H. B. 2782
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Rowe and Kiss)
[Introduced February 24, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article one, chapter
forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the issuance of
marriage licenses; required examination and tests; required
statement and notice; and execution of the application.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article one, chapter forty-eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. MARRIAGE.
§48-1-6. Application for license; requirements for issuance of
license.
Every license for marriage shall be issued by the clerk of
the county commission of the county in which either party usually
resides, except that where both parties are nonresidents of the
state of West Virginia, the license shall be issued by the clerk
of the county commission of the county in which application is
made. The license shall be issued not sooner than three days
after the filing with the clerk of a written application therefor
for the license. The day on which the application is filed shall
be counted as the first day, but two full days shall elapse after
the day of filing before the license shall be issued. Before any
license is issued, each applicant shall file with the clerk a
certificate or certificates from any physician duly licensed in
the state, stating that each party has been given an examination,
including a standard serological test, as may be necessary for
the discovery of syphilis, made not more than thirty days prior
to the date on which license is issued, and stating that in the
opinion of the physician the applicant either is not infected
with syphilis or, if so infected, is not in the state of the
disease which is or may later become communicable. The
examinations and tests required by this section may be given as provided by section nineteen, article four, chapter sixteen of
this code.
The application for a marriage license shall contain a
statement of the full names of both parties, their social
security account numbers, their respective ages and their places
of birth and residence. Effective the first day of September,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, the application for a
marriage license shall also contain the following statement:
"The laws of this state affirm your right to enter into this
marriage and at the same time to live within the marriage free
from violence and abuse. Neither of you is the property of the
other. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, battery and assault of a
spouse or other family member, as well as other provisions of the
criminal laws of this state, are applicable to spouses and other
family members and violations thereof are punishable by law."
The clerk of the county commission shall provide each
applicant with a notice containing the text of the statement
printed in large type.
It The application for a marriage license shall be signed by
both of the parties to the contemplated marriage, under oath before the clerk of the county commission or before a person
authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this state. At
the time of the execution of the application, the clerk, or the
person administering the oath to the applicants, shall require
some evidence of the age of each of the applicants. Evidence of
the age of each applicant may be in the form of a certified or
photostatic copy of a birth certificate, a voter's registration
certificate, an operator's or chauffeur's license, an affidavit
of both parents or legal guardian of the applicant or other good
and sufficient evidence. Where such an affidavit is relied upon
as evidence of the age of an applicant, and one parent is dead,
the affidavit of the surviving parent or of the guardian of the
applicant shall suffice is sufficient; if both parents are dead,
the affidavit of the guardian of the applicant shall suffice is
sufficient. If the parents of the applicant are living separate
and apart, the affidavit of the parent having custody of the
applicant shall suffice is sufficient. The application shall be
recorded in the register of marriages provided for in section
eleven of this article. The date of the filing of the
application shall be noted in the register. The notation, or a certified copy thereof of the notation, is legal evidence of the
facts therein contained in the application.
To the extent otherwise provided by section six-c of this
article, the provisions of this section do not apply.
Applications for licenses may be received and licenses may be
issued by the clerk of the county commission at anytime his or
her office is officially open for the conduct of business.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the clerk of
the county commission to give applicants for a marriage license
a copy of the statement contained in the application regarding
violence and abuse.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.