This girl I work with wants to have a small elopement. Shes thinking about doing this in the next two weeks. She wants her sister who is 15 to be her MOH and her husband wants his godson who is 17 to be his BM. They want the wedding to really consist of the four of them. No one else, except an officant, my question is, can the two minors sign as witnesses for their wedding? I don't think they can, but I want to give the correct answer.
I think a legal witness has to be 18 or older and not a blood realitve
Best idea - call town hall and ask them what is allowed b/c they'll need a marriage certificate b4 they marry.
Thank you. I will tell her that. She has the marriage license paper from town hall, but she said they never told her anything about restrictions regarding witnesses.
Posted by LaurenluvsTJ
From NYS dept. of vital records:
There is no particular form or ceremony required except that the parties must state in the presence of an authorized member of the clergy or public official and at least one other witness that they take each other as husband and wife. There is no minimum age for a witness. However, in selecting a witness, choose at least one person who you feel would be competent to testify in a court proceeding as to what he or she witnessed.
So those two would be able to sign the marriage license.
If you want more info, CLICK HERE
they can be the BM and MOH, but i dont know about signing being under 18, if they go to town hall, they will just have some over 18 stranger in the office witness as well and sign... the signature isnt the important part, the fact of them being there is... hope this helps
