Authorizes certain military personnel who are scheduled to be deployed within thirty days to get married within twenty-four hours of receiving a marriage license.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7555
SPONSOR: Gallahan TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the domestic relations law and the executive law, in
relation to allowing marriages within twenty-four hours of receiving a
marriage license
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill will permit any military personnel scheduled for deployment in
less than thirty days to get married within twenty-four hours of receiv-
ing their marriage license.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 13-b of the domestic relations law in relation
to the time within which a marriage can be solemnized This legislation
will allow military personnel deploying in less than thirty days to
waive the twenty-four hour waiting period upon receiving a marriage
license.
JUSTIFICATION:
The twenty-four hour waiting period that couples have to wait before
they can get married does not seem like a long time, For men and women
in the military this waiting period can be a hindrance if they get
deployed on short notice. This is important today with our War in Iraq
because many men and women are being sent overseas, and with that there
has been an increase in the number of marriage licenses from military
personnel. A similar waiver was enacted during the Vietnam War but since
has expired. In the short time before deployment there are many things
that military personnel need to take care of, having to wait twenty-four
hours to get married should not be one of them.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7555
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GALLAHAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the domestic relations law and the executive law, in
relation to allowing marriages within twenty-four hours of receiving a
marriage license
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as amended by
2 chapter 35 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. [A] 1. Except
4 as provided in subdivision two of this section, a marriage shall not be
5 solemnized within twenty-four hours after the issuance of the marriage
6 license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record as herein-
7 after provided, nor shall it be solemnized after sixty days from the
8 date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized pursuant
9 to section three hundred fifty-four-d of the executive law. Every
10 license to marry hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in addition
11 to other requirements specified by this chapter, must contain a state-
12 ment of the day and the hour the license is issued and the period during
13 which the marriage may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the cler-
14 gyman or magistrate performing the marriage ceremony, or if the marriage
15 is solemnized by written contract, of the judge before whom the contract
16 is acknowledged, to annex to or endorse upon the marriage license the
17 date and hour the marriage is solemnized. A judge or justice of the
18 supreme court of this state or the county judge of the county in which
19 either party to be married resides, or if such party is at least seven-
20 teen years of age, the judge of the family court of such county, if it
21 shall appear from an examination of the license and any other proofs
22 submitted by the parties that one of the parties is in danger of immi-
23 nent death, or by reason of other emergency public interest will be
24 promoted thereby, or that such delay will work irreparable injury or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10896-01-1
A. 7555 2
1 great hardship upon the contracting parties, or one of them, may, upon
2 making written affirmative findings under subdivision three of section
3 fifteen of this article, make an order authorizing the immediate solem-
4 nization of the marriage and upon filing such order with the clergyman
5 or magistrate performing the marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is to
6 be solemnized by written contract, with the judge before whom the
7 contract is acknowledged, such clergyman or magistrate may solemnize
8 such marriage, or such judge may take such acknowledgment as the case
9 may be, without waiting for such three day period and twenty-four hour
10 period to elapse. The clergyman, magistrate or judge must file such
11 order with the town or city clerk who issued the license within five
12 days after the marriage is solemnized. Such town or city clerk must
13 record and index the order in the book required to be kept by him or her
14 for recording affidavits, statements, consents and licenses, and when so
15 recorded the order shall become a public record and available in any
16 prosecution under this section. A person who shall solemnize a marriage
17 in violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon
18 conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars for each
19 offense, and in addition thereto, his or her right to solemnize a
20 marriage shall be suspended for ninety days.
21 2. Notwithstanding the twenty-four hour waiting period prescribed in
22 subdivision one of this section, any military personnel whose scheduled
23 military deployment is less than thirty days away may get married within
24 twenty-four hours of receiving a marriage license.
25 § 2. Section 354-d of the executive law, as added by chapter 723 of
26 the laws of 2005 and as renumbered by chapter 652 of the laws of 2007,
27 is amended to read as follows:
28 § 354-d. Time within which marriage may be solemnized; member of the
29 armed forces. 1. Notwithstanding section thirteen-b of the domestic
30 relations law, where either of the parties making application for a
31 marriage license, pursuant to section thirteen of the domestic relations
32 law, is a member of the armed forces of the United States on active duty
33 the marriage of the parties shall not be solemnized within twenty-four
34 hours after the issuance of the marriage license, nor shall it be solem-
35 nized after one hundred eighty days from the date of the issuance of the
36 marriage license. Proof that the applicant is a member of the armed
37 forces of the United States shall be furnished to the satisfaction of
38 the official issuing the marriage license. Every license to marry issued
39 pursuant to the provisions of this section shall state the day and hour
40 the license is issued and shall contain a recital that it is issued
41 pursuant to the provisions of this section.
42 2. Notwithstanding the twenty-four hour waiting period prescribed in
43 subdivision one of this section, any military personnel whose scheduled
44 military deployment is less than thirty days away may get married within
45 twenty-four hours of receiving a marriage license.
46 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
