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<ns0:Id>20250AB__187599INT</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-12</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Hart</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Hart</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to amend Section 511 of the Family Code, relating to marriage. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>marriage</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Confidential marriage.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p> Existing law provides for a “confidential marriage,” whereby 2 unmarried people, not minors, who have been living together as spouses, may be married. Existing law requires a confidential marriage license to be issued by the county clerk, as specified, and then returned to the county clerk after the marriage has been solemnized. Existing law requires the county clerk to maintain a confidential marriage certificate as a permanent record that is not open to public inspection except upon order of the court issued upon a showing of good cause. Existing law requires the clerk to keep an original certificate of confidential marriage for one year from the date of filing, and authorizes the clerk, after one year, to reproduce the certificate and dispose of the original, as prescribed.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions.</html:p>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
<ns0:ActionLine action="IS_AMENDED" ns3:href="urn:caml:codes:FAM:caml#xpointer(%2Fcaml%3ALawDoc%2Fcaml%3ACode%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'DIVISION'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'3.'%5D%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'PART'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'4.'%5D%2Fcaml%3ALawHeading%5B%40type%3D'CHAPTER'%20and%20caml%3ANum%3D'1.'%5D%2Fcaml%3ALawSection%5Bcaml%3ANum%3D'511.'%5D)" ns3:label="fractionType: LAW_SECTION" ns3:type="locator">
Section 511 of the
<ns0:DocName>Family Code</ns0:DocName>
is amended to read:
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<ns0:Num>511.</ns0:Num>
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(a)
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Except as provided in subdivision (b), the county clerk shall maintain a confidential marriage certificate filed pursuant to Section 506 as a permanent record that shall not be open to public inspection except upon order of the court issued upon a showing of good
cause. The confidential marriage license is a confidential record and is not open to public inspection without an order from the court.
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(b)
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The county clerk shall keep an original certificate of confidential marriage for one year from the date of filing. After one year, the clerk may reproduce the certificate pursuant to Section 26205 of the Government Code, and dispose of the original
certificate. The county clerk shall promptly seal and store at least one original negative of each microphotographic film made in a manner and place as reasonable to ensure its preservation indefinitely against loss, theft, defacement, or destruction. The microphotograph shall be made in a manner that complies with the minimum standards or guidelines, or both, recommended by the American National Standards Institute or the Association for Information and Image Management. A reproduction shall be deemed and considered an original. A certified copy of a reproduction shall be deemed and
considered a certified copy of the original.
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(c)
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The county clerk may conduct a search for a confidential marriage certificate for the purpose of confirming the existence of a marriage, but the date of the marriage and any other information contained in the certificate shall not be disclosed except upon order of the court.
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(d)
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On at least a quarterly basis, the county clerk shall transmit copies of all original confidential marriage certificates retained, or originals of reproduced confidential marriage certificates filed after January 1, 1982, to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. The registrar may destroy the copies so transmitted after
they have been indexed. The registrar may respond to an inquiry as to the existence of a marriage performed pursuant to this chapter, but shall not disclose the date of the marriage.
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