Clerks gear up for same-sex union paperwork

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Same-sex couples will be allowed to enter into civil unions in Illinois beginning June 1. How exactly clerk’s offices will process the paperwork remains to be seen.

For decades, the Will County clerk’s office has used pink paper for brides and blue paper for grooms who are applying for marriage licenses.

But County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots said she’s not sure if that tradition will be changed.

“That’s all going to have to be thought through,” she said.

Clerk’s offices all over the state are busy preparing for the April elections, so guidance on the civil union law will be needed as soon as possible.

DuPage County Clerk Gary A. King said the change will mean “a lot more paperwork” for his office, as well as added expenses.

King noted that DuPage has a computerized system for marriage licenses that will now have to be changed.

“They will have to write a second program” to deal with civil unions, since those are legally different than marriages, he said.

As far as filing for a civil union, he said the procedure will be similar to getting a marriage license. The forms, however, are still being put together, since civil unions won’t become legal until the summer.

“I haven’t seen anything yet,” King said.

Voots said she’s not sure if the document that will allow couples to enter civil unions will be called a license. Also, documenting a couple’s place of residence will be important, especially if either party is from a state that prohibits civil unions.

Voots said she’s in the process of updating her office’s software, so now is a good time to incorporate all of the new civil union requirements.

Also, the websites for both the DuPage and Will County clerk’s offices will have to be changed to reflect the new law, and judges and others will have to be trained to officiate civil unions. Some of that work, though, may have to wait.

“They (state officials) haven’t given us direction yet,” Voots said.