The State of Georgia started to maintain marriage records since 1805 under their Probate Court. The court is the office in-charge of accepting and making marriage applications official. In 1952, the Vital Records office began to also maintain Georgia Marriage Records. However, they only have records of marriages that occurred until 1996.
A request can be made by completing a request form which can be acquired from the Vital Records office or can be downloaded from their website. Fields that need to be supplied include the names of the bride and the groom, when and where the marriage took place, and others. The completed can be submitted personally or mailed back to the office. There is a charge of $10 for certified marriage records and a $5 charge for spare copies which are payable by money order or check. Regardless of whether the requested records are found or not, the office will not issue a refund once the request has been submitted. In addition, it takes quite some time to process the records because public offices are usually short on employees.
Applying for a marriage starts with securing a license to marry at the Probate Court. The couple should appear at the court at the same time when they apply for a license. If one of the couple has not yet reached 18 years old, their parents will be asked to appear before the court as well. Once the license is approved, only the couple and their lawyers will have viewing rights to the license record.
Any person has the right to access marriage records because they are considered as public records. In most states, only the couple, their lawyers, and individuals or parties authorized by the court have the right to view and access everything that is on a marriage record. In Georgia, outside parties can view and access everything as well.
Today, the records are now available online through various private search tools. The court allows them to disseminate the records as long as proper procedures are observed. There are search tools that are for free and there are those that have corresponding fees. There are several online search tools available. Each search tool vary on how much information they can provide, you have the freedom to choose whichever you like depending on what information you want to retrieve.
Because of their availability online, Marriage Divorce Records can now be retrieved easily. You can start a search if you have a computer and a connection to the Web. You will also need to have knowledge of basic details of the record you want to retrieve. There are tons of resources available on the Web but not all of them are reliable. Perform a little background check on the search tool you intend to use and find out if they have a good track record of providing such records or not.
Paid or Free Georgia Marriage Records, they each serve their purpose. Learn all about them at Public Marriage Records.