What does it take to get the Mexican marriage certificate to be recognized in Texas?

[Lady_Di]

Hi ladies,

 

This thread is more directed to any Texas brides or anyone that know about this subject.

 

We got legally married a few weeks ago in Mexico. I looked at the State of Dept website and saw this bit.

 

In general, marriages which are legally performed and valid abroad are also legally valid in the United States. Inquiries regarding the validity of a marriage abroad should be directed to the attorney general of the state in the United States where the parties to the marriage live.

 

Marriage of U.S. Citizens Abroad

 

So I assumed that we would be good to go but I failed to check with the county clerk to see if they will accept any foreign marriage certificates. They told us that we had to get married again in order to get our marriage recognized. It doesn't really make sense if the state of dept says its legal anywhere in u.s.!

 

So we were directed to this family code under Texas.

 

Sec. 2.001. MARRIAGE LICENSE. (a) A man and a woman desiring to enter into a ceremonial marriage must obtain a marriage license from the county clerk of any county of this state.

 

FAMILY CODE**CHAPTER 2. THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP

 

I'm wondering if any past Texan brides faced this issue. Are we out of luck and have to get married again?

[hoyt75]

I'm so glad we got married here! We went to the JP in Fort Worth to get married here before we left, and the lady taking our info basically told us that most people that do a dw have to come back to Tx and get legally married here. It's just a really long, difficult and expensive process.

 

I do know that you have to take the marriage certificate that you got and bring it to the country clerk where they will give you info to have it translated into English, that copy will then need to be brought back to the county clerk and certified with them. She was telling us that it's like a 6 month process, so i meanwhile, you're not legally or recognized as being married here until it's approved and certified by the county clerk.

 

I'm sure you already knew all that... Hope it all works out well!

[angelov321]

I am so glad you posted this! I have tried to research this issue and everytime I come up with no real answer. The Harris Co clerks office website doesnt mention anything about marriages abroad. Im new to TX and it confuses me that everything is by county and not state. Ill be going to the clerks office sometime this week to switch my title over to TX, Im definitely going to get to the bottom of this. Ill update you once I find out, if you havent gotten an answer by then.

[Lady_Di]

Thats why we got threw off with this issue...on the state of dept, it clearly says that any marriages performed legally abroad is legal! I guess we didn't think of checking with the county. this blows. Please do let me know any more info!

 

I can't change my name until late October anyways because I have a booked plane ticket under my current name.

[ktchi]

Hey,

We are running into the exact same problem. We live in Dallas county and had off today so we went down to the county clerk office and they said we have to get married again (which cannot possibly be correct because that doesn't even sound legal to keep getting married in different places). If you get any more information about this I would love to hear and I will let you know if I hear anything that approximates the truth. I have a list of phone numbers and am calling each one of them until I get a straight answer. No one seems to know what to do.

[Lady_Di]

Ugh, this sucks. I think it is more of county level than the state level.

 

DH is going to the Mexican consulate Friday to see if they can point us in the right direction. Once we find out any info, i will definitely post. We don't want to get married again because it is basically saying that the first time was fake.

[ktchi]

okay, here's what I have so far. I talked to someone that says that because of the Hague Convention a Mexican Marriage is recognized in the US, but is not kept on file in the US (It is kept on file in the country where you got married). So as long as you have your valid marriage certificate you are married and don't have to do anything. I think we are going to have ours officially translated in case it should come into question and we need it for something we will have an English version as well. Someone also said that you can put a copy on file with your county records department, but I haven't found anyone willing to do that for us yet. As far as I can tell make sure you have your certificate if someone should question it, but you are legally married. It's kind of like if you move from one state to another. The other state won't have any information about your marriage but they still consider you married. The only difference for us is if the marriage certificate gets lost we have to go through Mexico to try to get another rather than Texas. It does feel very weird that where I live doesn't seem to even know that I am married. But everyone else is refusing to do anything for us- so I think this is what we will do. This got to be a very long post- sorry about that. If you find out something different let me know, but I think I called everyone in dallas about this and that was the best answer I got.

[Lady_Di]

Here is what i got from The Royal thread when i posted about my issue.

 

Hi Lady Di,

 

I just got a reply back from a friend who got married in 2009 in Puerto Vallarta, and (both US citizens) resides Austin, TX.

 

Copy & Pasted:

They should take their Mexico marriage certificate to the county clerk, get the certificate filed, and pay the filing fee. We had ours translated before bringing it in. Should be relatively straight forward. Because if it's legal in Mexico, it's legal in the US - as a whole.

 

 

------------------------------------

 

We are going to try again with Harris county clerk and see what they say because seriously it doesn't make sense if that couple was able to do that but we can't do it.

[angelov321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady_Di Here is what i got from The Royal thread when i posted about my issue. Hi Lady Di, I just got a reply back from a friend who got married in 2009 in Puerto Vallarta, and (both US citizens) resides Austin, TX. Copy & Pasted: They should take their Mexico marriage certificate to the county clerk, get the certificate filed, and pay the filing fee. We had ours translated before bringing it in. Should be relatively straight forward. Because if it's legal in Mexico, it's legal in the US - as a whole. ------------------------------------ We are going to try again with Harris county clerk and see what they say because seriously it doesn't make sense if that couple was able to do that but we can't do it.

This actually makes sense. If the US Attorney General says its legal in all 50 states, I dont see why TX wouldnt consider it legal. Hopefully Harris Co. wont give us any issues with filing, it would be nice for the states to have something on file proving our marriage. Im glad that I dont have to get legally married before we leave now. Thats good news!

[Lady_Di]

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelov321 This actually makes sense. If the US Attorney General says its legal in all 50 states, I dont see why TX wouldnt consider it legal. Hopefully Harris Co. wont give us any issues with filing, it would be nice for the states to have something on file proving our marriage. Im glad that I dont have to get legally married before we leave now. Thats good news!

Don't get your hopes high. We called the county clerk's office again and asked if we could take our marriage certificate if it was translated. They still said no they won't accept it even though its translated. Sigh. She gave us two options - we go get a Formal Married License ($71) and get remarried, or get an Informal Married License ($36), but she doesn’t know if the SSN, DMV, or Passport will accept the Informal one. Informal is like a common law marriage certificate. We will go to the Mexican consulate this friday and see if they can point us to something.

I guess it is up to every county, not the state or federal when it comes to marriages. It is so stupid!!