15 - Duty of town and city clerks.

§  15.  Duty of town and city clerks. 1.  (a)  It shall be the duty of  the town or city clerk when an application for  a  marriage  license  is  made  to  him  or her to require each of the contracting parties to sign  and verify a statement or affidavit before such clerk or one of  his  or  her  deputies,  containing  the following information.   From the groom:  Full name of husband, place of residence, social security  number,  age,  occupation,  place  of  birth,  name of father, country of birth, maiden  name of mother, country of birth, number of marriage.   From the  bride:  Full  name  of  bride,  place of residence, social security number, age,  occupation, place of birth, name of father,  country  of  birth,  maiden  name  of  mother,  country of birth, number of marriage.  The said clerk  shall also embody in the statement if either or both of  the  applicants  have  been  previously  married,  a  statement  as to whether the former  husband or husbands or the  former  wife  or  wives  of  the  respective  applicants  are  living or dead and as to whether either or both of said  applicants are divorced persons, if so, when and where and against  whom  the  divorce  or  divorces  were granted and shall also embody therein a  statement that no legal impediment exists as to the right of each of the  applicants to enter into the marriage state.  The town or city clerk  is  hereby  given  full  power  and  authority  to  administer oaths and may  require the applicants to produce witnesses to identify them  or  either  of  them  and  may examine under oath or otherwise other witnesses as to  any material inquiry pertaining to the issuing of the  license,  and  if  the  applicant  is  a  divorced  person  the  clerk may also require the  production of a certified copy of the decree of the divorce, or proof of  an existing marriage of parties who apply for a license to be used for a  second or subsequent ceremony; provided, however, that in cities of  the  first  class  the  verified statements and affidavits may be made before  any regular clerk of the city clerk's office designated for that purpose  by the city clerk.    (b) Every application for a marriage license shall contain a statement  to the following effect:                             NOTICE TO APPLICANTS    (1) Every person has the right to adopt any name by which  he  or  she  wishes  to  be  known simply by using that name consistently and without  intent to defraud.    (2) A person's last name (surname) does not automatically change  upon  marriage,  and neither party to the marriage must change his or her last  name. Parties to a marriage need not have the same last name.    (3) One or both parties to a marriage may elect to change the  surname  by  which  he  or  she wishes to be known after the solemnization of the  marriage by entering the new name in the space below. Such  entry  shall  consist of one of the following surnames:    (i) the surname of the other spouse; or    (ii) any former surname of either spouse; or    (iii)  a  name combining into a single surname all or a segment of the  premarriage surname or any former surname of each spouse; or    (iv) a combination name separated by a hyphen, provided that each part  of such combination surname is the premarriage surname,  or  any  former  surname, of each of the spouses.    (4)  The use of this option will have the effect of providing a record  of the change of name. The  marriage  certificate,  containing  the  new  name,  if  any,  constitutes  proof that the use of the new name, or the  retention of the former name, is lawful.    (5) Neither the use of,  nor  the  failure  to  use,  this  option  of  selecting a new surname by means of this application abrogates the right  of  each  person  to adopt a different name through usage at some future  date......................................                    (Optional -- Enter new surname above)    2. If it appears from the affidavits and statements so taken, that the  persons  for  whose  marriage  the  license  in question is demanded are  legally competent to marry, the said  clerk  shall  issue  such  license  except  in  the  following cases. If it shall appear upon an application  that the applicant is under eighteen years of age, before  the  town  or  city  clerk shall issue a license, he shall require documentary proof of  age in the form of an original or certified copy of a  birth  record,  a  certification of birth issued by the state department of health, a local  registrar  of  vital  statistics  or  other  public officer charged with  similar duties by the laws of any other state, territory or  country,  a  baptismal  record, passport, automobile driver's license, life insurance  policy,  employment  certificate,  school  record,  immigration  record,  naturalization record or court record, showing the date of birth of such  minor.  If  the  town  or  city clerk shall be in doubt as to whether an  applicant claiming to be over eighteen years of  age  is  actually  over  eighteen  years  of  age, he shall, before issuing such license, require  documentary  proof  as  above  defined.  If  it  shall  appear  upon  an  application  of  the  applicants  as  provided  in  this section or upon  information required by the clerk that either party is at least  sixteen  years  of  age  but  under  eighteen years of age, then the town or city  clerk before he shall issue a license shall require the written  consent  to  the  marriage  from  both  parents of the minor or minors or such as  shall then be living, or if the parents  of  both  are  dead,  then  the  written consent of the guardian or guardians of such minor or minors. If  one  of the parents has been missing and has not been seen or heard from  for a period of one year preceding the time of the application  for  the  license,   although   diligent  inquiry  has  been  made  to  learn  the  whereabouts of such parent, the town or city clerk may issue  a  license  to  such minor upon the sworn statement and consent of the other parent.  