Date of Registration Required to Obtain DP Certificate

April 6, 2005

PRINCETON — According to the registrar for Princeton Borough, an individual cannot obtain a copy of his or her certification of domestic partnership unless they provide the following information:

1. Full names of each partner
2. Place of registration
3. Date of registration

You must supply all of this information or you will not be able to get a copy. The registrar is not allowed to provide any of this information to you.

Registered domestic partners who do not have ready access to their certificate of registration should ensure that they keep a notation of their date of registration, otherwise, they may not be able to obtain a duplicate of their certificate.

This may not be an entirely correct interpretation of the Governor's directive #18, which instructed the Commissioner of the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services to create forms that ensured the security of marriage, domestic partnership, birth and death records.

As a result, the Department created forms that require all of the information to be provided before the state registrar or a local registrar will provide a certified copy of a record. It would seem to be enough to provide most of the information if you are seeking a copy of your own information and you have provided sufficient proof of your identity.

I may try to seek a clarification from the Commissioner's office regarding the necessity of providing all information.