TRE A-ITORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

AUWKXN. TRNAXB 78711 

February 4, 1977 

The Honorable Joe Resweber 

Harris County Attorney 

Harris County Courthouse 

Houston. Texas 17002 

Opinion No. H-939 

Re: Issuance of marriage 

licenses to recently 

divorced parties. 

Dear Mr. Resweber: 

You ask two questions about the authority of the county 

clerk to issue a marriage license to a recently divorced 

person. You describe a situation where the judge has 

granted one marriage license applicant a divorce more than 

thirty days prior to his application by announcing the 

decision in open court and noting it on the docket sheet, 

but has signed the divorce decree less than thirty days 

previously. Neither party to a divorce may marry a third 

party for thirty days following the date the divorce is 

decreed, and the county clerk may not issue a marriage 

license if either applicant indicates-that he or she has 

been divorced within the last thirty days. 

1.07(a) (7) and 3.66. 

Family Code 99 

you ask whether the thirty day period 

begins with the judge's oral grant of the divorce, or with 

his later signing of the judgment. 

The court’s pronouncement of its decision of law is its 

judgment, while entry of judgment is the ministerial act 

which provides documentary evidence of that act. Coleman v. 

a, 151 S.W. 1040 (Tex. 1912). Thus, a divorce is&ive 

as soon as the judge announces his final decision to grant 

it, even though the written judgment is not signed until 

some days later. Dunn v. Dunn, 439 S.W.Zd 830 (Tcx. 1969); 

, 4OmxdTbg (Tex. Crim. App. 1966). 

The date of signing is deemed to be the date the 

judgment is rendered for the purpose of determining the time 

periods within which various steps toward an appeal must 

be taken. ~T.R.C.P. 306a. However, this rule does not 

determine what constitutes rendition of judgment for other 

p. 3921 
The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 2 (H-939) 

purposes. -- Id. See Leatherwood v. Holland, 375 S.W.Zd 517 

(Tex. Civ. APP. -- port Worth lVd4, writ ref'd n.r.e.1. 

Therefore, we-believe that the thirty day waiting period 

prescribed in sections 1.07(a)(7) and 3.66 of the Family 

Code begins with the judge's announcement of his final 

decision in court. 

We note that the judge of a district or county court 

has authority to set aside, modify, or amend his final 

judgment for thirty days after rendition. T.R.C.P. 329b. 

This thirty day period during which the court may change 

its judgment begins with the signing of the judgment and 

not the oral rendition. Ex parte Godeke, 355 S.W.Zd 701 

(Tex. 1962); Rector v. Rector, 454 S.W.Zd 229 (Tex. Civ. 

APP. -- Tyler- K 'm See T.R.C.P. 306a and 329b. 

Therefore, an oral decree of divorce, valid thirtydays 

after it is announced, may subsequently be set aside, a new 

trial granted, and a written order embodying the later 

decision entered. See Louwien v. Dowell, 534 S.W.Zd 421 

(Tex. Civ. App. -- EXl~,Yio~. Cases may arise 

in which parties marry in reliance on a divorce decree later 

set aside by the court. ,The second marriage will be void 

because one party was already married. Family Code 9 2.22. 

See Miller v. Miller, 487 S.W.Zd 382 (Tex. Civ. App. -- 

Fort Worth n72, writ ref'd n.r.e.1. However, the Family 

Code does not make the county clerk responsible for preventing such occurrences. The applicant for a marriage 

license must indicate his marital status, and he has better 

access than the clerk to the information that his divorce 

might be set aside on a motion for a new trial. Therefore, 

the county clerk may issue a marriage license when one 

applicant has been divorced by the judge's pronouncement 

more than thirty days previously, even though the judge 

signed the decree less than thirty days previously. 

You also ask whether the county clerk may issue a 

marriage license under the facts stated in your first question 

where the two applicants were divorced by the decree and are 

seeking to remarry. The thirty day waiting period of 

section 3.66 does not extend to couples who have recently 

been divorced from each other; in fact "the parties divorced 

may marry each other at any time.“ (Rmphasis added). 

However, in its 1975 amendment to the provision on issuance 

of a marriage license, the Legislature has declared that 

"[tlhe county clerk may not issue a license to the applicant9 

if . . . either applicant indicates that he or she has been 

p. 3928 
The Honorable Joe Resweber page 3 (H-939) 

divorced by a decree of a court of this state within the 

last 30 days." Family Code S 1.07(a)(7). 

The aim of statutory construction is to ascertain the 

legislative intent. State v. Jackson, 376 S.W.Zd 341 (Tex. 

1964). Section 3.66 expresses-tent that divorced 

couples may remarry one another during the thirty days after 

the divorce decree. Section 1.07(a) (7), which denies a 

marriage license to applicants divorced within the last 

thirty days, must be construed with reference to the system 

of legislation of which it is part. Code Construction Act, 

V.T.C.S. art. 5429b-2, 9 3.01(2) and (3). We believe that 

the legislative intent expressed in section 3.66 will be 

frustrated if a divorced couple may not obtain a license to 

remarry within the thirty days after their divorce and must 

instead attempt to establish an informal marriage under 

sections 1.91 and 1.92 of the Family Code. We do not believe 

that the Legislature, in enacting section 1.07(a)(7) intended 

it to apply to applicants recently divorced from one another. 

The provision refers to "either applicant," indicating that 

the Legislature did not have in mind a case where the two 

applicants are divorced from one another. We believe that 

section 1.07(a) (7) was'enacted to change the law as interpreted 

by Attorney General Opinion H-581 (19751, which found that 

the county clerk had authority to issue licenses to applicants 

divorced in the last thirty days. In H-581, we did not deal 

with the divorced couple seeking to remarry, and we do not believe 

that the legislation inspired by H-581,applies to that case. 

The process of statutory construction may properly include 

consideration of the conditions to be remedied. Code 

Construction Act, V.T.C.S. art. 5429b-2, S 3.03(l). The 

county clerk may issue a marriage license to applicants 

divorced from one another within the last thirty days. 

SUMMARY 

The county clerk may issue a marriage 

license where one applicant has been 

divorced by oral pronouncement of the 

court more than thirty days previously, 

even though thirty days have not elapsed 

since the signing of the judgment. The 

P. 3929 
I 

The Honorable Joe Resweber - page 4 (H-939) 

clerk may issue a marriage license to 

applicants who have been divorced from 

one another within the last thirty days. 

Very truly yours, 

APPROVED: 

C. ROBERT HEATH, Chairman 

Opinion Committee 

p. 3930