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.