S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
3371
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
February 2, 2023
___________
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 veterans' services
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:
Section 1. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law, as separately
amended by section 39 of part PP of chapter 56 and chapter 798 of the
laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
§ 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. [A] 1. EXCEPT AS
PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION, A marriage shall not be
solemnized within twenty-four hours after the issuance of the marriage
license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record as herein-
after provided, nor shall it be solemnized after sixty days from the
date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized pursuant
to section ten of the veterans' services law. Every license to marry
hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in addition to other require-
ments specified by this chapter, must contain a statement of the day and
the hour the license is issued and the period during which the marriage
may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the clergyman, magistrate, or
one-day marriage officiant, as designated by the secretary of state
pursuant to section one hundred ten of the executive law, performing the
marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is solemnized by written contract,
of the judge before whom the contract is acknowledged, to annex to or
endorse upon the marriage license the date and hour the marriage is
solemnized. A judge or justice of the supreme court of this state or the
county judge of the county in which either party to be married resides,
or the judge of the family court of such county, if it shall appear from
an examination of the license and any other proofs submitted by the
parties that one of the parties is in danger of imminent death, or by
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06823-01-3
A. 3371 2
reason of other emergency public interest will be promoted thereby, or
that such delay will work irreparable injury or great hardship upon the
contracting parties, or one of them, may, make an order authorizing the
immediate solemnization of the marriage and upon filing such order with
the clergyman, magistrate, or one-day marriage officiant performing the
marriage ceremony, or if the marriage is to be solemnized by written
contract, with the judge before whom the contract is acknowledged, such
clergyman, magistrate or one-day marriage officiant may solemnize such
marriage, or such judge may take such acknowledgment as the case may be,
without waiting for such three day period and twenty-four hour period to
elapse. The clergyman, magistrate, judge, or one-day marriage offici-
ant, as designated by the secretary of state pursuant to section one
hundred ten of the executive law, must file such order with the town or
city clerk who issued the license within five days after the marriage is
solemnized. Such town or city clerk must record and index the order in
the book required to be kept by him or her for recording affidavits,
statements, consents and licenses, and when so recorded the order shall
become a public record and available in any prosecution under this
section. A person who shall solemnize a marriage in violation of this
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars for each offense, and in
addition thereto, his or her right to solemnize a marriage shall be
suspended for ninety days.
2. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TWENTY-FOUR HOUR WAITING PERIOD PRESCRIBED IN
SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, ANY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHOSE SCHEDULED
MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IS LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS AWAY MAY GET MARRIED WITHIN
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIVING A MARRIAGE LICENSE.
§ 2. Section 10 of the veterans' services law is amended to read as
follows:
§ 10. Time within which marriage may be solemnized; member of the
uniformed services. 1. Notwithstanding section thirteen-b of the domes-
tic relations law, where either of the parties making application for a
marriage license, pursuant to section thirteen of the domestic relations
law, is a member of the uniformed services of the United States on
active duty the marriage of the parties shall not be solemnized within
twenty-four hours after the issuance of the marriage license, nor shall
it be solemnized after one hundred eighty days from the date of the
issuance of the marriage license. Proof that the applicant is a member
of the uniformed services of the United States shall be furnished to the
satisfaction of the official issuing the marriage license. Every license
to marry issued pursuant to the provisions of this section shall state
the day and hour the license is issued and shall contain a recital that
it is issued pursuant to the provisions of this section.
2. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TWENTY-FOUR HOUR WAITING PERIOD PRESCRIBED IN
SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, ANY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHOSE SCHEDULED
MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IS LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS AWAY MAY GET MARRIED WITHIN
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIVING A MARRIAGE LICENSE.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, that if part PP
of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022 shall not have taken effect on or
before such date then sections one and two of this act shall take effect
on the same date and in the same manner as such part takes effect.