Delaware § 207 - Application for license for persons who wish to enter into a civil union.

§ 207. Application for license for persons who wish to enter into a civil union.

(a) Before any civil union license shall be issued by the issuing officer, the parties desiring to enter into a civil union shall together appear before such officer to be examined upon oath or affirmation in the presence and hearing of each other according to the form prescribed by subsections (b), (c) and (d) of this section to which the parties applying for the license shall subscribe their names. The license shall be issued only after it has been made to appear that no legal impediment to the proposed civil union exists. In the case of critical illness of 1 of the parties desiring to enter into a civil union, the physician attending such party may appear for the ill party and make an application for a civil union license for such party, if such physician first makes an affidavit and delivers it to the issuing officer stating that in the opinion of said physician the party for whom said physician is acting is at the point of death and that this person may lawfully enter into a civil union. The application for the civil union license shall be altered in such case to show that said physician acted as proxy and the affidavit of the physician shall be filed with the application.

(b) The civil union license application shall be in the form prescribed and provided by the Department of Health and Social Services and shall be permanently preserved by the issuing officer in the manner as prescribed by the Department of Health and Social Services. The civil union license application shall include the following information and such other information as prescribed by the Department of Health and Social Services; provided that such other information is also required for marriage license applications under Chapter 1 of this title: date of application; full name, sex, race, Social Security number, birth date and occupation of applicants; names and addresses of parents of applicants; date and place of previous civil unions, domestic partnerships or marriages and termination of previous civil unions, domestic partnerships or marriages; place and court where applicants are on probation or parole, if such they be; and time of application.

(c) The application shall contain a certification by each applicant that each applicant is not of a prohibited degree of relationship.

(d) The applicants and issuing officer shall sign the application and the issuing officer shall certify as follows:

“I believe neither party is now under the influence of intoxicating liquor nor a narcotic drug. I have demanded and examined such papers as required by law and I am satisfied that they are properly executed. I know of no legal impediment to the proposed civil union of the above applicants.”

The application shall also contain an appropriate affidavit form to be signed by persons certifying that an applicant is a resident of the State, if such a certification is required.

(e) In the case of applicants for a civil union license who claim to be residents of this State, if neither of them is personally known to the civil union license issuing officer as a resident of this State, at least 1 of such applicants must be identified as a resident of this State to the satisfaction of the issuing officer by a reputable guarantor, who under oath shall fill in the proper portion on the page in the Civil Union Record Books and shall duly sign it.

(f) Every person authorized by this chapter to issue civil union licenses may administer oaths or affirmations to the parties applying for the license.

(g) Civil union licenses, and other forms and books used in connection with the issuance of civil union licenses shall be furnished by the Department of Health and Social Services on request of the clerks of the peace. Each page of the Civil Union Record Books for the use of the clerks of the peace shall be numbered serially before delivery to the clerks of the peace.

(h) Clerks of the peace shall examine and satisfy themselves of the validity of papers submitted to them by divorced persons, past or present patients of insane asylums, persons on probation or parole and shall file such papers in the office of the recorder of the appropriate county. Such papers shall constitute a part of the application for civil union license, but shall be open to inspection of the public only upon order of the resident judge of the proper county or such person as the judge may appoint to give such orders.

(i) Judges shall supply certificates in whatever form they see fit to such divorced persons as they believe should receive them under this chapter.

(j) Superintendents of asylums for the insane shall supply certificates in whatever form they see fit to such persons as they believe should receive them under this chapter.

(k) In the case of any adult person who is on probation or parole from any court or institution, the chief officer of such court or institution, or such person as such officer may appoint to give consent to enter into a civil union, shall supply such consent in whatever form such officer deems advisable to such applicants for civil union license as such officer believes may properly enter into a civil union.

78 Del. Laws, c. 22, §  1;