How can I officially prove in Massachusetts that I have never been married?

Submitted by Kantmzk t3_ywf736 in boston

I have lived in Massachusetts my entire life and I have never been married. I'm going to get married to a Cuban girl next year in Cuba and I need to submit an affidavit/certificate of single status, basically, to prove I am currently unmarried.

I thought I would be able to submit a request for a "negative statement," to the state (here) however, when I have looked for vital records, it only seems to let me look for a marriage certificate, though I wouldn't even have one to begin with. I am at a bit of a loss -- what should I do to get a record to prove I have never been married before in Massachusetts?

I have contacted my local Town Hall but have not received a helpful response, nor found anything on official state websites, so I wanted to see if Reddit could help as there might be some Redditors who have had to do this while getting married internationally.

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waqitzikin t1_iwjbi4t wrote

Yes, I have experience with this! The way it typically works if you are a US citizen in Latin America is that you take a printed statement affirming you have never been married to the US embassy in that country, and you get it notarized. That is ten accepted by the civil registry in that country. If you look at the embassy website, there is usually an faq section about getting married that mentions that

Notarial services can be booked ahead of time on embassy websites, typically they don't do walk-ins any more. I don't know how it works in Cuba though given that the embassy may have restricted service because of the US-Cuba relationship,but you could try calling them

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grasshopper716 t1_iwk3oxd wrote

And this is why I love the internet and Reddit.

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noothanksreddit t1_iwk49gx wrote

And this is why I question the knowledge my brain decides to store.

"Grasshopper716? That seems like a name I remember or have seen before!"

"Wait I had jury duty?"

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chickadeedadee2185 t1_iwlbhw4 wrote

This is very helpful. But, they would still need to get the printed statement here in the U.S. How can they get that?

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divinAPEtion t1_iwlfrwd wrote

It sounds like the commenter is saying that you draft that printed statement yourself and have it notarized. Something along the lines of "I, ____, certify that..."

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echocomplex t1_iwm3q96 wrote

It's very interesting because in the US a notary mainly just attests that your signature is genuine, whereas in some Latin American countries notaries are like pseudo lawyers and are expected to do much more.

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Professional_Law_478 t1_iwj91o9 wrote

Pretty difficult to prove a negative. You said you need to submit a affidavit/certificate. If an affidavit works, that is just a sworn statement. You could theoretically type a statement swearing under penalties of perjury that you’ve never been married and sign in the statement in the presence of a notary who signs to confirm you provided the statement.

In other words, you are looking for some magic document that probably doesn’t exist. Maybe try the simpler path.

Feel free to ignore me (you probably should). I’m not from Mass. I just follow this sub because I visited Boston last fall and liked it.

Edit: sorry for all the typos. I was working off my phone.

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Sheeshka49 t1_iwm9nt9 wrote

I am an attorney and this is the right answer.

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av1dsd3ad t1_iwjvc8v wrote

U gotta round up all the girls in your area and have them tell the mayor they don't love you

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Billymaysdealer t1_iwkx591 wrote

Don’t forget about the stamp on the official negative marriage paper.

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willzyx01 t1_iwjcifw wrote

You need to go to your city clerk or state registry. Contacting them is useless, you'll wait days if not weeks to get a response. Doing it in person is much quicker. Once they don't find your marriage certificate, they will issue the Negative Statement. Translate and notarize it.

Don't bother with apostille since Cuba is not part of the Hague Treaty.

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UniWheel t1_iwjqllm wrote

>Once they don't find your marriage certificate, they will issue the Negative Statement.

Meaningless, since one could have been married in another state, or even country - a fact of which the local city or state registry would have zero knowledge.

On that absurd basis, likely more than half of actually married US citizens would be "single' because they were not married in their state (or worse, county) of current residence - we're a traditionally mobile population, especially in the "marrying years"

Now if the goal is purely bureaucratic plausible-fiction...

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wild-wild-world t1_iwjr97x wrote

I needed one of these to get married in iceland. I was able to get it at the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics in dorchester. I think you can order it online but I wanted to do it in person just to make sure I was filling everything in correctly. They pretty much give you an official paper that says no record of marriage came up in their search.

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Kantmzk OP t1_iwo1j4w wrote

Thank you, that is very helpful! On the website for a negative statement of birth, it asks to give a wedding date -- but what on earth would they want when the whole purpose is to show there was never a marriage in the first place? What was that process like for you, if you don't mind me asking?

