Alameda County Marriage Records

In the lifetime of a person, there would be a number of records that would pertain to him or her that would just be so important that a person must have copies of the same at all times, and one of those records would be the record of the marriage of a person. The existence of the valid marriage would depend upon the existence of a marriage certificate, and a marriage certificate is part of a collection of record that could be referred to as marriage records. In Alameda County, these are known as Alameda County Marriage Records.

Marriage Records Alameda County are supposed to be public records. This designation means that they are available to the public at all times, often even if there is actually no reason for the request for the same. There are a number of sources where one could request for public records, but for the purposes of simplification, these sources could be referred to as the state-level and county-level sources. Another important thing to note when it comes to marriage licenses are that there are three types of marriage licenses in the state of California, and these are Confidential, Public Unrestricted, and Public Restricted. In addition, the records to be requested are either certified copy or informational only. The difference between the two is that informational copies could not be used for official purposes.

Alameda County Marriage License Records are available at the county-level through the Alameda clerk-recorder. There are two methods that a searcher could use when requesting for records at this level, through mail, or in person. Requesting for records through mail would require the searcher to print and complete the written application form and have the same notarized before sending the application form, together with the required fee, to the office of the clerk-recorder. Requesting for the records in person would require the searcher to head over to the office of the clerk-recorder and make the request there. A valid identification card with picture would be required from the searcher. Once the searcher had made his request, he would be asked to sign some statements authorizing the search. Once these are accomplished, the staff would then commence the search. Depending on the age of the document, the search could take anywhere between a few hours to a few days, but the searcher would be advised by the staff on this matter. Both requests through mail and requests in person would cost the searcher seventeen dollars.

California Marriage Records are also available at the state level through the California Department of Public Health. A request here could only be done through mail and would require the searcher to first download a copy of the request form before completing the same. A request for certified copy would require that the form be notarized, but a request for informational copy would not require the same. Once accomplished, the searcher should attach the required fee in the form of a money order on the application and mail the same to the department for processing. The fee for a marriage record is fifteen dollars and the search may take anywhere between three days to a few weeks.

There are also other options that one could resort to when searching for public records such as marriage records, and this would be through the use of online databases. Often, these databases are not affiliated with the government, but they do provide the same information, albeit they use a faster and more efficient platform as they are online databases. This means that there are no lines that fall in, and the searches could not only be done in real time, but also from the home of the users without the need to even leave the room.

Marriage Records Alameda County

• Given below is the procedure to follow at the office of the clerk-recorder
• Select the method that you wish to use for your request. This could either be through mail or in person
• If you had selected to request for the records through mail:
  • Download the relevant form from the selection. Be careful to download the correct form.
  • Accomplish the same following the instructions written on the form itself.
  • Once you had accomplished the form, make a money order to correspond to the required fee
  • Mail the accomplished form together with the money order to the office of the clerk-recorder
• If you had selected to request for the records in person:
  • Come to the clerk-recorder office
  • You would be asked to show a valid identification. Note that unrestricted and confidential license requests would require that this identification card be government issued.
  • The staff would then attempt to locate the record and would advise you on the expected time that this would be completed so that you may opt to just return some other day when the record is already available.

Alameda County Marriage License Records

The following links may be of further assistance

• Alameda County
• County Clerk-Recorder
• County Library
• Law Library
• County Counsel
• District Attorney
• Public Defender
• California Department of Public Health
• Center for Disease Control-California