2023 New York Laws › DOM - Domestic Relations › Article 3 - Solemnization, Proof and Effect of Marriage › 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.