Can church refuse to give copy of marriage certificate?

[CosmicMonkey]

Posting on behalf of DSis who is currently going through the process of getting a divorce.

The marriage took place in church less than a year ago and her STBXH has either taken the original marriage certificate or destroyed it. Either way she needs a copy for her solicitor.

The church has yet to file the certificate with the registrar so she approached the church for a copy but the lady at the church (not the vicar but someone who works there) said she would need her spouse’s consent to obtain a copy.

She is going to go back and speak to the vicar directly and explain why she needs it but she just wanted to know if anyone else had gone through something similar.

Can the vicar or church refuse to give my DSis a copy of her own certificate?

Vicar here. We are supposed to send quarterly returns of marriages to the registry office. I get so few weddings that it isn't a great chore. Some vicars are so disorganised or overwhelmed or off sick that it doesn't happen straight away. They will have the original registers in the safe and they should be able to complete a duplicate certificate for a fee. The spouse's permission is not required.

@mostlydrinkstea - thank you for responding do you know if my DSis contact the vicar directly or the Church Administrator listed on their website? And how much roughly would the fee be?

Spouses permission my arse . Please tell us how this pans out because this is the sort of sexist drivel that makes me furious. I’m sure there are plenty of West Country MNetters who would feel the same.

It will cost £11 for a copy of the certificate. If there is a church administrator I would contact them rather than the vicar.

If they come up with nonsense like needing the spouse's permission I'd then go to the vicar. Lots of vicars have Monday as a day off so be aware that the phone might not be picked up. Good luck.

Thank you very much to everyone who commented and gave advice - I will update with hopefully good news in the next few days

Good news - DSis is collecting a copy of certified certificate later this week.

I spoke to the general registrars office this morning who confirmed what had been said about not needing a spouses permission and DSis spoke with church administrator who agreed to do a copy for her.

I am guessing the person spoke with before was either paranoid about GDPR or just couldn’t be bothered to do a copy that day.

Also check it - my daughter's has three mistakes on it including her age!!!! I did suggest she get it corrected but she has not. I suppose it does not really matter but it is a bit annyoing as it is supposed to be an official record.

I have been buying a lot of them including 40 great aunts and uncles and need to remember that they may not be 100% accurate.

Scotland has some really good church records in some regions in the 1800s which give both of the couple's parents names and the two mothers' maiden names which makes it much easier to research a family - well done Scotland.

In England in 2020 despite Cameron's promise the mothers' names do not apepar at all. May be we could persuade boris Johnson's finance to force him to change the law before she marries so her mother has a presence of the marriage cert.

"I just looked this up - "Symonds was born on 17 March 1988 to Matthew Symonds, co-founder of The Independent, and Josephine Mcaffee, a lawyer working for the paper".

I wonder if we could get Josephine Mcaffee who is the lawyer whose name will not be on the cert because Cameron breached his promise to stand behind a campaign to get the law changed in time. It was annoying in our case as I a lawyer and the other mother in law a doctor were just as much paying for the wedding (I gave the parent's speech) as the two fathers who were named when my daughter married yet it was as if we were written out of history.

Scottish and Northern Irish marriage certificates have included mothers’ names for quite some time. English and Welsh marriage certificates are due to include mother’s’ details at an unspecified time later this year.

Parties to the marriage must check the entry in the marriage register very carefully before signing it. Any corrections after the register has been signed have to be authorised by the General Register Office at a cost to the couple of £90.