Padmé’s and Anakin’s secret wedding at the end of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones is a key narrative and emotional moment of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. But how do secret marriages work in the real world, if such things actually exist?
The issue is the marriage certificate, which certifies a couple’s marriage in the eyes of the law. Most couples want legal recognition of their marriage because that recognition entitles a couple to the legal benefits of marriage, such as property transfers at death, custody of children, and numerous other rights and responsibilities.
However, the marriage certificate that a couple files with the county clerk after their wedding ceremony is a public document, accessible to any nosy neighbor who takes an interest in your wedding date or other information contained in the certificate. In most U.S. jurisdictions, there appears to be no way to keep a marriage certificate off the books, with only two exceptions.
First, California Family Code section 500 allows unmarried persons “who have been living together as spouses” to obtain a confidential marriage certificate. While a confidential marriage certificate is still filed with the county clerk, the record’s contents are not accessible to the public without a court order. However, in order to qualify for a confidential marriage, the statute requires the couple to have been “actually residing in the same dwelling” prior to their wedding. People v. Hassan, 168 Cal. App. 4th 1306, 1314 (2008); see Encinas v. Lowthian Freight Lines, 69 Cal. App. 2d 156, 163 (1945) (noting that purpose of confidential marriages is “to encourage unmarried persons who have been living together as man and wife to legalize their relationship”). And although Padmé and Anakin shared some romantic fire-lit evenings at Padmé’s Varykino estate in the Naboo Lake Country, they were not living together and holding themselves out as spouses. They therefore almost certainly would not qualify for a California confidential marriage certificate.
The only other U.S. jurisdiction that provides for non-public marriage certificates is Michigan, where Michigan Compiled Laws section 551.201 allows for the issuance of a marriage license “without publicity.” Section 551.201 authorizes a probate judge, upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances, to secretly marry the couple without ever involving the county clerk. However, this statute is reserved for situations where the woman is pregnant and the couple wants to avoid a public marriage that occurs after a child is conceived. Baum v. Baum, 20 Mich. App. 68, 71–72 (1969) (“The intent of that statute is to protect a child born out of the indiscretions of its parents.”). So again, Padmé and Anakin probably would not qualify for this kind of secret marriage since Padmé was not pregnant at the end of Attack of the Clones.
Any couple, including Anakin and Padmé, can marry under the customs of their religion, culture, and personal relationship and never tell a single soul. But if Anakin and Padmé want a legal marriage certificate, there’s really no way for them to keep that public record a secret from the prying eyes of the Jedi.
