St. Mary Parish Louisiana Marriage Records

Marriage Records in St. Mary Parish

Marriage Records in St. Mary Parish is one of the most requested documents by people who are conducting genealogical research or those who would like to check on their family history. These vital records serve as important information in determining marital history of the future and long term partners. These records are kept in the court houses of the state where the marriages were performed and then sent to the designated departments for maintenance. Most of these documents are handled manually and are found in the St. Louis county Public Health Services under the custody of the Department of Health. There are certain rules and regulations that have to be followed to access such records, but they are available.

For those who would like to obtain these records, they should first make a request through mail. But because of privacy reasons, the request cannot be done through the internet or faxes. The best way of getting public records is through the prescribed channels. Those records are considered public information and are readily accessible for anyone who has an authorized right to receive them.

Usually, marriage license records are only retained for seven years; however, some states might keep them for ten years or more under the most particular circumstances. Some of the important public record information that is usually found include the personal particulars of the couple, their parents, witnesses and the person who conducted the marriage ceremony. These records can be used for statistical purposes like calculating the ratio of the age of men to women and the number of children or relatives a couple may have. It can also be used in checking on the marital status of a person or in finding out if the person is divorced or not.

There are many reasons why marriage records in St. Mary Parish are important. First, it is the only place where the marriage license was processed and it is also where the official copy of the marriage certificate is kept. This serves as proof of the legality of the marriage of the couple. In the case of a divorce, these records are essential in helping prove the grounds of the divorce.

Marriage records are available online. However, you need to be very careful with the information you obtain. As much as possible, go for official websites of the County, State or City. You will get a lot of information from these websites; such as, the names of the couple, the names of the parents, witnesses and the officiator of the ceremony. Official sites will also give you information on the filing procedures and the costs involved.

There are some private companies that specialize in producing and providing these records to people who require them for certain legal purposes. However, you may need to spend a little money to acquire such information. But then again, you may avail of the information free of cost from the public records available online. These are just some of the information you may gain from using the public records; however, there are other interesting aspects of this topic that you may research on your own.