Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-397 Page: 1 of 7
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Office of the attorney generall
state of ltxas
DAN MORALES
ATTORNEY GENERAL May 31, 1996
The Honorable Steve Holzheauser Opinion No. DM-397
Chair
Energy Resources Committee Re: Whether a judge may receive a fee for
Texas House of Representatives performing a marriage ceremony during
P.O. Box 2910 regular office hours and use public resources
Austin, Texas 78768-2910 in performing the ceremony (RQ-818)
Dear Representative Holzheauser:
You ask whether a judge may perform marriage ceremonies during regular office
hours, using public resources that include public property and public employees, and
keeping the fee he or she charges for personal use. We will first consider whether judges
may keep the fees they charge for performing marriage ceremonies, and then consider the
use of public resources.
The following persons are authorized to conduct marriage ceremonies:
justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of criminal
appeals, justices of the courts of appeals, judges of the district,
county, and probate courts, judges of the county courts at law,
courts of domestic relations and juvenile courts, retired justices and
judges of such courts, justices of the peace, retired justices of the
peace, and judges and magistrates of the federal courts of this state.
Fam. Code 1.83(aX4).
We find no statute establishing a fee for a marriage ceremony performed by a
judge. Public officers are not entitled to receive extra compensation for performing their
official duties prescribed by law, but this general principle does not prohibit them from
charging for services that they are under no legal obligation to perform. Moore v.
Sheppard, 192 S.W.2d 559 (Tex. 1946). In Moore v. Sheppard, the Texas Supreme
Court addressed the disposition of fees received by clerks of the courts of civil appeals for
finishing uncertified copies of opinions of the courts, where no statute made it the clerks'
duty to provide uncertified copies, or fixed fees for providing these copies, and concluded
that the clerks were not required to pay the fees to the state. Id. at 562. Attorney General
Opinion JM-22 relied on the rule stated in Moore to conclude that a judge of a court of
record could charge a fee for conducting a marriage ceremony. The opinion stated as
follows:
Judges of courts of record are among those persons authorized
to conduct marriage ceremonies by article 1.83 ofthe Family Code.
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-397, text, May 31, 1996; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274206/m1/1/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.