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In This
Issue:
Premarital Blood
Tests Repealed
Where to get the
License
Where to file
Only Male and Female Need Apply
JPs Do How Many Weddings?
Buy your Marriage
Certificates here! |
Did you know that Connecticut was one of the last states to
require premarital syphilis and rubella screening? The state
finally heeded the counsel of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and repealed mandatory blood tests effective
October 1.
Testifying in
support of the bill that passed, Deputy Commissioner Norma Gayle of
the CT Dept of Public Health said, "Today the requirement is costly,
inconvenient and has minimal impact towards prevention." She noted
that the test is no longer "an effective component of the
Department's syphilis control program." Besides Connecticut,
only Indiana and Montana still required rubella testing for women of
child-bearing age as of last year. |
Marriage License May Now be Obtained in
Couple's Town of Residence or Town of
Wedding
Under the old rules, the couple had to apply
for their marriage license in the town in which the wedding was to
take place. Starting October 1, the license may also be
obtained from the town in which either of them resides. The
couple must appear together at the Town Clerk's office to apply for
the license. If they go to the Town Clerk where one of them lives,
that person must present documentation (a valid driver's license or
a utility bill, for example) proving residency.
The marriage license
form itself has not changed. Town Clerks have been asked to
write both town names on the license -- where the license
was obtained and where the marriage is to occur, if different. This
will help when the completed license is returned.
After the wedding, the officiant can
return the completed license to either the town of
occurrence or the town of residence. It's the Town of Occurrence
that must legally file the marriage license with the State,
so you'll be saving a step if you send it there yourself. Otherwise,
the Town Clerk receiving it must forward the license to the Town of
Occurrence.
You should be
aware, however, that the law is murky on this point. Suzanne Speers,
Connecticut's Registrar of Vital Records, points out that the
requirement that the license must be returned to the town of
issuance was not changed by the new law. That was an
oversight, she says; it should have been changed to the town of
occurrence -- and probably will be changed in due course.
In case you didn't
know, each Connecticut locality has its own Registrar of Vital
Records. However, only in New Haven, Hartford, Middletown and
Bridgeport does a person hold that exact title. In the other 165
towns, the Town Clerk is the ex-officio Registrar.
For legal buffs, the new
law is Public Act 03-188, which amends General Statute 46b-24.
Co-sponsored by State Senators Bill Finch (22nd District, D -
Bridgeport) and John Kissel (7th District, R - Enfield), it
passed in early June and was signed by the Governor on June 26 to be
effective October 1.
In April of this year, the Judiciary Committee
defeated a bill that would have legalized same-sex unions in
Connecticut. Domestic partnership Bill HB 6388 failed to get to the
floor of the Senate by a vote of 16-26. "An Act Concerning the
Applicability of Certain State Statutes to Same Sex Partners" would
have authorized the establishment of civil unions and granted them
the same benefits, protections and responsibilities as spouses in a
marriage.
Quite a few of you said you'd be
interested in participating in a survey. We're working on it! Will
be back to you with it soon.
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Justice of the Peace
Associations