# The Officiant Wrote the Date in the Wrong Place on My Marriage License, and They Say It Isn't Valid **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 28, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403 "2013-08-28T15:24:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/21 "2013-08-29T19:56:02Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > As a practical matter, you are in a happy gray area, in which you are married or not married Schrodinger’s marriage? ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/22 "2013-08-29T20:28:44Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Congratulations! > > And given your circumstances, yes, just get a new license and remarry for the legalities of it all. That would be bigamy. You don’t want to spend your honeymoon in jail - especially without conjugal visits. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/23 "2013-08-29T20:50:41Z")
My father’s parents were new immigrants to the US when they got married. Their marriage license was issued in Pennsylvania but the ceremony was performed by a rabbi (seemingly new to the country too) across the river in New Jersey. My father and aunt discovered this after their father had died and they were going through the official family papers for grandma. After my father read the marriage license and digested it, he asked my aunt “Tootsie, you realize what this makes us?” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/24 "2013-08-29T21:00:07Z")
I suspect that New York law would recognize this as a legitimate marriage and you have a jerk of a clerk. But see your local lawyer and enrich him/her. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/25 "2013-08-30T19:19:39Z")
Legal questions are better in IMHO. Moved from General Questions. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/26 "2013-08-30T19:22:26Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > My father’s parents were new immigrants to the US when they got married. Their marriage license was issued in Pennsylvania but the ceremony was performed by a rabbi (seemingly new to the country too) across the river in New Jersey. My father and aunt discovered this after their father had died and they were going through the official family papers for grandma. After my father read the marriage license and digested it, he asked my aunt “Tootsie, you realize what this makes us?” 😃 “And damned cheap ones, at that!” ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/27 "2013-08-31T15:48:29Z")
I’m not familiar with NY law, but here (in WV) there has been quite a few cases that state that the Clerk’s job is to simply record paperwork. If you hand the Clerk a napkin with “Marriage License” written in crayon, they are supposed to record it. The clerk isn’t a lawyer and is likely practicing law without a license by telling you the paper is invalid for a legal marriage. He/she should record it and leave the legality of a marriage for a judge to decide down the road. And while judges can be fickle, none of the ones I know would claim that you have an invalid license on the basis of what you said. Did the clerk record the marriage, but tell you to come down anyways? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/28 "2013-08-31T18:50:11Z")
I’m sick of these conventional marriages. One woman and one man was good enough for your grandmother, but who wants to marry your grandmother? Nobody, not even your grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/29 "2013-09-02T18:16:35Z")
When my husband and I got married 11 years ago, our officiant spelled my name wrong. We went over to her house and she filled in a new form with my name spelled correctly, and we destroyed the old copy and used the new copy and everyone was happy. A marriage certificate is a legal document, and it should be done correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403/30 "2013-09-03T00:44:46Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > But the exceptions may be big ones. We were told that my fiancee would need to take the Social Security Administration a certified copy\* of our certificate of marriage to change her name. If your town clerk, who I presume is the same person who is going to certify it thinks it’s invalid, you’re going to have a hard time obtaining one. If that matters. > > - [This](http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/2328/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzc3Nzk3NDg0L3NpZC95dTRzNl95bA%3D%3D) appears to support that. Another big one is adoption. Not having a valid marriage license would have cost us our son. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-officiant-wrote-the-date-in-the-wrong-place-on-my-marriage-license-and-they-say-it-isnt-valid/667403.md?page=1)