Legalities of getting married at sea

Factual Questions
1

My fiancée and I are considering getting married on an Alaskan cruise next summer. The cruise lines offer wedding packages that include being married by the captain, use of the chapel, etc., but they’re overpriced and have features we don’t need or want. As it happens, my sister is a minister, and could perform the ceremony.

So my question is, what are the legal issues involved in getting married on a ship at sea if we don’t want to use the ship’s services?

We are both residents of Maryland, but several sites I’ve visited indicate that Maryland marriage licenses are only valid within the state.

Some sites suggest that the license has to be issued by the ship’s country of registry, e.g. Liberia, which might be an interesting challenge. Others say no, that’s changed, without specifying how.

So what’s the SD? Does it depend on the location: U.S. waters, Canadian waters, international waters? If so, what license is needed for each of those locations? Is it the ship’s country of registry? Could we get a license from a state that, unlike Maryland, doesn’t care where the ceremony is performed?

I know you’re not my lawyer, I’m not your client, etc. etc. Thanks.

P.S. While we recognize that getting married on shore before or after the cruise would simplify things, we would prefer to do it at sea, if possible.

P.P.S. I’m aware of what the Master has said on this subject, but it doesn’t offer me any useful guidance. And it appears to be outdated, since many cruise lines now do offer weddings by the captain.

2

My fiancée has just told me that, based on her previous marriage and that of her daughter, it’s her understanding that a marriage is valid in Maryland as soon as a legit officiant signs the license, regardless of what ceremonies are performed, where or when.

Which means we could have my sister sign the form in Maryland before we leave for the cruise, and be technically married at that point, but hold whatever ceremony we want on the ship days, weeks, or months later.

Is that right?

3

I’ve always been under the impression that the onboard weddings cruise lines offer are pure ceremony; they have no legal standing and it’s up to the couple to take are of the legal aspects before they board.

4

In general any marriage ceremony is just for cultural/religious purposes; the completion of the marriage license is what makes you legally married.

5

to my knowing if your sister is registered in Maryland to be a legit officiant, then at the point that the license is signed (and later filed with the state) your are married.

6

The rule that most jurisdictions follow is that a marriage is valid if it is valid according to the law of the place where it is celebrated. This rule is imported into US constitutional law by the “full faith and credit” requirement of the US constitution. If you go through a ceremony of marriage in Alaska – and this includes Alaskan waterways – then the question is whether you have complied with Alaskan law as regards marriage validity. If you have, then Maryland – and every other state – will recognise your marriage.

My guess is that what the cruise ship offers is a marriage in Alaskan waters celebrated by a captain who has done whatever he needs to be do to be authorised to celebrate marriages in Alaska. I doubt that you would need a Maryland marriage licence.

Can your sister celebrate the marriage? Leaving aside the question of whether the cruise ship will charge you an arm and leg for the use of the chapel even if you provide your own celebrant, you would need to check whether she is authorised to celebrate marriages in Alaska. I don’t know whether the fact that she is a minister of religion means that she is automatically qualified; she might, for example, have to register with the Alaskan authorities.

It Maryland issues “out of state” marriage licenses, then presumably if you get one of those and comply with its requirements while visiting Alaska you will be married as far as Maryland law is concerned, regardless of whether you comply with Alaskan formalities. However as far as any other state (or nation) is concerned, the question will be whether you complied with Alaskan formalities. So unless you and your fiancée are committed, come what may, to living and dying in Maryland, this might not be a good plan.

As you rightly point out, you can have whatever ceremony you want at sea, and invest in it whatever significance you wish, and comply separately with Maryland civil marriage requirements back in Maryland either before or after your trip. I’ve no idea whether getting a celebrant’s signature on a document is all that is required, though. As far as I can see the requirement is that the celebrant sign a record affirming that the spouses “were by me united in marriage”, which I think implies that something should have happened in the presence of the celebrant by way of an exchange of vows, expression of consent to marry, etc. The Maryland family code assumes that there will be a “marriage ceremony”, and provides for the county administrative judge to determine the form of the ceremony in the case of marriage by the court clerk. For marriages performed by a minister, the law expressly preserves the right to perform the ceremony “according to the rules and customs of the denomination”. If your celebrant is your sister, presumably her denomination will have “rules and customs”. If it’s the county court clerk, then I image there will be some minimal ceremony that you have to go through.

7

Here is an E-Zine article on the subject.

UDS: Do any states in the US issue “out of state” marriage licenses? I can’t seem to find an answer to that.

8

I very much doubt that they do but, unless I misread it, commasense’s second post seemed to suggest that Maryland did issue licenses for marriages regardless of the location of the intended celebration, and her first post explicitly suggests that other states may. That’s why I addressed the possibility.

But because they would give rise to the problem that I pointed out - a marriage regarded as valid in, e.g., Maryland, but invalid in the jurisdiction it actually takes place celebrated or in any other jurisdiction - I am more and more inclined to be sceptical that any state does this. Why would they?

9

I’m skeptical also as governments do tend to be kind of protective about who gets to leglislate what happens within their territory. It did sound like an interesting concept, t hough.

