My fiancee & I flew to Mendocino, California to be married on June 15, 2000. We live in Ontario, CA which is over 900 miles away. When I made arrangements for the wedding the minister told me his wife would be attending to take pictures. I assumed she would be our witness. When we arrived the innkeeper (we stayed at the minister's B & B) asked if we had anyone to take pic's. I said yes, his wife. When it came time for the ceremony the minister came alone. When we asked where his wife was he said, "I have everything taken care of." We had our ceremony with just the three of us. After 90 days the county recorder contacted me that they never received our certificate. I contacted the minister and he said "he mailed it with his and his wife's signature on it mailed it in and it must have gotten lost in the mail." I purchased a duplicate and mailed to minister along with a letter asking him how his wife could sign the certificate if she didn't attend the ceremony. He called me when he received the letter very upset. He said I was questioning the integrity of his wife and will not sign the certificate. My husband got on the phone and the minister admitted that he did make a mistake signing her name. Well, yesterday I received the $150 back he charged for the ceremony. I contacted our county recorder and was told, "You are not married. Go have another ceremony and hire an attorney."
I have discussed the matter with a couple of attorneys and they say I have a case, but their isn't enough money involved for them to help us. This has been a complete nightmare for us. Today we decided to just call the minister and ask him to please sign our certificate so we would be married. He refused. He stated that we were like everyone else trying to get a freebee from him or we were trying get a lawsuit going against him. He said we demanded our money back when we mailed the duplicate certificate to him. But, we didn't. I have a copy of the letter I mailed to him. Again, he admitted to us that he did wrong by signing his wife's signature to the original certificate. He also said, "you guys are not married" and just laughed. My supposed to be husband was infuriated and told him, "I'll see you in court" and hung up.
This was supposed to be the happiest day of our life and this man and just made this past month unbearable. I am so stressed out over this. I wonder how a man of God can treat people as he has done us. This man has done us wrong and he is getting away with it. At this point in time, all I wanted was for him to pay the $69 for new marriage certificate in which is lost. We will have to have another ceremony. I don't want to see him get away with treating us like this. My fiancee he will do anything and everything to go after this man. What can we do?
I would appreciate any information someone might have. I have been to other boards to post and they are asking for a large amount of money before I even know their answer.
Thank you
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11-08-2000, 08:01 PM
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