2013 New York Consolidated Laws
DOM - Domestic Relations
Article 3 - (10 - 25) 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 the groom:
  Full name of husband, 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 the  bride:
  Full  name  of  bride,  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.  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
  husband or husbands or the  former  wife  or  wives  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 of  the
  first  class  the  verified statements and affidavits may be made before
  any regular clerk of the city clerk's office designated for that purpose
  by the city clerk.
    (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, provided that each part
  of such combination surname is the premarriage surname,  or  any  former
  surname, of each of the spouses.
    (4)  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.
    (5) Neither the use of,  nor  the  failure  to  use,  this  option  of
  selecting a new surname 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, that the
  persons  for  whose  marriage  the  license  in question is demanded are
  legally competent to marry, the said  clerk  shall  issue  such  license
  except  in  the  following cases. If it shall appear upon an application
  that the applicant is under eighteen years of age, before  the  town  or
  city  clerk shall issue a license, he shall require 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, passport, automobile driver's license, life insurance
  policy,  employment  certificate,  school  record,  immigration  record,
  naturalization record or court record, showing the date of birth of such
  minor.  If  the  town  or  city clerk shall be in doubt as to whether an
  applicant claiming to be over eighteen years of  age  is  actually  over
  eighteen  years  of  age, he shall, before issuing such license, require
  documentary  proof  as  above  defined.  If  it  shall  appear  upon  an
  application  of  the  applicants  as  provided  in  this section or upon
  information required by the clerk that either party is at least  sixteen
  years  of  age  but  under  eighteen years of age, then the town or city
  clerk before he shall issue a license shall require the written  consent
  to  the  marriage  from  both  parents of the minor or minors or such as
  shall then be living, or if the parents  of  both  are  dead,  then  the
  written consent of the guardian or guardians of such minor or minors. If
  one  of the parents has been missing and has not been seen or heard from
  for a period of one year preceding the time of the application  for  the
  license,   although   diligent  inquiry  has  been  made  to  learn  the
  whereabouts of such parent, the town or city clerk may issue  a  license
  to  such minor upon the sworn statement and consent of the other parent.
  If the marriage of the parents of  such  minor  has  been  dissolved  by
  decree  of  divorce  or annulment, the consent of the parent to whom the
  court which granted the decree has awarded the  custody  of  such  minor
  shall  be  sufficient. If there is no parent or guardian of the minor or
  minors living to their knowledge then  the  town  or  city  clerk  shall
  require  the  written  consent to the marriage of the person under whose
  care or government the minor or minors may be before a license shall  be
  issued.  If  a parent of such minor has been adjudicated an incompetent,
  the town or city clerk may issue  a  license  to  such  minor  upon  the
  production  of a certified copy of such judgment so determining and upon
  the written consent of the other parent. If there  is  no  other  parent
  whose  consent  is required by this section, then and in such event, the
  town or city clerk shall require the written consent of the guardian  of
  such minor or of the person under whose care or government the minor may
  be  before  a  license shall be issued. The parents, guardians, or other
  persons whose consent it shall be necessary to obtain and file with  the
  town  or  city  clerk  before  the license shall issue, shall personally
  appear and acknowledge or execute the  same  before  the  town  or  city
  clerk,  or  some  other  officer authorized to administer oaths and take
  acknowledgments provided that where such affidavit or acknowledgment  is
  made  before an official other than an officer designated in section two
  hundred ninety-eight of the real property law as authorized to take such
  affidavit or acknowledgment if a conveyance of real property were  being
  acknowledged  or  proved, or if a certificate of authentication would be
  required by section three hundred  ten  of  the  real  property  law  to
  entitle  the  instrument  to be recorded if it were a conveyance of real

  property,  the  consent  when  filed  must  have  attached   thereto   a
  certificate of authentication.
    3.  If it shall appear upon an application for a marriage license that
  either party is under the age of sixteen years, the town or  city  clerk
  shall require, in addition to any consents provided for in this section,
  the written approval and consent of a justice of the supreme court or of
  a  judge  of the family court, having jurisdiction over the town or city
  in which the application is made, to be attached to or endorsed upon the
  application, before the license is  issued.  The  application  for  such
  approval and consent shall be heard by the judge at chambers. All papers
  and  records  pertaining  to any such application shall be sealed by him
  and withheld from inspection, except by order of a  court  of  competent
  jurisdiction.  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. 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. 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.
    4. 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.