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New law removes 10-day limit to submit marriage certificate
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Posted on Nov 15 2022
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres has enacted a bill that removes the 10-day restriction to submit a marriage certificate by any religious and/or non-religious entity.
House Bill 22-113, SD1 is now Public Law 22-25. Rep. John Paul Sablan (Ind-Saipan) is the main author of the legislation.
The bill was passed without amendments by the House of Representatives on first and final reading last Aug. 29 and the Senate passed the bill with amendments on first and final reading last Sept. 23. The House accepted the Senate’s amendments and passed the bill during its regular session last Oct. 18.
Sablan earlier stated that the legislation strikes out the 10-day deadline to submit a marriage certificate. Sablan disclosed that his office received calls from potential spouse beneficiaries as they were having trouble claiming beneficiaries because their marriage certificates were not submitted to the Superior Court’s clerk of court.
Sablan reached out to the Settlement Fund and was able to confirm that there are indeed such claims that are still pending.
He said that, for some of these marriages, the certificates from churches were not submitted to the Superior Court’s clerk of court. Because the provision of 10 days after the ceremony deadline to submit was exhausted, these potential beneficiaries couldn’t claim their benefits.