10

They are, but the legislation is based on the signing of the marriage certificate. The OP would actually be married before he left on the cruise, the celebration on board would be a wedding to them but nothing more than a party legally.

11

Are ships’ captains allowed to marry people at sea?

12

Actually, so far as I know it’s the marriage ceremony which constitutes the marriage. The obligation to sign the certificate only arises when the parties are in fact married, which is accomplished by the ceremony. If the celebrant fails to sign the certificate, or signs it but fails to return it to the court clerk an offence is committed, but the spouses are still married (though they might have some difficulty evidencing it).

If the couple marry in Maryland before heading off on their cruise in a low-key courthouse procedure, then obviously any ceremony they may hold or vows they may exchange on the boat have no legal significance, because they are already married. But if they plan on doing the courthouse bit on their return, then there could be a problem. The ceremony on the boat in Alaska may be a marriage valid under Alaska law and requiring to be registered there and they, or their celebrant, may be in breach of Alaskan law in not registering it. In that even it would be the later Maryland ceremony which would be a nullity, mistaken registration notwithstanding. Whether this would cause any problems in practice is another matter.

13

If you are concerned about making your marriage perfectly legal, then don’t take any chances that could invalidate it.

Case in point is the recently profiled Facebook Bigamist. He is claiming now that his first marriage in Italy was not really a marriage due to some legal technicalities.

Your soon to be spouse, could win the lottery and then decide to leave you and take all of the money, claiming that you were never really married due to a technicality of your sister lying on the marriage license as to where you really were when the ceremony was performed.

14

states have licenses that need no officiant, just signatures of people getting married and witnesses.

on the officiant type licenses require signature of officiant, signatures of people getting married and witnesses.

15

Just curious - can any of you provide me with any cites that the licence alone is what makes the marriage? Are you all saying that no ceremony or exchange of vows is necessary in some of the states in the U.S.?

Thanks.

16

Evidently some kind of ceremony is required for Maryland and, furthermore, the license may only be used for a marriage in the county of issue:

[quote]
To Clergy
Before performing the ceremony, please check the effective date. The license may not be used prior to the effective date, which is 6:00 am. on the second calendar date after issuance and must be used within six (6) months of the effective date. The couple must be married in the county where the license was issued. Before returning the marriage license to the newly married couple, please complete the following:

[ol][li]Date of the ceremony and City or Town that the ceremony was performed in;[/li][li]Your Signature;[/li][li]Your title and office; and[/li][li]Mailing address (please include street and city).[/ol][/li][/quote]

17

Yup. Registration of marriage is like registration of birth or death. If you die, and this fact is not registered, you’re still dead. Conversely, if somebody maliciously or accidentally registers your death, this doesn’t kill you; you’re still alive.

The state can prescribe the requirements for a valid marriage -e.g. you have to be a certain age, you have to be not married to someone else and - controversially, these days - you and your spouse must be of opposite sexes. But it is unusual to prescribe registration as a requirement for validity. I’m no expert, but I’m not aware of any US state which does this.

Furthermore the states tend to avoid trying to prescribe exactly what a marriage ceremony must contain or how it must be celebrated, in case this is found to contravene the free exercise clause. But any of the state marriage laws that I have looked at assume that there will have been some kind of formal process which constitutes the marriage, and what is registered is the fact that this formal process has taken place.

Consider a hypothetical in which a mininster, with the knowledge and consent of A and B, signs and returns a form to say that A and B have married, when in fact nothing at all has happened. I suspect that the putative marriage would be void, and could be annulled once that evidence is given.

18

Bigger question: Why do you want your sister to go on your honeymoon with you?

19

Thanks for your replies.

Actually, the cruise lines that do them charge one fee for the wedding services and another (as much as $450!) for the license. (Maryland charges $60.)

No, Maryland says that the marriage must take place in the Maryland county in which the license was issued. But my fiancée says she believes (with no cite) that the officiant’s signature on the license was what made it legal, not any specific ceremony.

(BTW, I’m a guy, and my fiancée is a gal.)

No cite. That’s just the impression my fiancée got from the two weddings she’s been involved in, her own and her daughter’s.

[quote=“Monty, post:16, topic:553555”]

Evidently some kind of ceremony is required for Maryland and, furthermore, the license may only be used for a marriage in the county of issue:

I don’t read that as saying the ceremony is required, only that if there is one, those conditions apply.

This last example is effectively what we are considering. Why would it be void if, as you say, it was done with the couple’s knowledge and consent?

Do you have any cites for your several claims, UDS?

Also, are you a lawyer?

Obviously, we could have a simple private ceremony consisting of little more than each of us saying “I do” when my sister signs the form. I just want to find out what the actual minimum requirement is for considering a marriage valid in Maryland. And I want to do it properly: I don’t expect my sister, or anyone else, to lie about it.

20

We are planning on inviting several friends and family members. The idea of a traditional getaway honeymoon isn’t that important to us. We’re in our 50s, it’s her second marriage, and this would be a nice way to have a wedding with our closest friends that’s memorable and much cheaper than a fancy ceremony with 200 guests. (We’ll have a big party for those folks later.)

We may also have a more private honeymoon trip after the cruise. Hawaii, perhaps.