Request By:
Mr. John T. Robertson
Christian County Clerk
Courthouse - 511 S. Main Street
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
The question is whether or not the county clerk can waive the fee required when issuing a minister's license to solemnize marriages to a chaplain at Fort Campbell, Kentucky Military installation.
Colonel Freeman, Deputy Post Commander at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, recently requested County Judge Executive Frank Gary of Christian County to procure a waiver of county clerk fees for marriage license, bond, certificate and recording relating to such licenses (to solemnize marriages) issued to army chaplains located in that county, and which chaplains perform marriage ceremonies at Fort Campbell. Colonel Freeman advanced no legal reason for such waiver.
Under KRS 402.060, the license to solemnize marriages issued by the county judge executive may be issued by way of his executive order book. The original of the license, along with the executed bond, must be kept on record in the county clerk's office. See OAG 82-453, published, Banks-Baldwin, page 2-484.
The county judge executive is responsible for filing the original executive order and bond with you, as county clerk. The fee for the marriage license, bond, certificate and recording is $14.00. See KRS 64.012.
We are not aware of any Kentucky statute or federal statute which would authorize the county clerk to waive the fee in question.
Chaplains are required to hold appropriate religious services for members of the armed forces in that command. 10 U.S.C.A. § 3547. As a prerequisite to appointment as an army chaplain, an applicant must receive endorsement from an ecclesiastical endorsing agency recognized by the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. This endorsement must certify, inter alia, that the applicant is a fully ordained or qualified priest, rabbi, or minister of religion. See 32 CFR § 65.4. Pursuant to 32 CFR § 510.1, a chaplain may perform the marriage rite, provided he complies with the civil law of the place where the marriage is to be solemnized.
Thus an army chaplain serving in Christian County, Kentucky, in the military role of a minister, rabbi, or priest would qualify for a license to solemnize marriages pursuant to KRS 402.060.
CONCLUSION
32 CFR § 510.1 requires an army chaplain, in order to perform the marriage rite, to comply with the civil law of the state in which he is serving. The practical and legal effect of the regulation is that such chaplain serving in a Kentucky county is required to pay the county clerk's fee in connection with the license to solemnize marriages, as mentioned above. There can be no valid waiver of that legal responsibility.