A woman living in Australia contacted us about getting married there. The authorities handling her marriage had asked for her California divorce record — and they asked for two versions of it: a certified copy and an exemplified copy.
Most people have never heard the second term. It is the one that decides how long the job takes.
They are not the same document
A certified copy comes from the court clerk. The clerk certifies that the copy matches the court’s record, and at the courthouse counter you can usually walk out with it.
An exemplified copy is a heavier instrument. It is not issued by the clerk alone — a judge signs it too, and the clerk certifies the judge’s signature. It is the version some foreign authorities ask for when a record is going to be relied on by a court or registry in their own country.
Both are official records. In our experience both can go on to the California Secretary of State for an apostille afterwards.
The part that catches people out
Because a judge has to sign it, an exemplified copy cannot be produced while you wait.
At the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, the request is left with the clerk along with a self-addressed stamped envelope. The document goes to a judge, comes back to the clerk, and is then mailed out. Nothing about that happens in an afternoon, and none of it can start the week of the wedding.
Only after the copy is in hand does the apostille step begin. That is a separate office and a separate trip.
Other California counties handle these requests their own way, so what is true at Stanley Mosk is not automatically true elsewhere.
Ask before you order
If you are marrying abroad and have been asked for your divorce record, put one question to the office that will receive it, and get the answer in writing:
Do you require a certified copy, an exemplified copy, either, or both?
Every country answers this differently, and so do different offices inside the same country. Our client was asked for both. Someone else may be told either will do. Ordering the wrong one means starting again, and the exemplified route is the slow one.
If you are outside the United States
The record has to be obtained here, and the apostille is issued here. Neither step happens in the country where you are getting married, which is why the timing has to be planned from your side of the calendar. We can obtain the record, take it for the apostille, and ship the finished document to you.
If you already have a wedding date, work backwards from it rather than forwards from today.
This article is part of Will Your Document Even Qualify?, where we cover the documents that turn out to be the wrong ones.
Also in this section: Why Clients Bring the Wrong Document, How Apostille Services Work When You Are Outside the United States and When a Deadline Does Not Stop for an Apostille Problem.