Expert: Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson. - 4/29/2011

Question
Hello, My husband and I are U.S. citizens.  On 2/21/11, we got married in Costa Rica by an attorney/notary.  He assured us we would be legally married once the paperwork is registered and mailed to us and we register in U.S where we live.  It has been over two months and we did not receive ANY paperwork showing we got married and I have tried to contact them via e-mail and am not receiving a reply.  I am starting to feel like we got scammed.  What recourse do we have?  We have no proof except a wedding video.  We paid is U.S. cash.  He said it would cost $200 and we paid $280 to include the tip.  Any advice?

Answer
Hello
If the person who married you is indeed a Notary your marriage is official at the same moment of the ceremony and you should have gotten a temporary certificate however many times of the temporary certificate is not issued at the time of the wedding.

The permanent certificate is issued once it has been registered in Costa Rica, if you want to register the wedding in the USA or any other country for that matter it goes through a short process after it has been registered  in Costa Rica.

I would not worry too much right now because the average time to register the marriage is 2 months but sometimes may take a little longer, the average time for the certificate to go through the process to register outside of Costa Rica is about a week, sometimes less.

Do you have the name of the Attorney/Notary, send it to me by e mail.

Lic.Gregory Kearney Lawson.:
attorneykearney@yahoo.com