Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the Arkansas General Assembly, fetched 2026-07-23. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. The official bill page.
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1 State of Arkansas A Bill
2 95th General Assembly
3 Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1902
4
5 By: Representative Milligan
6 By: Senator Crowell
7
8 For An Act To Be Entitled
9 AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A CERTIFICATE OF
10 MARRIAGE AND BOND; TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A
11 LOST, BURNED, OR DESTROYED CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE;
12 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
13
14
15 Subtitle
16 TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A
17 CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE AND BOND; AND TO
18 AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING A LOST, BURNED,
19 OR DESTROYED CERTIFICATE OF MARRIAGE.
20
21 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
22
23 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code � 9-11-218 is amended to read as follows:
24 9-11-218. Return of executed license to clerk -- Effect on bond.
25 (a) Any person obtaining a license under the provisions of this act
26 shall be required to return the license to the office of the clerk of the
27 county court within sixty (60) days from the date of the license.
28 (b)(1) If the license is duly executed and officially signed by some
29 person authorized by law to solemnize marriage in this state, the The bond
30 required by � 9-11-210 shall be deemed null and void if the license:
31 (A) Is duly executed;
32 (B) Is officially signed by a person authorized by law to
33 solemnize marriage in this state; and
34 (C) Is returned to the county clerk within sixty (60) days
35 from the date of licensure.
36 (2) Otherwise, it the bond under � 9-11-210 shall remain in full
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1 force and effect.
2 (c) If a marriage has been legally solemnized and the certificate of
3 marriage issued by a county in this state required to be returned to the
4 county clerk under subsection (a) of this section has been lost, burned, or
5 destroyed, the procedure to request a new certificate of marriage shall be as
6 follows:
7 (1) If both parties to the marriage are living, the parties may
8 request a new certificate of marriage by submitting a notarized affidavit
9 signed by both parties to the county clerk of the county where the lost or
10 destroyed certificate of marriage was issued stating:
11 (A) That the parties applied for and were issued a
12 certificate of marriage in the county;
13 (B) That the marriage was solemnized in accordance with
14 this subchapter and the date the marriage was solemnized;
15 (C) The name of the person who solemnized the marriage and
16 stating the person's authority to solemnize the marriage under � 9-11-213;
17 (D) If the person who solemnized the marriage is a
18 minister or priest, the county in which the credentials of the minister or
19 priest are recorded; and
20 (E) That the certificate of marriage was lost, burned, or
21 otherwise destroyed and is not able to be returned to the clerk;
22 (2) If one (1) party to the marriage is living, and the other
23 party is deceased or otherwise incapacitated, the party that is not deceased
24 or incapacitated shall request a new certificate of marriage by submitting a
25 notarized affidavit signed by the party to the county clerk of the county
26 where the lost, burned, or destroyed certificate of marriage was issued
27 stating:
28 (A) The names of both parties who applied for and were
29 issued a certificate of marriage in the county;
30 (B) That the marriage was solemnized in accordance with
31 this subchapter and the date the marriage was solemnized;
32 (C) The name of the person who solemnized the marriage and
33 stating the person's authority to solemnize the marriage under � 9-11-213;
34 (D) If the person who solemnized the marriage is a
35 minister or priest, the county in which the credentials of the minister or
36 priest are recorded; and
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1 (E) That the certificate of marriage was lost, burned, or
2 otherwise destroyed and is not able to be returned to the clerk; or
3 (3) If both parties to the marriage are deceased or otherwise
4 incapacitated, the heirs of the parties to the marriage may request a new
5 certificate of marriage by submitting, along with a certificate of death of
6 at least one (1) of the parties, a notarized affidavit signed by the heirs of
7 the parties to the county clerk of the county where the lost, burned, or
8 destroyed certificate of marriage was issued stating:
9 (A) The names of both parties who applied for and were
10 issued a certificate of marriage in the county;
11 (B) That the marriage was solemnized in accordance with
12 this subchapter and the date the marriage was solemnized;
13 (C) The name of the person who solemnized the marriage and
14 stating the person's authority to solemnize the marriage under � 9-11-213, if
15 known;
16 (D) If the person who solemnized the marriage is a
17 minister or priest, the county in which the credentials of the minister or
18 priest are recorded, if known;
19 (E) That the certificate of marriage was lost, burned, or
20 otherwise destroyed and is not able to be returned to the clerk; and
21 (F) That the requestor is an heir of the parties to the
22 marriage and that the heirs need a new certificate of marriage to carry out
23 the business of the estate of a party to the marriage.
