A couple professing their love for one another through marriage is one of the many reasons why we should celebrate. Having a population of approximately 18 million people, the state of Florida is a witness to many of these events and has among the healthiest marriage rates in the country. With quite a number of marriages over the past years, there is evidently a large number of Florida Marriage Records on file.

It was in the year 1927 when a state law was approved regarding the consolidation of marriage and divorce records in Florida. These files are being managed and maintained by the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. Documents can also be retrieved from June 6, 1927 until the present time. But if what you are after happened before June 6, 1927, the office of the Clerk of Court in the county where the marriage license was issued would be the best place to look for information.

The abundance of documents being made available to the public is all because of the Florida Public Records Law. This makes it easy to request for marriage documents. While there is an abundance of documents, there is also an abundance of reasons for making such requests which include genealogical research, finding long, lost relatives, and preparing a will and testament. These documents are primarily being used to verify the legitimacy of the marriage. In companies, for example, this document is usually one of the requirements that a newly hired employee must submit. This can also serve as a supporting document when you are about to claim benefits. It would also be a good idea to keep your own copy for record keeping purposes.

You can choose between free marriage records or fee-based marriage records. When we say free, this particularly refers to the information. This does not yet include the service fees associated with processing the request which does not actually come for free. Normal processing service takes about 2 to 3 weeks whereas choosing the rush service will take 3 days. This, however, will require additional charges. You can also turn to fee-based searches such as online commercial search sites. Availing of this service can save you time, money, and effort since you can conveniently search from your home and get the results at once.

For state or county office requests, a processing fee of $5.00 per certification is required. On the other hand, the rates for online search sites can range from $19.95 to $39.95 per copy. The information you can get will include the full names of the couple along with the maiden name of the wife, the date of marriage, and the county which approved the marriage license.

You can have access to Public Marriage Records but these are only for marriages which have been on file for more than 50 years. With online commercial search sites, you can save a lot of time, effort, and money since all it takes is just a few steps, a few clicks, and a minimal fee for you to obtain your copy of a marriage record.

Looking for Florida Marriage Records? We can guide you on choosing the best option with our specialist information about Public Marriage Records.