New marriage laws in Alamaba - marriage contract not marriage license (legal, Alabama)

[katzpaw]

Alabama Senate Bill 377 would remove the state from marriage licensing. Instead of a getting pre-approval to marry (ie a marriage license good for 30 days) you can just file a marriage contract. It will be a crime (misdemeanour) to get married and not file a marriage contract ($75) with the county clerk within 30 days, and a marriage is still not legal until the contract is filed.

It is unclear if a county clerk can refuse to file a contract on personal religious grounds.

It is unclear if just signing a contract will suffice as the bill says "A civil or religious ceremony may be required to be married." Required by who? The county may require a ceremony with a recognized official? You have to find a judge or pastor willing to marry you?

It also appears that the ID requirement (present your drivers license, other gov't id etc...) is gone, and possibly in-person requirements, and this could lead to credit or benefits fraud.

text: https://legiscan.com/AL/text/SB377/id/1232785

Alabama Senate Approves Bill to Abolish Marriage Licensing - Ben Swann's Truth In Media

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. (a) Effective July 1, 2015, the only
requirement to be married in this state shall be for parties
who are otherwise legally authorized to be married to enter
into a contract of marriage as provided herein.
Page 1
1 (b) A contract to be married shall contain the
2 following minimum information:
3 (1) The names of the parties.
4 (2) A statement that the parties are legally
5 authorized to be married.
6 (3) A statement that the parties voluntarily and
7 based on each parties' own freewill enter into a marriage.
8 (4) The signatures of the parties.
9 The marriage contract shall be witnessed by two
10 adult witnesses.
11 (c) A marriage contract meeting the requirements of
12 this section shall be valid upon recording.
13 (d) A civil or religious ceremony may be required to
14 be married.

"Any judge, minister of the gospel, or other person
2 uniting persons in matrimony or any clerk or keeper of the
3 minutes of a religious society celebrating marriage by the
4 consent of the parties before the congregation, who fails to
5 return a certificate thereof to file the contract of marriage
6 with the judge of probate, as required by law, is guilty of a
7 misdemeanor.

[jjrose]

So basically, we won't be doing marriage, but we will still be doing marriage.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by jjrose

So basically, we won't be doing marriage, but we will still be doing marriage.

Sounds like marriage law written by Abbott & Costello.

[JAMS14]

So who is it that is "rewriting" marriage now?? Every God-fearing fundamentalist should be raging against this redefinition of marriage.

Lame idea that probably won't go anywhere, but makes fundamentalists feel good for a few minutes, as they think they are somehow denying "traditional" marriage to gays.