N.Y. Domestic Relations Law § 15: Duty of town and city clerks

§ 15. Duty of town and city clerks. 1. (a) It shall be the duty of

the town or city clerk when an application for a marriage license is

made to him or her to require each of the contracting parties to sign

and verify a statement or affidavit before such clerk or one of his or

her deputies, containing the following information. From party one: Full

name, place of residence, social security number, age, occupation, place

of birth, name of father, country of birth, maiden name of mother,

country of birth, number of marriage. From party two: Full name, place

of residence, social security number, age, occupation, place of birth,

name of father, country of birth, maiden name of mother, country of

birth, number of marriage. Both parties shall also be required to

present to the clerk documentary proof of age in the form of an original

or certified copy of a birth record, a certification of birth issued by

the state department of health, a local registrar of vital statistics or

other public officer charged with similar duties by the laws of any

other state, territory or country, a baptismal record, a passport, an

automobile driver's license, any government or school issued

identification card that contains a photograph of the applicant, a life

insurance policy, an employment certificate, a school record, an

immigration record, a naturalization record, a court record or any other

document or record issued by a governmental entity, showing the date of

birth of such parties. The said clerk shall also embody in the statement

if either or both of the applicants have been previously married, a

statement as to whether the former spouse or spouses of the respective

applicants are living or dead and as to whether either or both of said

applicants are divorced persons, if so, when and where and against whom

the divorce or divorces were granted and shall also embody therein a

statement that no legal impediment exists as to the right of each of the

applicants to enter into the marriage state. The town or city clerk is

hereby given full power and authority to administer oaths and may

require the applicants to produce witnesses to identify them or either

of them and may examine under oath or otherwise other witnesses as to

any material inquiry pertaining to the issuing of the license, and if

the applicant is a divorced person the clerk may also require the

production of a certified copy of the decree of the divorce, or proof of

an existing marriage of parties who apply for a license to be used for a

second or subsequent ceremony; provided, however, that in cities or

towns the verified statements and affidavits may be made before any

regular clerk or designee of the clerk's office.

(b) Every application for a marriage license shall contain a statement

to the following effect:

NOTICE TO APPLICANTS

(1) Every person has the right to adopt any name by which he or she

wishes to be known simply by using that name consistently and without

intent to defraud.

(2) A person's last name (surname) does not automatically change upon

marriage, and neither party to the marriage must change his or her last

name. Parties to a marriage need not have the same last name.

(3) One or both parties to a marriage may elect to change the surname

by which he or she wishes to be known after the solemnization of the

marriage by entering the new name in the space below. Such entry shall

consist of one of the following surnames:

(i) the surname of the other spouse; or

(ii) any former surname of either spouse; or

(iii) a name combining into a single surname all or a segment of the

premarriage surname or any former surname of each spouse; or

(iv) a combination name separated by a hyphen or space, provided that

each part of such combination surname is the premarriage surname, or any

former surname, of each of the spouses.

(4) One or both parties to a marriage may elect to change the middle

name by which he or she wishes to be known after the solemnization of

the marriage by entering the new name in the space below. Such entry

shall consist of one of the following options:

(i) the current surname of the spouse electing to change his or her

name; or

(ii) any former surname of the spouse electing to change his or her

name; or

(iii) the surname of the other spouse.

(5) The use of this option will have the effect of providing a record

of the change of name. The marriage certificate, containing the new

name, if any, constitutes proof that the use of the new name, or the

retention of the former name, is lawful.

(6) Neither the use of, nor the failure to use, this option of

selecting a new surname or middle name by means of this application

abrogates the right of each person to adopt a different name through

usage at some future date.

.....................................

(Optional -- Enter new surname above)

2. If it appears from the affidavits and statements so taken, and from

the documentary proof of age presented, that the persons for whose

marriage the license in question is demanded are legally competent to

marry, the said clerk shall issue such license.

4. Before issuing any licenses herein provided for, the town or city

clerk shall be entitled to a fee of thirty dollars, which sum shall be

paid by the applicants before or at the time the license is issued;

provided, however, that when either of the parties applying for such

license is a member of the armed forces of the United States on active

duty (i) a town or city may not collect that portion of the fee which

would otherwise be transmitted to the state commissioner of health

pursuant to this subdivision and (ii) such town or city may elect to

waive the portion of the fee which the town or city is entitled to. Any

town or city clerk who shall issue a license to marry any persons one or

both of whom shall not be at the time of the marriage under such license

legally competent to marry without first requiring the parties to such

marriage to make such affidavits and statements or who shall not require

the production of documentary proof of age or the procuring of the

approval and consents provided for by this article, which shall show

that the parties authorized by said license to be married are legally

competent to marry, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction

thereof shall be fined in the sum of one hundred dollars for each and

every offense. On or before the fifteenth day of each month, each town

and city clerk, except in the city of New York, shall transmit to the

state commissioner of health twenty-two dollars and fifty cents of the

amount received for each fee collected, which shall be paid into the

vital records management account as provided by section

ninety-seven-cccc of the state finance law; provided, however, that no

fee shall be collected on behalf of or paid to the commissioner of

health when either of the parties applying for such license is a member

of the armed forces of the United States on active duty. In any city the

balance of all fees collected for the issuing of a marriage license, or

for solemnizing a marriage, so far as collected for services rendered by

any officer or employee of such city, shall be paid monthly into the

city treasury and may by ordinance be credited to any fund therein

designated, and said ordinance, when duly enacted, shall have the force

of law in such city. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this

article, the clerk of any city with the approval of the governing body

of such city is hereby authorized to designate, in writing filed in the

city clerk's office, a deputy clerk, if any, and/or other city employees

in such office to receive applications for, examine applications,

investigate and issue marriage licenses in the absence or inability of

the clerk of said city to act, and said deputy and/or employees so

designated are hereby vested with all the powers and duties of said city

clerk relative thereto. Such deputy and/or employees shall perform said

duties without additional compensation.

5. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the city clerk

of the city of New York, before issuing any licenses herein provided

for, shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five dollars, which sum shall

be paid by the applicants before or at the time the license is issued

and all such fees so received shall be paid monthly into the city

treasury.