If the marriage of the parents of  such  minor  has  been  dissolved  by  decree  of  divorce  or annulment, the consent of the parent to whom the  court which granted the decree has awarded the  custody  of  such  minor  shall  be  sufficient. If there is no parent or guardian of the minor or  minors living to their knowledge then  the  town  or  city  clerk  shall  require  the  written  consent to the marriage of the person under whose  care or government the minor or minors may be before a license shall  be  issued.  If  a parent of such minor has been adjudicated an incompetent,  the town or city clerk may issue  a  license  to  such  minor  upon  the  production  of a certified copy of such judgment so determining and upon  the written consent of the other parent. If there  is  no  other  parent  whose  consent  is required by this section, then and in such event, the  town or city clerk shall require the written consent of the guardian  of  such minor or of the person under whose care or government the minor may  be  before  a  license shall be issued. The parents, guardians, or other  persons whose consent it shall be necessary to obtain and file with  the  town  or  city  clerk  before  the license shall issue, shall personally  appear and acknowledge or execute the  same  before  the  town  or  city  clerk,  or  some  other  officer authorized to administer oaths and take  acknowledgments provided that where such affidavit or acknowledgment  is  made  before an official other than an officer designated in section two  hundred ninety-eight of the real property law as authorized to take such  affidavit or acknowledgment if a conveyance of real property were  being  acknowledged  or  proved, or if a certificate of authentication would be  required by section three hundred  ten  of  the  real  property  law  to  entitle  the  instrument  to be recorded if it were a conveyance of realproperty,  the  consent  when  filed  must  have  attached   thereto   a  certificate of authentication.    3.  If it shall appear upon an application for a marriage license that  either party is under the age of sixteen years, the town or  city  clerk  shall require, in addition to any consents provided for in this section,  the written approval and consent of a justice of the supreme court or of  a  judge  of the family court, having jurisdiction over the town or city  in which the application is made, to be attached to or endorsed upon the  application, before the license is  issued.  The  application  for  such  approval and consent shall be heard by the judge at chambers. All papers  and  records  pertaining  to any such application shall be sealed by him  and withheld from inspection, except by order of a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction.  Before issuing any licenses herein provided for, the town  or city clerk shall be entitled to a fee of thirty  dollars,  which  sum  shall  be  paid  by  the applicants before or at the time the license is  issued. Any town or city clerk who shall issue a license  to  marry  any  persons  one  or  both  of whom shall not be at the time of the marriage  under such license legally competent to marry  without  first  requiring  the  parties  to such marriage to make such affidavits and statements or  who shall not require the production of documentary proof of age or  the  procuring  of  the  approval  and consents provided for by this article,  which shall show that the parties  authorized  by  said  license  to  be  married are legally competent to marry, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor  and  on  conviction  thereof  shall  be  fined in the sum of one hundred  dollars for each and every offense. On or before the  fifteenth  day  of  each  month,  each  town and city clerk, except in the city of New York,  shall transmit to the state commissioner of  health  twenty-two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  of  the amount received for each fee collected, which  shall be paid into the vital records management account as  provided  by  section  ninety-seven-cccc  of  the  state  finance law. In any city the  balance of all fees collected for the issuing of a marriage license,  or  for solemnizing a marriage, so far as collected for services rendered by  any  officer  or  employee  of such city, shall be paid monthly into the  city treasury and may by ordinance  be  credited  to  any  fund  therein  designated,  and said ordinance, when duly enacted, shall have the force  of law in such  city.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provisions  of  this  article,  the  clerk of any city with the approval of the governing body  of such city is hereby authorized to designate, in writing filed in  the  city clerk's office, a deputy clerk, if any, and/or other city employees  in  such  office  to  receive  applications  for,  examine applications,  investigate and issue marriage licenses in the absence or  inability  of  the  clerk  of  said  city  to  act, and said deputy and/or employees so  designated are hereby vested with all the powers and duties of said city  clerk relative thereto. Such deputy and/or employees shall perform  said  duties without additional compensation.    4. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the city clerk  of  the  city  of  New York, before issuing any licenses herein provided  for, shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five dollars, which sum  shall  be  paid  by  the applicants before or at the time the license is issued  and all such fees so received  shall  be  paid  monthly  into  the  city  treasury.