Now that DC has marriage equality, it needs to revamp the marriage license process. Everyone wants that 3 day waiting period to go away!
Meanwhile, ads are popping up with catchy phases like:
"We will process your marriage license for you."
Now there may be a valid reason for this service, but should you trust the source?
Is putting your confidential information in the hands of an unknown that easy?
You have read articles about it, so trusting your confidential information to someone you meet on the Internet is no different than trusting someone you meet on the streets.
IDs are stolen all the time, and the below information just makes it easier.
1. Social Security Number
2. Date of Birth
3. Address
4. Valid Identification (birth certificate, drivers license, passport, military ID)
When I am asked for such information to perform a prison marriage; I don't comply. I have no idea whose hands that information is going to be in. Moreover, it was a chaplain at a mid level security facility who warned me to never provide my confidential information to anyone.
The marriage license application asks for the same kind of information that is required to run a background check. And if you are not sure what that entails, cut and paste the link below in the address field, and take a look. http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/family/marriage_license.pdf
I can understand why couples from out of town would want to find a trusting source to handle their sensitive data. And since vendors are competing for business, unscrupulous characters will start to horn in on this virgin turf.
The easy way this time may not necessarily be the best way.
So make coming to DC a road trip, a short vacation, a time for reflection, meditation, or preparation for the future.
I have been a minister in the Washington DC Metropolitan area since 2004. And I have officiate more than 450 weddings. Since that time, I have never been asked to initiate and process the marriage license until same sex marriages became legal. And this is not a service that I provide under my ministerial title.
However, my business, Another Choice Virtual Assistant Services, can act as a marriage license agent for any couple in need of that kind of assistance. You can find us at www.mydcva.com, and we will be happy to work as your agent.
Furthermore, we will do everything we can to keep your confidential information protect until it is handed over to the clerk of the court.
So you decide what is best.
____________________________________________
Reverend Starlene Joyner Burns
DC Superior Court Authorized
202.253.3629
revsjb@comcast.net
www.startum.com/weddings.htm
www.mydcva.com
©2010 All Rights Reserved
If you have any comments, I would like to hear them