24 (d)(1) If a party or heir submits an affidavit under subsection (c) of
25 this section, the fee for filing the affidavit and furnishing a new
26 certificate of marriage shall be ten dollars ($10.00) and the one-hundred-
27 dollar bond required under � 9-11-210 shall be deemed null and void.
28 (2) The party or heir receiving the certificate of marriage may,
29 within ninety (90) days after procuring the certificate of marriage from the
30 county clerk, file the certificate of marriage in the office of the county
31 clerk where the certificate of marriage was received, whose duty it shall be
32 to record the certificate of marriage in his or her record of marriage
33 certificates.
34 (3) At the time of filing the certificate of marriage, the party
35 or heir filing the replacement certificate of marriage shall also remit the
36 current fee for the county clerk to submit the certificate of marriage to the
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1 Division of Vital Records.
2 (4) The certificate of marriage shall relate back and have full
3 force and effect from the date of the solemnization of the marriage.
4
5 SECTION 2. Arkansas Code � 14-20-111, concerning marriage license
6 fees, is amended to add an additional subsection to read as follows:
7 (d) If a replacement certificate of marriage is requested under � 9-
8 11-218(c), the one-hundred-dollar bond required under � 9-11-210 shall be
9 deemed null and void and the fee for filing the affidavit and furnishing a
10 new certificate of marriage shall be ten dollars ($10.00).
11
12 SECTION 3. Arkansas Code � 16-119-107 is repealed.
13 16-119-107. Restoration of marriage records.
14 (a)(1) In cases where any marriage has been legally solemnized in any
15 county, and the certificate of marriage required by law to be filed in the
16 office of the recorder for the county, together with the record thereof, has
17 been lost, destroyed, or burned, it shall be the duty of the person who
18 solemnized the marriage, at the request and on the demand of either of the
19 parties between whom the marriage was solemnized, to furnish him, her, or
20 them, under his or her hand, a certificate of marriage.
21 (2) The certificate, in addition to setting forth the date of
22 the marriage and the names, ages, and residences of the parties at the time
23 the marriage ceremony was performed between them and that he or she performed
24 the marriage ceremony between them, shall also set forth in what capacity the
25 person granting the certificate acted, whether as a judge, justice of the
26 peace, minister, priest, or otherwise, at the time of the solemnization of
27 the marriage, and that the original certificate of the marriage was made out
28 by him or her and duly filed in the office of the clerk and recorder for the
29 county, as required by law.
30 (3) The person so receiving the certificate may, within ninety
31 (90) days after procuring the certificate from the person who solemnized the
32 marriage, file the certificate in the office of the clerk and recorder of the
33 county, whose duty it shall be to record the certificate in his or her record
34 of marriage certificates.
35 (4) The certificate shall relate back and have full force and
36 effect from the date of the solemnization of such marriage.
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1 (b)(1) In case the person who solemnized the marriage has died or
2 resides beyond the limits of this state so that the certificate cannot be
3 obtained, then the parties between whom the marriage was originally
4 solemnized, or the one surviving if either be dead, or their heirs, by their
5 guardian, in case both the parties are dead, wishing to reinstate the record
6 of the marriage may file their petition in the office of the clerk of the
7 county court setting forth therein the substance of the original marriage
8 certificate or the time when and the person by whom the marriage was
9 performed, in what capacity the person acted, whether as judge, justice of
10 the peace, minister, or priest, and that the certificate, with the record
11 thereof, was lost, destroyed, or burned.
12 (2) Upon hearing the petition, if the county court is advised of
13 the truth of the matters contained in the petition, it shall decree that the
14 marriage record be reinstated upon the records of the recorder's office, and
15 the clerk of the court shall certify a copy of the petition and decree down
16 to the recorder, who shall record them.
17 (3) The marriage record shall relate back and have the same
18 force and effect from the time when the marriage ceremony was first performed
19 as though the original record had never been lost, destroyed, or burned.
20 (4) No such decree shall be made or rendered by the county court
21 unless:
22 (A) The petition has been filed in the office of the clerk
23 of the county court, verified by the affidavit of the petitioner or some
24 other reputable person for him, her, or them; and
25 (B) The petitioner has caused a notice of the intended
26 application to be published in some newspaper printed in the county at least
27 six (6) weeks before filing the petition with the county court calling on all
28 persons who might feel themselves concerned to file notice with the county
29 court as to why the record should not be reinstated upon the records of the
30 recorder of the county. If no newspaper is printed in the county at the time
31 of the publication, then the publication may be made in some newspaper
32 printed in the City of Little Rock, Arkansas.
33
34
35
36
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