License never filed. Do we need formal divorce?

[djkirkland]

We got married in PG County MD in Dec 1997. We have since found out that there is no record of us having been married as the minister never filed the signed copy of the license and neither did we. We don't remember the minister's name and we were married at home so we can't find her. We even have doubts (now) if she was even ordained! The county does have an application. We separated in Dec 2002. I would like to re-marry. I also need some sort of document that says no license was filed so I can get a Georgia ID. No copies of the license exists any longer. If there is no documentation, do we need to file for divorce? What sort of legal, acceptable document can I procure that will attest to our marriage (or non-marriage)?

 

[jharris352]

You don't have to prove a NON-marriage. Your birth certificate shows that you were born single. You remain single until a jurisdiction shows you to be married. You do not have a valid marriage. One caveat, I have not looked to see if there is such thing as common law marriage in MD. I'll do a follow up post if I find a common law marriage in MD.

If you are not married and want to get "re-married" just ask for a license as if you were never married before because I do not believe you ever were. I know the uncertified marriage is not valid and I do not believe a common law marriage will interfere. Besides, there is no law that I know of that prevents you from marrying the SAME woman in two different jurisdictions.