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California Marriage Records
Note: There are 58 Counties in California
California Vital Records:
Requesting California marriage records and California vital records from the State takes a long time,
often 15 weeks or more.
Need your certificate quickly? Because of the large volume of requests that are processed at the
state level, most of the county offices can provide a faster processing time than the State office
(often within one week). Also, many of the county offices will accept requests
(using a credit card) by phone, fax, or on-line.
If you know the county of occurrence:
For Birth, Death, and California Public Marriage Certificates:
Contact the County Recorder's Office in the
county where the event took place.
Note: If your record has been amended due to an adoption, court ordered name change, or paternity
action, they can't guarantee that the county office will have your record. In these cases, you may
want to submit your request to the state office for processing.
For Confidential Marriage Certificates:
Contact the County Clerk's Office in the county where
the marriage license was issued County Clerks or
Alternate Site.
For California Divorce Certificates:
Contact the Superior Court in the county where the divorce was filed
Court Information.
Effective July 1, 2003, there are two types of certified copies of birth and death records.
The first type is a regular certified copy identical to those issued prior to July 1, 2003.
These will be issued only to authorized individuals as defined by California Health and Safety
Code Section 103526.
The second type is also a regular certified copy; however, it will have a
legend across the face with the statement "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY."
Both of these documents are certified copies of the original document on file with our office.
With the exception of the "legend," they are exactly the same and contain exactly the same information.
The new law describes an authorized person as:
- The registrant or a parent or legal guardian of the registrant.
- A party entitled to receive the record as a result of a court order, or an attorney or a
licensed adoption agency seeking the birth record in order to comply with the requirements
of Section 3140 or 7603 of the Family Code.
- A member of a law enforcement agency or a representative of another governmental agency,
as provided by law, who is conducting official business.
- A child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or domestic partner of the registrant.
- An attorney representing the registrant or the registrant's estate, or any person or agency
empowered by statute or appointed by a court to act on behalf of the registrant or the registrant's
estate.
In order to obtain a Certified Copy of a California marriage certificate after July 1, 2003, you MUST
complete the sworn statement included with the birth certificate application form and sign the
statement under penalty of perjury.
If you mail your request, your sworn statement must be notarized. If your mailed request indicates
that you want a Certified Copy but does not include a notarized statement sworn under penalty of
perjury, the request will be rejected as incomplete and returned to you without being processed.
State Records Office:
Office of Vital Records
304 'S' Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 445-1719 or
(916) 445-2684
Fax: (800) 858-5553
California Vital Statistics
California: County Links
Don't know the County? But know the town? Search for County Name
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