Brother as Officiant?

Re: Brother as Officiant?

• kimberlyr22 member

  

  January 2012 edited January 2012

  Michigan officiant laws:
  
  

  Solemnization Authority: Marriages may be solemnized by any of the following:
  •  Federal, probate, district, and municipal judges, and district court magistrates, in their court area;

  •  Mayors, in their city;

  •  Wayne County clerks;

  •  Ministers of the gospel, anywhere in the state, "if the minister is ordained or authorized to solemnize marriages according to the usages of the denomination, and is a pastor of a church in this state, or continues to preach the gospel in this state";

  •  Non-resident ministers of the gospel, anywhere in the state, if the minister is authorized to solemnize marriages by his or her state's laws.

  Solemnization Form: No particular form or oath is required. The parties merely solemnly declare that they take each other as husband and wife before at least two witnesses and the person officiating. A special law allows "the people called Friends or Quakers" and "people of any other particular denomination, having, as such, any peculiar mode of solemnizing marriages" to solemnize their marriages in their own manner.
  
  It looks like you may be out of luck; however I would research further into the last sentence of the Solemnization Form section.
  
  In Pennsylvania, they have what is called a self-uniting marriage license, due to the influence of the Quakers and the Amish...essentially the self uniting marriage license does not require an officiant to sign the license, just two witnesses. 
  
  Definitely do your research -- but from the wording, it looks like online ordainment is not recognized by the State of Michigan.
  
  Also -- we are having a friend perform our ceremony, and before finding out about the self-uniting license in Pennsylvania had looked into the possibility of going to the Justice of the Peace in the morning to do it officially, and then having our friend do the formal ceremony later in the afternoon (this may not go over well with others on theKnot, but officiants costs are ridiculous ($400-$500 for a 15 min ceremony), and it's a crazy price to pay when you're trying to have a budget friendly wedding and are not active members in a church where you can make a smaller donation.

  

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• kennazebrowsky

  

  January 2012

  I don't think he can because of blood relation. My step mom is doing ours but she is not related by blood so legally she can.

  

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• HeathenSwan member

  

  January 2012

  I performed my brother's wedding ceremony. There shouldn't be a problem with blood relations. The Universal Life Church (ULC) is a multi-denominational organization that ordains online. I am ordained through them and have used the official raised seal certifiate you can order from them to register as an officiant in Arkansas. It is recognised as a legal ordination in most states.

  
  

  You should call your local clerk and ask them if they accept ULC ordination. In reading the statute, the part about preaching for in-stat residents may be the only sticking point with the ULC, but if he lives in another state where the ULC ordination is valid, he should be fine.

  
  

  I've talked to a lot of county clerks in many different states about this and they're usually very helpful. Also, the ULC site has a lot of information for various states (http://ulc.net/). 

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• LawyerBride2012 member

  

  January 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_brother-officiant?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:10Discussion:bf70f14a-f035-4afe-bc03-bf980c12d70cPost:cc030897-6cdc-460c-b8b1-2435f7251e75">Re: Brother as Officiant?</a>:
  [QUOTE]I performed my brother's wedding ceremony. There shouldn't be a problem with blood relations. The Universal Life Church (ULC) is a multi-denominational organization that ordains online. I am ordained through them and have used the official raised seal certifiate you can order from them to register as an officiant in Arkansas. It is recognised as a legal ordination in most states. You should call your local clerk and ask them if they accept ULC ordination. In reading the statute, the part about preaching for in-stat residents may be the only sticking point with the ULC, but if he lives in another state where the ULC ordination is valid, he should be fine. I've talked to a lot of county clerks in many different states about this and they're usually very helpful. Also, the ULC site has a lot of information for various states ( <a href="http://ulc.net/" rel="nofollow">http://ulc.net/</a> ). 
  Posted by HeathenSwan[/QUOTE]<div>
  </div><div>I'm a lawyer in Michigan. As long as your brother is ordained (ULC is an online service allowing normal people to perform marriages), then he can marry you. As far as I know, blood relation doesn't matter. 
  
  </div>

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• kimiandgary

  

  January 2012

  We are doing the same thing! He is just becoming a Justice of the Peace for a day, but CA has weird guidelines. He can only marry one couple on that one day. So no double wedding for us

  

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