The state Vital Records Division (Department of Health) creates and permanently preserves records for birth, death, and dissolution of marriage files, including for nuptial licenses that were issued within New York State; except for those that took place in New York City. People who seek for records on marriages that happened in New York City may direct the request to the court clerk office or go to the city's marriage bureau portal where you may obtain application forms or process an online request.
The State Vital Records section is not the only place to locate marriage files; you may also collect data from the county or city registrar of the district where the marriage license was provided. If you do not know the address or the telephone numbers of the county clerk offices, you may use local phone directories to obtain such data.
The existing marriage files in the state vital events office are for matrimonies that occurred beginning 1880 up to present. In reality, it was not until around 1880 to 1881 that the State of New York started to register statewide vital occurrences; excluding the events that took place within any of the 5 municipalities of New York City. Family history research is one of the legitimate reasons for getting vital documents like birth, death, and matrimony certificates.
But there is a certain duration that must precede the current date before one can examine such records for the purpose of genealogical searches. For marriage certificates, the data sought must be on file for at least 50 years and both registrants must be deceased at the time of request. This particular rule may be waived for immediate descendants such as children, grand children, and great grand children of the individuals whose file is requested for; provided that they are able to present documents validating their relationship to the registrant and the death of both spouses.
Of course, as long as you follow the steps and the right course of action, getting state vital records is doable. Not only that, there are record finders on the Web where you can inspect a wide array of state public documents like state Free Marriage License Search divorces, births, cemetery or death files, offender data and so much more. Just remember that no matter it looks impossible for you, be open to available data options and channels. In the end, getting vital marriage data for all states and for any purpose that you have may be faster and easier than you could think.
