Marriage Certificate

[Miranda&James 8]

James and I just got our marriage certificate in the mail but I'm a little confused. There are two official documents in there and I don't know which one is the one I should be faxing to people to get my name changed. The first is the form we filled out (the license I guess) at the probate office and at the top it says "Alabama Certificate of Marriage" and it's got a bunch of info on it about me and James. The second is a piece of paper with a nice gold seal on it (the first one is notarized) that says Marriage Certificate in big letters at the top and has our names and bdays on it and says a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo. Which one is the one I should be faxing to places? Help

[TracyTN 237]

Gosh I have no idea. Each state does it differently, not to mention that each place you'll get your name changed at may have their own requirements about what you need. Can you not fax or send copies of both (just in case)?

Edited June 6, 2006 by TracyTN

[Miranda&James 8]

Gosh I have no idea. Each state does it differently, not to mention that each place you'll get your name changed at may have their own requirements about what you need. Can you not fax or send copies of both (just in case)?

Yeah I could but it would just be good to know which is which.

[clloyd 0]

I would suggest calling whomever sent them to you and asking. All marriage licences are different. When my wife sent in to have her passport changed, the application was rejected because they didn't think it was official. They thought it was just a notirized copy, but it was an official copy.

[Not Available 0]

Is there an official seal on one of them? If there is, thats the marriage certificate. But yes, try contacting someone to see...

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

How weird, we got ours today too! I have the same query apart from the sealed one doesn't have marriage certificate written anywhere, just a copy of the form the minister filled out.

I'm going to send copies of all pages, I also got a triple seal which includes details of my previous divorce and is stamped as a "marriage record".

As clloyd and TracyTN said, each state is different, I'd give them a call and see what they say.

Helen

[Miranda&James 8]

One has a gold seal, the other has a notary stamp. The lady at Social Security Office kind of answered my question. She made it sound like one was a state certificate and the other was county.

I've been trying to call the probate office all day but the line is busy I just faxed both copies to where they needed to go.

[almaty 19]

the notary stamp is the correct one...most gold seals are for decoration

[Miranda&James 8]

the notary stamp is the correct one...most gold seals are for decoration

Yeah, I think that is the official state one as well. It says Alabama Marriage Cert at the top and the other just has Marriage Cert, so I'm gonna go with that one as the important one.

[cheeky^Wolf 0]

I just called the county offices and asked them about mine (and to get them to correct the typos they made on it!)

Turns out what they sent me is just the county marriage record. Now I have to send the papers to the State offices and get an official seal from them before I can send of my AOS. Grrr more delays.

I thought it was weird it didn't say Marriage Certificate on it!

Helen

[Miranda&James 8]

I just called the county offices and asked them about mine (and to get them to correct the typos they made on it!)

Turns out what they sent me is just the county marriage record. Now I have to send the papers to the State offices and get an official seal from them before I can send of my AOS. Grrr more delays.

I thought it was weird it didn't say Marriage Certificate on it!

Helen

Both of mine say Marriage Certificate on them - that's what confused me!