Civil ceremony then religious ceremony- paperwork

hmarsh113

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are planning on getting legally married at a courthouse in WV because he just took a job that does not have benefits and we need to add him to my health insurance. We are having a Catholic ceremony in May 2016 in PA. (he is Catholic while I am not so we are not doing the full Mass).

How would the paperwork work for this situation? Do we still have to get a marriage license in PA before our ceremony? Or does the marriage certificate we get from the WV courthouse count instead?

I would really appreciate any advice you can offer. We really wish we did not have to do it this way, but it is incredibly important that my fiance have health insurance. I know there are those out there who do not agree with how we are going about getting married, but we are doing what is best for us.

Thank you!

scrunchythief

Talk to your priest beforehand. This is generally not allowed by the Church. In countries where priests can be the witness at the civil ceremony, they are required to do so. If having a valid Catholic marriage is important to your FI, please do not proceed wthout talking to the priest.

May is very close. Can your FI go on the health exchange till then? Also there are both catholic and secular social services that help with health care costs.

Also, since I am from PA, you should know you need to get your license at least 3 days before your wedding. However you can normally use a license from any county. You may even be able to use a license from WV since I think we have some recirocity with other nearby states. Check with the county courthouse where the wedding will be.

banana468

hmarsh113 said:

Hi everyone,

My fiance and I are planning on getting legally married at a courthouse in WV because he just took a job that does not have benefits and we need to add him to my health insurance. We are having a Catholic ceremony in May 2016 in PA. (he is Catholic while I am not so we are not doing the full Mass).

How would the paperwork work for this situation? Do we still have to get a marriage license in PA before our ceremony? Or does the marriage certificate we get from the WV courthouse count instead?

I would really appreciate any advice you can offer. We really wish we did not have to do it this way, but it is incredibly important that my fiance have health insurance. I know there are those out there who do not agree with how we are going about getting married, but we are doing what is best for us.

Thank you!

Can you check with your employer to see if they allow domestic partnership benefits and also check to see if he has an ability to get benefits on the exchange? Also check with your employer to see if there is a penalty to add your spouse. DH and I will be out of pocket $1300 if I want to stay on his health insurance. More and more employers are moving that way.

Now to the paperwork - you're going to need to talk to your parish. To be legally married you need a marriage license where you wed and that will be filed.

BUT, now you need to talk to your church about how you will no longer be getting married in May and instead you wish to have a convalidation ceremony. Understand that this isn't as simple as saying, "We are doing the church part." The Church may require you to live as siblings prior to this event as you'll be in a marriage that isn't recognized. During that time and until you'd have the convalidation, you would technically not be able to receive Sacraments up to and including Communion. But more importantly, you need the church to be OK with this before you go ahead. Otherwise you could find yourself approaching what you think is a ceremonial day to find out that it isn't going to take place.

Just out of curiosity, why can't you just move things up and/or look into an alternative arrangement for insurance for the next 6 months?

holyguacamole79

Ditto PPs. The biggest thing here is to talk to the priest prior to doing anything else.

hmarsh113

Thank you all for the advice. We've had our ceremony and reception planned since May of last year. In September my fiance found out they were going to be firing people where he worked so he took another job. The new job is part time for the first year and will become full time with benefits after that. This was not something we expected to happen and we have been trying to look into all of our options.

holyguacamole79

hmarsh113 said:

Thank you all for the advice. We've had our ceremony and reception planned since May of last year. In September my fiance found out they were going to be firing people where he worked so he took another job. The new job is part time for the first year and will become full time with benefits after that. This was not something we expected to happen and we have been trying to look into all of our options.

Have you talked to your priest?

Also, what about the option of purchasing insurance through a private plan? I was out of work for several months at one point and purchased it. It's a bit more expensive, but it provides coverage and keeps you from having to risk how the Church will respond.

primafaba15

I agree with PPs-- start by talking to your priest. He will be able to talk through and advise you on your options. He may even have encountered a similar situation before.

Good luck!

hmarsh113

We did talk with our priest and he said he would be willing to work with us if we decided that getting married now for the health insurance was best for us. However, I looked into my insurance more and the premium for an employee + spouse was significantly higher than I expected. We did some more research and found a plan on the health exchange that will work for my fiance. Because his job is only part time he can get a significant tax credit towards a plan on the health exchange and we did not think he would be eligible for that at first. So thank you all for your suggestions! We will thankfully be getting married in May!

scrunchythief

hmarsh113 said:

We did talk with our priest and he said he would be willing to work with us if we decided that getting married now for the health insurance was best for us. However, I looked into my insurance more and the premium for an employee + spouse was significantly higher than I expected. We did some more research and found a plan on the health exchange that will work for my fiance. Because his job is only part time he can get a significant tax credit towards a plan on the health exchange and we did not think he would be eligible for that at first. So thank you all for your suggestions! We will thankfully be getting married in May!

Glad to hear it worked out!

MesmrEwe

hmarsh113 said:

We did talk with our priest and he said he would be willing to work with us if we decided that getting married now for the health insurance was best for us. However, I looked into my insurance more and the premium for an employee + spouse was significantly higher than I expected. We did some more research and found a plan on the health exchange that will work for my fiance. Because his job is only part time he can get a significant tax credit towards a plan on the health exchange and we did not think he would be eligible for that at first. So thank you all for your suggestions! We will thankfully be getting married in May!

Great to hear on many levels!  We checked out the pricing for an individual family policy vs. going through DH's work and were within $10 of eachother on the premiums, but the total out of pocket was significantly less for the policy not through his work and an easier to deal with company.  He went with the company plan out of diplomacy but now that his contract is up, I'm almost counting down the days to having the company we used to have insurance through back!

doclago

Convalidation ceremony is what it will be called. The only thing missing from your Blessing or Mass will be the signing of the paperwork!