obtaining a marriage license (how long of a waiting period before and after obtaining the license, if it expires/lapses, what it required to make the marriage "legal". So if you know what town or area your novel will take place, you can probably go to that State's website to determine the county, and then go to the county's website to find the specific rules.

Another thing to consider would be having your characters go into Domestic Partnership. Many places offer this as an option and it's very common in Europe. Basically, it's the "benefits" of marriage but without the "married" label.

Best of luck with your novel!

1) Cause problems how? Legally, I don't see why it would. You're legally married, even if you didn't do a giant church wedding with 8464378548547 witnesses and a million flowers. With family and friends? Potentially, if they weren't invited, or it wasn't the wedding of THEIR dreams.

2) I think it varies state-to-state. In Pennsylvania, there's a three-day wait between applying and when the license becomes valid, and then I think it's good for either 30 or 60 days, maybe 90.

In the U.S., marriage laws are state-specific vary *a lot* from one state to the next. Check out the town website of the town where your characters live--lots of localities have the regulations available online.

Having just gotten married, I can answer this: it depends.

Your certificate has to be filled out and sent in by a judge or priest/pastor. Witnesses' signatures are usually required.

Marriage laws vary by state and county. In the places I had to check there was a waiting period of 3 days before the certificate becomes valid. Both of us had to appear in person at the county courthouse to obtain the certificate. Some states require you get married in the county that you get the certificate from.

Common-law marriages still exist some places, I think (i.e. you live with someone for x years, they may have legal rights as if you were married).

Basically you should look up the laws of wherever this happens...

Definitely depends where you are. In France for example, you MUST have a civil wedding. If you choose to have a religious ceremony afterwards, good for you, but you have to do the civil thing first.

Not only that, but for the civil thing you need 2 witnesses and the passports/ID for all involved people (i.e. the two marrying plus the witnesses), at least one of the people getting married has to have lived in France for 40 days prior to wedding, and you both need a blood test result (to make sure neither has some disease that the other is unaware of I guess).

As for on a whim... I'm not sure of exactly how long the procedure takes but I should think you'd need a couple of weeks, to allow for the laboratory giving blood test results etc. and getting a date at Town Hall.

In Australia the wait is a month from the date of application. No 'on a whim's here.

I'm not sure about everything else, but everyone else seems to be pretty solid about your facts for that.

NaNo '07: The Anythings - 0/50,000
--------------------
NaNo '06: Silver Roses - Failed
Script Frenzy '07: Love and Falling - Failed

There's typically not a wait time required after you get the license. The wait time usually comes from the time you apply for the license until the time you actually get the license. In MD, that is 48 hours. One person can apply for it (both do not need to be there), and can pick it up 48 hours later. It's good for 6 months.

i know because my Fiance and I are trying to get married soon.

2006 - The Madrigal, Failed at 28000 words
2007 - TBD

<derail>
If both people getting married are non-Christians, the Catholic Church doesn't consider their marriage to be sacramental and it doesn't matter where they were married.

If both people getting married are non-Catholics but are Christians, the Catholic Church does consider their marriage sacramental (until proven otherwise), but it still doesn't matter where they got married.

It gets "a little weird" if one party (or both) are Catholic, because then getting married at the courthouse is a marriage with a "defect of form", meaning the sacrament that would otherwise have taken place does not take place for lack of the proper ceremony. So the Catholic Church would not recognize that marriage as valid. However, since the original poster's character doesn't seem like she would have the intent required for a Catholic marriage to be sacramental either (briefly, both parties must accept that marriage can only be ended by death, agree to be faithful, and be willing and open to having children) it's pretty much irrelevant. Marriages with a defect of form can be "fixed" (the term is "convalidated"), which is why it's not a problem for Catholics in countries where a civil ceremony must take place first - their marriage gets "fixed" right away.
</derail>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor?
It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right?

my husband and i decided (after a 3 year engagement) to just go to the courthouse. it took us 35 minutes (and $42) from the time of application for the license to being married. we live in ohio by the way. we had to bring his divorce papers from his first marriage and identification, and we had to swear we weren't related.

then we had a civil ceremony with some guy (because we didn't want to wait for a judge). he said "do you melissa promise to do everything you can to be a good wife?" i said yes, and he asked the same of my husband.

and that was that. we didn't even take our winter coats off.

Melissa
-----(the poet who would try to write a novel)

I got married in the Florida Keys. We walked into the town office, filled out the paperwork, paid $80, had a non-existant ceremony, our friend and a drunk paying a ticket signed as witnesses and we were off.

It was all quick and easy.

The divorce, on the other hand, was just as horrible as if we'd gone through the huge wedding and dealt with everything else.

Ken

________________________________________________________

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." R Heinlein

In Sri Lanka, as another example (Kimberley Dawn, where will your characters get married?) marriage law is dependent on religion. Marriages can be registered, and usually are, but both parties have to be resident in the country for at least five days. However, you can have your religious ceremony at any time, and as long as it follows that religion's laws (Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or Christian), then even without registration, it will hold up in a court of law.

I know a couple where the woman had her marriage civilly registered to one man, but did not marry according to Muslim law, who then ran away and married, according to Muslim law, another man, and then had to have her civil registration annulled later, and then eventually be civilly registered to the second man. A bit of a mess, but apparently, the religious component is more important, even legally, here than the civil registration is. I hope that makes sense.

The point being that there are huge variations from area to area.

________________________________
Laurie, ML for Sri Lanka, Asia: Elsewhere
Why, yes, I am crazy. Why do you ask?

IIRC Pennsylvania also has a licence designed for Quakers where 2 people marry each other without clergy or state official. I was told the PA blood test was specifically for syphillis and not any other STDs ('cause it's an ancient un-updated law; laws don't necessarily have to make sense). This would have been 23 years ago.