Can an American Justice of the Peace Marry You in Mexico?

[LChavez]

Does anyone know if you are able to do all your paperwork in the U.S. and then have an American JP marry you in Mexico and give you an American marriage certificate?

 

It seems this would avoid a lot of problems but I don't know if American JPs have jurisdiction to marry a couple in Mexico.

[jaccat15]

you can do all the paperwork and legally get married by the state before you go down and have that same person marry you in mexico. i think the law says where ever you get your marriage license, the civil ceremony must be within that state - all paperwork really.

 

we are having our Rabbi marry us the week before (in our apartment with 2 witnesses) and then having our real jewish ceremony in mexico - which will be our wedding day.

[LChavez]

Thanks.

 

Will your marriage certificate list your marriage on the date your Rabbi married you in the States?

 

This may sound silly but I don't want to have two wedding dates, but I also dont want to go thru the hassle of getting legally married in Mexico.

[Smidge]

My daughter and her husband had a legal ceremony at home, and a meaningful ceremony in front of family and friends in Mexico. That is where the rings and vows were exchanged, and that is their wedding day. The American JP is not necessary in Mexico as your papers have been filed legally in the US. Your Mexican service is ceremonial, and my daughter's was a heartfelt non-denominational service by Kiko Flores. Our guests thought the couple knew him from home! Let me know if you want his email.

[jaccat15]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LChavez Thanks. Will your marriage certificate list your marriage on the date your Rabbi married you in the States? This may sound silly but I don't want to have two wedding dates, but I also dont want to go thru the hassle of getting legally married in Mexico.

yes, the marriage certificate will list the date in the states - which is 2 weeks prior to our date in mex - but we are really only considering it paperwork and our real wedding date will be the mexico date Our Kettubah (which is the Jewish marriage document) lists our Mexico date as the day we are going to be married under Jewish law.
Def don't go through the hassle of the legal mexican wedding - it also turns into a bigger hassel when you get back to the US.

You can always just go to the courthouse, get your license - the next day go back with 2 witnesses to sign off on it - and be done - seriously, you should only consider it paperwork. Have a symbolic ceremony in Mexico either officiated by your hotels recommendation or someone else, or you can bring your own person to do it.

[MrsGP2be]

I knew early on i didn't want to hassle with all the legalities in MX, so I toyed with the idea of making it legal here first then doing a symbolic ceremony in MX. However, I did not like the thought of doing it twice. I want to say I do to my FH once, and no matter how informal you make the legal ceremony here, it just seems to me it would take some of the 'specialness' out of the MX ceremony (for me anyway).

We are fortunate to have a good friend that is an ordained mininster. We are getting our marriage license here in TX, taking it, along with our friend, to MX and doing a symbolic ceremony there, with him officiating. We will sign our license then and file it when we get back home. My FH has done it this way before w/a previous marriage and it works (at least here in TX).

[LChavez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsGP2be I knew early on i didn't want to hassle with all the legalities in MX, so I toyed with the idea of making it legal here first then doing a symbolic ceremony in MX. However, I did not like the thought of doing it twice. I want to say I do to my FH once, and no matter how informal you make the legal ceremony here, it just seems to me it would take some of the 'specialness' out of the MX ceremony (for me anyway). We are fortunate to have a good friend that is an ordained mininster. We are getting our marriage license here in TX, taking it, along with our friend, to MX and doing a symbolic ceremony there, with him officiating. We will sign our license then and file it when we get back home. My FH has done it this way before w/a previous marriage and it works (at least here in TX).

Thank you. This is what I was thinking about doing since someone in the wedding party is a JP. I think I'll have to do some more research to see if I can do that in Arizona.

Thanks everyone for your responses.

[sarahrose]

I spoke to a Rabbi in New Jersey who warned that doing this could lead to trouble down the road. If you put the date that you got married in Mexico as your official wedding date, there is proof that you were not in the country at that time and it could lead to you not being considered legally married in the USA. There is the chance that no one would ever catch it, but that's a big chance to take in my opinion.

 

If you are filing the paperwork when you get back with the date of when you get home, then you should have no problem.

 

Just something to keep in mind.

[LChavez]

Thank you. If it's not authorized, then I won't do it. It's silly but I just want one date

[sarahrose]

I agree. I only want one date too. My fiancé thinks we should just do it here first, but it makes it feel less magical on the day for me I think.