Section 511 Of Chapter 1. General Provisions From California Family Law Code >> Division 3. >> Part 4. >> Chapter 1.
511
. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the county clerk
shall maintain confidential marriage certificates filed pursuant to
Section 506 as permanent records which shall not be open to public
inspection except upon order of the court issued upon a showing of
good cause. The confidential marriage license is a confidential
record and not open to public inspection without an order from the
court.
(b) The county clerk shall keep all original certificates of
confidential marriages for one year from the date of filing. After
one year, the clerk may reproduce the certificates pursuant to
Section 26205 of the Government Code, and dispose of the original
certificates. The county clerk shall promptly seal and store at least
one original negative of each microphotographic film made in a
manner and place as reasonable to ensure its preservation
indefinitely against loss, theft, defacement, or destruction. The
microphotograph shall be made in a manner that complies with the
minimum standards or guidelines, or both, recommended by the American
National Standards Institute or the Association for Information and
Image Management. Every reproduction shall be deemed and considered
an original. A certified copy of any reproduction shall be deemed and
considered a certified copy of the original.
(c) The county clerk may conduct a search for a confidential
marriage certificate for the purpose of confirming the existence of a
marriage, but the date of the marriage and any other information
contained in the certificate shall not be disclosed except upon order
of the court.
(d) The county clerk shall, not less than quarterly, transmit
copies of all original confidential marriage certificates retained,
or originals of reproduced confidential marriage certificates filed
after January 1, 1982, to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.
The registrar may destroy the copies so transmitted after they have
been indexed. The registrar may respond to an inquiry as to the
existence of a marriage performed pursuant to this chapter, but shall
not disclose the date of the marriage.