Legal Question in Family Law in California

It sounds as though you were married, but that the person solemnizing the ceremony never returned the marriage.

The document that is issued by the county clerk is a marriage license, until it is registered with the county recorder, at which time it becomes a marriage certificate. (Fam. Code, sect. 300 subd. (b).) It is not filed with a court, but rather the county recorder where the license was issued.

Family Code section 306 proides that "Except as provided in Section 307, a marriage shall be licensed, solemnized, and authenticated, and the authenticated marriage license shall be returned to the county recorder of the county where the marriage license was issued, as provided in this part. Noncompliance with this part by a nonparty to the marriage does not invalidate the marriage." (Fam. Code, sect. 306.) Thus, your pastor's noncompliance with the requirement to register the license does not invalidate your marriage.

A recorded marriage license creates a presumption that the parties are validly married. (Evid. Code, sec. 663.) If no record of the solemnization of a California marriage is known to exist, the parties are able to purchase a License and Certificate of Declaration of Marriage. (Fam. Code, sec. 425.)

It sounds like you want to make sure your marriage is registered. I suggest that you contact the recorder and obtain the necessary License and Certificate of Declaration of Marriage as set forth above.