H. B. 2834
(By Delegates Fleischauer, Douglas, Manuel, Linch,
Amores, Hutchins and Faircloth)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)
[March 2, 1995]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections six and twenty-four, article
one, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section six, article two-c of said chapter, all
relating to abolishing the three day waiting period for
receipt of marriage licenses; and increasing marriage and
divorce fees to provide additional funding for programs for
victims of domestic violence.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections six and twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-
eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section
six, article two-c of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all 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. 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."
It 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; if both parents are dead, the
affidavit of the guardian of the applicant shall suffice. If the
parents of the applicant are living separate and apart, the
affidavit of the parent having custody of the applicant shall
suffice. 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, is legal evidence of the
facts therein contained.
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.
§48-1-24. Additional fee to be collected for each marriage
license issued.
In addition to any fee heretofore established for the issuance
of a marriage license, the county clerk shall collect a sum of
fifteen seventeen dollars for each marriage license issued which
additional sum shall be paid into a special revenue account of the
state treasury to be dispersed to local family protection shelters
as provided in article two-c of this chapter.
ARTICLE 2C. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT.
§48-2C-6. Additional fee to be collected for divorce filing.
In addition to any fee heretofore established for the filing
of a divorce action, the clerk of the circuit court shall collect
an additional fee of thirty sixty dollars. The fee shall be
deposited in the special revenue fund established pursuant to
section twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of this code:
Provided, That such additional fee shall not be collected by the
clerk from persons complying with the provisions of section one,
article two, chapter fifty-nine of this code pertaining to suits
filed by poor persons.