Married or single on fafsa

Paying for College
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<p>I’ve known folks who did not want to pay for a “real” minister or whoever to perform the marriage at the “party” and just had someone do it for the show. The actual marriage is done in city hall where a lot of marriages are done and that is the the date of marriage of record. In my case, as in a lot of cases, the celebrant is licensed to marry someone so all that needs to be done is that the certificate is returned to city hall and in my experience that licensed celebrant does it. DH and i were married by a priest in the church and so I never set foot in city hall. I think DH or maybe the priest got the paperwork which we signed–hardly remember it and he took care of the rest.Each state and even county/township possibly within a state has its own deadlines and rules about this. I remember Florida which is where OP lives, at least some parts of it had the 60 day rule. All of this the OP needs to check out. You are NOT married if you hired some Master of Ceremonies who is not licensed to do the marriage at a place. The person married you has to have authority granted by the state, and will usually so state when officially pronouncing you married at some point. </p>

<p>We don’t know where the OP is in this procedure. Just filing for a wedding license is does not mean you are married. Often other things need to be done like a blood test and then the actual administration of the vows by someone the state has authorized to so do, and then the license is returned, or you go to city hall and get married by a clerk there if you don’t have someone at the “wedding” so certified. You can file for the license and not ever turn it in and that can mean you are not legally married for a number of purposes. IF challenged, it can mean a court case, so do make sure the paperwork is properly done. I do remember someone getting the licenses and then holding on to them too long or deciding to marry in another state and not submitting one of them. </p>

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<p>The requirements vary, sometimes greatly, from state to state. Some states may still require a blood test, many do not. In some cases, the officiating person may return a form to ‘City Hall’ (by mail or in person), in others, that responsibility may fall on the couple (or it may be up to the participants to decide who does it). Marriage requirements and procedures are one of the areas in which individual states vary quite a bit in their laws. In some states, requirements/procedures even vary from county to county. Here is a good site to check: <a href=“You searched for united_states » U.S. Marriage License Laws”>You searched for united_states/</a></p&gt » U.S. Marriage License Laws;

<p>According to this site, in most states the marriage is considered “complete” at the end of the ceremony.</p>

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<p>I think you don’t understand what marriage license means. A marriage license is a “license” to get married, i.e. it permits you to get married. So you need to have a marriage license <em>before</em> you can get married. After you get married, the marriage then needs to be registered with the state. But those 3 things (license, marriage, registering it) are separate things.</p>

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<p>Spoon - Marriage licenses are obtained before the wedding. Part of that form is detached and filled out by the person who performs the wedding, and that part of the license form is then returned to whatever department of the local government registers the marriage, making the marriage legal. In PA it is the orphan’s court; in WI it used to be the county registrar.</p>

<p>So when we are talking about “sending in the license” we are referring to that vital part of the license. I’ve done 100+ marriage ceremonies. Only forgot to send one in - and a month after I mailed it in two months late, the couple filed for divorce (could have saved them a lot of money if I had forgotten longer).</p>