Short answer. No. Article 19 of the Family Code allows the local civil registrar to collect only the fees prescribed by law or regulations before issuing a marriage license, and commands that no other sum shall be collected in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind. Indigent applicants pay nothing at all.
What the law says
No other sum shall be collected in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of said license.
Family Code, Article 19 — Marriage License Fees; Exemption for Indigents. Read the full provision →
What the law says
It shall, however, be issued free of charge to indigent parties, that is those who have no visible means of income or whose income is insufficient for their subsistence
Family Code, Article 19 — Marriage License Fees; Exemption for Indigents. Read the full provision →
Only the prescribed fees
Article 19 sets both the rule and its limit. The local civil registrar shall require the payment of the fees prescribed by law or regulations before the issuance of the marriage license — so a fee as such is lawful, and paying it is a precondition to getting the license. But the article immediately closes the door on anything more: No other sum shall be collected in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of said license. The lawful charge is the one a statute or regulation fixes; everything beyond it is outside the registrar's authority to demand.
Labels do not matter
The prohibition is written broadly — any sum in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of the license. Renaming a charge does not take it outside the rule: an add-on for processing, expediting, or facilitation that is not prescribed by law or regulation is still a sum collected for the issuance of the license. The practical test for a couple at the counter is simple: ask what legal provision or regulation fixes each amount being collected, and ask for an official receipt that states it. A charge with no citable basis and no receipt is exactly what the article forbids.
Free of charge for indigent applicants
The article goes further for those who cannot pay: the license shall, however, be issued free of charge to indigent parties, that is those who have no visible means of income or whose income is insufficient for their subsistence. Establishing indigence does not require documents from other offices — the article says the fact is established by their affidavit, or by their oath before the local civil registrar. A couple in genuine hardship can therefore claim the exemption directly at the civil registry, by swearing to their circumstances, and the fee itself falls away.
What to do if you are asked for more
Keep the paper trail: the official receipt for what you actually paid, and a note of any amount demanded without one. Politely asking the person at the window to identify the regulation behind a charge is often enough to make an unauthorised one disappear. If it does not, the demand can be raised with the local civil registrar personally, with the local government that supervises the office, or with a lawyer if the amounts or the circumstances warrant it. The law is on your side here in plain words — the article was written precisely so that a marriage license cannot be made a source of informal collections.