Short answer. No. The Family Code exempts the documents and affidavits filed in connection with an application for a marriage license from documentary stamp tax. The registrar must also prepare those documents and administer the oaths on them without any charge to either of you.
What the law says
It shall be the duty of the local civil registrar to prepare the documents required by this Title, and to administer oaths to all interested parties without any charge in both cases. The documents and affidavits filed in connection with applications for marriage licenses shall be exempt from documentary stamp tax.
Family Code, Article 24 — Registrar's Duty to Prepare Documents; Tax Exemption. Read the full provision →
Two separate reliefs in one short article
Article 24 does two things, and it is worth separating them. First, it makes the preparation of the documents and the administration of the oaths a duty of the local civil registrar, to be performed without any charge in both cases. Second, it exempts the documents themselves from documentary stamp tax. So neither the drafting nor the swearing nor the stamping is something you should be paying for. The only money that changes hands lawfully at this stage is the marriage license fee that has actually been prescribed by law or regulation.
Why the drafting is the registrar's job
The first sentence tends to surprise couples who assume they must arrive with everything typed up. The Code requires the registrar to prepare the documents required by this Title — the sworn applications, and the affidavits the Title calls for, such as the affidavit of parental consent or the sworn statement about parental advice. That does not mean he supplies the facts; you do, and you swear to them. It means the form and the drafting are not a service you have to buy from a notary or a fixer standing outside the office.
What the exemption covers, and what it does not
The exemption is defined by purpose: it reaches documents and affidavits filed in connection with applications for marriage licenses. Instruments you sign for other reasons are governed by the tax laws that apply to them, whatever their connection to the wedding. A marriage settlement, for example, is not an application document, and a deed transferring property between you is plainly not. Article 19 covers the neighbouring point about money — beyond the prescribed license fee, No other sum shall be collected in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of said license.
If you are asked to pay anyway
Ask what the charge is for and on what authority it is imposed, and ask for the official receipt that any lawful fee attracts. A prescribed license fee comes with a receipt naming it; a stamp tax on your application papers and a charge for drafting or swearing them have no basis in this article at all. Keep whatever receipts you are given with your copy of the application, because they document what the office collected and when. If the demand persists, the article itself is short enough to bring with you and show.
Related provisions
- Family Code, Article 24 — Registrar's Duty to Prepare Documents; Tax Exemption
- Family Code, Article 19 — Marriage License Fees; Exemption for Indigents