Public Delaware Marriage Records Free Searches

One may ask why there is a need to prove the fact of the marriage of two persons when such an event is something that involves only two people and, to a smaller extent, their respective families. It would seem to be nosey for the public to get their nose on something that they are not involved in, but one must remember that marriage is something that would alter the status of the persons who had gotten married and such change of status is something that the whole world is interested in for such change is binding upon the whole world. This is the reason why marriage records like Delaware Marriage Records are some of the most requested for records from the government.

The importance of marriage records is perhaps best illustrated with an example. Imagine a woman who wants to get married to a man, but since he came from out of state, she is not sure if he is already married. The prudent thing to do would be to make sure that said man is not yet married, and the best way to do that would be through the use of these records. However, in the given scenario, the woman decided to trust her would-be husband and decides to get married to him anyway only to find out later that he is actually married and such marriage had not been dissolved. As the man is still married, then the second marriage is null and void. It must be remembered that the status of being married is something that would follow the person no matter where he or she may go.

Marriage records are both official and public records, and this classification means that these records enjoy certain privileges that other records do not enjoy. Perhaps the most important of these would be the fact that these records enjoy the presumption of regularity which means that the contents of the records are presumed to be accurate at all times. The party who would present copies of these records need not prove that the contents are true, but they may be asked to prove that they had obtained the records from the proper source. Of course, this is merely presumptive, and the party who would claim that the records are false would have a chance to prove their allegations through the presentation of competent evidence.

Copies of marriage records are usually obtained at the state or national level and one of the procedures available would be to make the request through mail. This method would require the person interested in the records to first procure the necessary request form and accomplish the same before sending it to the Delaware Department of Health for processing. Note that when the accomplished form is sent, it must already be accompanied by the required fee in the form of a money order. The usual processing time would depend on a number of factors.

Copies of records from the Delaware Office of Vital Statistics may also be done online through the use of online databases. These are mostly privately owned databases, but the information that they present could be presented faster and more efficiently.