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wild-wild-world t1_iwoaeh8 wrote

No problem! We went on a Wednesday afternoon and it wasn’t busy at all. I imagined it would be crazy and stressful like isn’t the RMV but it’s basically a service window in a hallway. It’s right across the hall from where lottery winners pick up their giant checks haha. The people at the window were very nice and there’s a table to fill out paperwork, maybe like half a sheet of paper very easy, for what kind of document you are asking them to retrieve for you. The documents they gave us looks like birth certificate almost very official looking document from the commonwealth of massachusetts and says “This is to certify that a search has been made of the records in this office for the MARRIAGE of (your name) throughout the records of the Commonwealth for the years: (the year you were 18 to 2019) and that said record has NOT been found.” Then there is actually asterisks for the years 2020-2022 with a separate letter they gave us saying that they apologize and don’t have those records on file yet due to the covid 19 emergency but it was enough for us to go ahead with our marriage. It took like maybe 15 mins for them to prepare the documents for us it was very easy and also inexpensive. Hope this helps!

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Kantmzk OP t1_iwqlypt wrote

Thanks very much! Did they ask you for a wedding date when you filled out this paperwork? That's the only stumbling block from me currently asking for this document online, as it seems to be a required field but it simply doesn't exist as I have never been married.

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wild-wild-world t1_iwqqv3h wrote

I don’t think so! We also had never been married so we didn’t have an existing marriage date on file either. I remember being confused as well for the same reason when I looked into ordering it online which is why we just went to the office. I’m pretty sure the paperwork was just basic stuff about your identity so they could pull the information from the system. Good luck!

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tulips49 t1_iwjf523 wrote

I have no advice other than to say congrats, good luck, and what an interesting question!

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witnessemptysky t1_iwjhati wrote

Looks like you can order that statement of negative marriage from https://www.vitalchek.com/vital-records/massachusetts/massachusetts-vital-records.

I got married in Ecuador and needed a similar doc. Mine is from another state since I was living elsewhere before going to Ecuador, but it’s similar. I also got my docs from Vital Check. They even got them apostilled for me, but I did have to call them directly for that. Not sure if Cuba requires apostille or not.

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Rabl t1_iwjwdme wrote

> Not sure if Cuba requires apostille or not.

Cuba is not a contracting state of the Apostille Convention. I have no idea if Cuba requires legalization.

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Sheeshka49 t1_iwma7o4 wrote

I would get a Negative Certificate of Marriage PLUS provide an Affidavit—as the Certificate only goes back 10 years—-depends how old you are.

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DisastrousIce6544 t1_iwjkx6f wrote

I'm going through the same process right now (getting married in Portugal). I live in NH and found that I can have this done at any city clerks office or if an apostille is needed I have to go to the NH Secretary of States office to request it. My fiance lives in MA and is wondering the same as you so I'll be following.

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slouchingtoepiphany t1_iwjeiuo wrote

You might want to check on this, but I think it only means that you sign a statement saying that you've never been married in the presence of a notary public, who will then affix a seal to the document. This would be an affidavit that you have never been married.

What u/professional_law_478 said.

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Hazelsea1099 t1_iwjcl2g wrote

I’d say show them your tax filings but I wouldn’t want anyone to have that much info

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Darklighter10 t1_iwjachx wrote

Show them pictures of you having fun with your guy friends. Should be proof enough.

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mshelikoff t1_iwje07v wrote

I'd ask the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC for the most recent details about exactly what will be accepted.

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pacmanman t1_iwk0byg wrote

have you filed taxes as a single person? or listed as someone’s dependent? they should work. if you were married you’d have to claim it in your taxes.

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PuritanSettler1620 t1_iwl1i4r wrote

Rat bastard commies

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Dukeofdorchester t1_iwldj6f wrote

You're a little too early:

The Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1847-48 just before the Revolutions of 1848 swept Europe, expressing what they termed scientific socialism. In the last third of the 19th century parties dedicated to Democratic socialism arose in Europe, drawing mainly from Marxism.

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Dukeofdorchester t1_iwld75d wrote

Take a picture of your apartment. Show that there are no "Live, laugh, love" canvas prints on the wall.

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RalePider t1_iwj8xy5 wrote

Find a lawyer in the family law field

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Head_Zombie214796 t1_iwktp90 wrote

just write a letter to that effect, get it notirized

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chickadeedadee2185 t1_iwlbkq8 wrote

Call your local state rep and have them work on it for you.

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