Brides Beware! did you hire a Justice of the Peace or big fat liarhead?

March 30, 2:35 PMWedding and Marriage ExaminerElizabeth Oakes

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 Hiring a Justice of the Peace for your wedding
                        can be sketchy...

Readers of this column have heard me say many times that it’s crucial to check the references of your vendors, but no credentials are more crucial than those of the person performing your legal wedding ceremony.  This is mission-critical, since if that person is unskilled--or worse, a fraud--that could call into question the legal standing of your marriage, and that would be A Very Bad Thing.

Take for example this story from Arizona about a Sedona man allegedly performing weddings as a “Justice of the Peace.”   Suspect Allen Elfman claims he showed couples his ordination card from the Universal Life Church before conducting ceremonies, but portrayed himself on his website as well as on some marriage licenses as a justice of the peace.  He is being charged with fraud, forgery, impersonating a public servant, and tampering with a public record.  

So if indeed Mr. Elfman was ordained as a minister and legally empowered to conduct weddings under that credential, why would he represent himself as a “justice of the peace” and risk having those marriages challenged?  Though the investigation of this case is ongoing and many details have not been disclosed, I can give you an inkling about how and why this sort of thing happens; I’ve had an advisory about this very issue on my MarriageToGo FAQ page for years.

Here’s the deal:

Since more couples are seeking non-religious ceremonies these days, many decide they will be more comfortable with someone who is credentialed as a civil officiant and would prefer not to have a "religious" signature on their marriage license. This has created an interest in (and market for) Justices of the Peace, who are seen as a safe non-religious bet (though that's not necessarily true, if you're contracting for private services outside their normal government hours.) 

As a result, there are officiants merely ordained as ministers who claim--either knowingly and fraudulently, or out of ignorance of state law--that they are Justices of the Peace and can sign a marriage license that way.  This is not true; in fact, signing a marriage license with a credential you don’t have could invalidate the document and possibly the marriage.  It's also a criminal act in most states to impersonate a public official for any reason (as Mr. Elfman seems to be finding out.)

In California, the only person who can sign a marriage license as "JOP" is an active or retired Judge, Commissioner, or Assistant Commissioner of a court of record or Justice Court (some public officials and legislators are also empowered to conduct wedding ceremonies; in California notaries and attorneys are not, unless they have an additional credential that allows them to do so. To make this more confusing, in some states notaries and/or attorneys ARE empowered to conduct ceremonies.)  Most states have similar requirements about who can use the title "JOP."  Know the state law where your ceremony takes place, and investigate your officiant’s credentials carefully!

Yes, a lot of the people out there claiming to be JOPs are "mail-order ministers" who have never served in a court and are, in fact, committing fraud.  However, not all wedding officiants are child molesters, as in this horror story from California’s Kern County.

What makes the married-by-a-molester story so awful is that the guy was on a list of ministers given to the couple by the Kern County Clerk’s office (here in L.A. County we don’t have such a list since it couldn’t be fair and impartial, and because we still perform civil ceremonies--Kern County stopped performing civil weddings at the Clerk’s office when same-sex marriages were permitted last year.)

The irony here is that Russell Eugene Barry, the sex offender in question, apparently had a legit ordination--he just wasn’t disclosing his criminal past to his clients and such disclosures are not required by State law.  

So how can you make sure your wedding officiant is on the level?  As the Kern County Clerk’s office new list of wedding ministers states: “due diligence should be made to know who you are hiring.”  In other words: Brides, Beware!!

Until next time, a sweet and long life to you all.

National Wedding and Marriage Examiner Elizabeth Oakes welcomes your feedback at weddingexaminer@gmail.com; you can easily share this story or subscribe by clicking on the buttons at the top of this column, or read more of Elizabeth's stories by clicking here.

She's also happy to answer your questions about getting married in Los Angeles--check out her work and inquire about availability at MarriageToGo.Com.