32.1-267 - Records of marriages; duties of officer issuing marriage license and person officiating at ceremony; blocking of social security number.
§ 32.1-267. Records of marriages; duties of officer issuing marriage licenseand person officiating at ceremony; blocking of social security number.
A. For each marriage performed in the Commonwealth, a record showing personaldata, including but not limited to age and race of the married parties, themarriage license, and the certifying statement of the facts of marriage shallbe filed with the State Registrar as provided in this section.
B. The officer issuing a marriage license shall prepare the record based onthe information obtained under oath or by affidavit from the parties to bemarried. The parties shall also include their social security numbers orother control numbers issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to§ 46.2-342 and affix their signatures to the application for such license.
C. Every person who officiates at a marriage ceremony shall certify to thefacts of marriage and file the record in duplicate with the officer whoissued the marriage license within five days after the ceremony. In the eventsuch officiant dies or becomes incapacitated before completing thecertificate of marriage, the official who issued the marriage license shallcomplete the certificate of marriage upon the order of the court to which issubmitted proof that the marriage was performed.
D. Every officer issuing marriage licenses shall on or before the tenth dayof each calendar month forward to the State Registrar a record of eachmarriage filed with him during the preceding calendar month.
E. The State Registrar shall furnish forms for the marriage license, marriagecertificate, and application for marriage license used in the Commonwealth.Such forms shall be configured so as to cause the social security number orcontrol number required pursuant to the provisions of subsection B to appearonly on the application for marriage license retained by the officer issuingthe marriage license and the copy of such license forwarded to the StateRegistrar pursuant to the provisions of subsection D.
F. Applications for marriage licenses filed on and after July 1, 1997, andmarriage registers recording such applications, which have not beenconfigured to prevent disclosure of the social security number or controlnumber required pursuant to the provisions of subsection B of this sectionshall not be available for general public inspection in the offices of clerksof the circuit courts. The clerk shall make such applications and registersavailable for inspection only (i) upon the order of the circuit court withinwhich such application was made or register is maintained, (ii) pursuant to alawful subpoena duces tecum issued to the clerk, (iii) upon the writtenauthorization of either of the applicants, or (iv) upon the request of alaw-enforcement officer or duly authorized representative of the Division ofChild Support Enforcement in the course of performing his official duties.Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict public access tomarriage licenses or to prohibit the clerk from making available to thepublic applications for marriage licenses and marriage registers stored inany electronic medium or other format that permits the blocking of the fieldcontaining the social security or control number required pursuant to theprovisions of subsection B of this section, so long as access to such numberis blocked.
(Code 1950, § 32-353.34; 1968, c. 318; 1972, c. 92; 1979, c. 711; 1997, cc.794, 898; 2001, c. 836; 2002, c. 832; 2003, c. 504; 2004, c. 88; 2005, c.679.)