S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4356
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 4, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. GALLAHAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Judiciary
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend the domestic relations law and the veterans' services
   law, in relation to allowing marriages  within  twenty-four  hours  of
   receiving a marriage license
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 13-b of the domestic relations law,  as  separately
 amended  by  section 39 of part PP of chapter 56 of the laws of 2022 and
 chapter 68 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
   § 13-b. Time within which marriage may be solemnized. [A] 1. EXCEPT AS
 PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION, A  marriage  shall  not  be
 solemnized  within  twenty-four hours after the issuance of the marriage
 license, unless authorized by an order of a court of record  as  herein-
 after  provided,  nor  shall  it be solemnized after sixty days from the
 date of the issuance of the marriage license unless authorized  pursuant
 to  section  ten  of the veterans' services law.  Every license to marry
 hereafter issued by a town or city clerk, in addition to other  require-
 ments specified by this chapter, must contain a statement of the day and
 the  hour the license is issued and the period during which the marriage
 may be solemnized. It shall be the duty of the clergyman, magistrate, or
 one-day marriage officiant, as designated by a town or city clerk pursu-
 ant to section eleven-d of this article, performing the marriage ceremo-
 ny, or if the marriage is solemnized by written contract, of  the  judge
 before  whom  the  contract is acknowledged, to annex to or endorse upon
 the marriage license the date and hour the  marriage  is  solemnized.  A
 judge  or justice of the supreme court of this state or the county judge
 of the county in which either party to be married resides, or the  judge
 of  the family court of such county, if it shall appear from an examina-
 tion of the license and any other proofs submitted by the  parties  that
 one of the parties is in danger of imminent death, or by reason of other
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07496-01-5
              

 A. 4356                             2
 
 emergency  public  interest will be promoted thereby, or that such delay
 will work irreparable injury or  great  hardship  upon  the  contracting
 parties,  or  one  of them, may, make an order authorizing the immediate
 solemnization  of the marriage and upon filing such order with the cler-
 gyman, magistrate, or one-day marriage officiant performing the marriage
 ceremony, or if the marriage is to be solemnized  by  written  contract,
 with the judge before whom the contract is acknowledged, such clergyman,
 magistrate  or  such  one-day  marriage  officiant  may  solemnize  such
 marriage, or such judge may take such acknowledgment as the case may be,
 without waiting for such three day period and twenty-four hour period to
 elapse. The clergyman, magistrate, judge, or such one-day marriage offi-
 ciant, as designated by  a  town  or  city  clerk  pursuant  to  section
 eleven-d  of  this  article,  must file such order with the town or city
 clerk who issued the license within five  days  after  the  marriage  is
 solemnized.  Such  town or city clerk must record and index the order in
 the book required to be kept [by him or her] for  recording  affidavits,
 statements,  consents and licenses, and when so recorded the order shall
 become a public record and  available  in  any  prosecution  under  this
 section.  A  person  who shall solemnize a marriage in violation of this
 section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor  and  upon  conviction  thereof
 shall  be  punished  by a fine of fifty dollars for each offense, and in
 addition thereto, [his or her] THEIR right to solemnize a marriage shall
 be suspended for ninety days.
   2. NOTWITHSTANDING THE TWENTY-FOUR HOUR WAITING PERIOD  PRESCRIBED  IN
 SUBDIVISION  ONE OF THIS SECTION, ANY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHOSE SCHEDULED
 MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IS LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS AWAY MAY GET MARRIED WITHIN
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIVING A MARRIAGE LICENSE.
   § 2. Section 10 of the  veterans' services law is amended to  read  as
 follows:
   §  10.  Time  within  which  marriage may be solemnized; member of the
 uniformed services. 1. Notwithstanding section thirteen-b of the  domes-
 tic  relations law, where either of the parties making application for a
 marriage license, pursuant to section thirteen of the domestic relations
 law, is a member of the uniformed  services  of  the  United  States  on
 active  duty  the marriage of the parties shall not be solemnized within
 twenty-four hours after the issuance of the marriage license, nor  shall
 it  be  solemnized  after  one  hundred eighty days from the date of the
 issuance of the marriage license. Proof that the applicant is  a  member
 of the uniformed services of the United States shall be furnished to the
 satisfaction of the official issuing the marriage license. Every license
 to  marry  issued pursuant to the provisions of this section shall state
 the day and hour the license is issued and shall contain a recital  that
 it is issued pursuant to the provisions of this section.
   2.  NOTWITHSTANDING  THE TWENTY-FOUR HOUR WAITING PERIOD PRESCRIBED IN
 SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION, ANY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHOSE  SCHEDULED
 MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IS LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS AWAY MAY GET MARRIED WITHIN
 TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF RECEIVING A MARRIAGE LICENSE.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.