We need an answer to are they legally married?

we were in Ohio for a funeral that quickly turned into a wedding. My son and his girl at the time went to the court house after the funeral service and got a marriage licences. The flowers from the funeral were used as wedding flowers. A family member is a preacher and performed the ceromony. That was 7 years ago. She was pregnant when they married and we have custody of the little girl. Mom was never in the picture, she did not live with my son, she did not want to be a mother. They did not follow thru with the paper work of there marriage. We have been checking and there is no record of their marriage. Are they legally married?

If they did not follow thru with the paper work, no. It's not legal

If there is no record of the marriage then it was never a legal marriage. It may have been a legal marriage in the eyes of God, but that is about it. Every legal marriage has to be recorded in a county or state agency for it to have been legal.

But on the other hand, if they got married from a preacher, the marriage could be considered COMMON LAW marriage, and depending on the state, and the law of that state, a common law marriage can become a legal marriage after so many years of being together. So it may well be that your parents are married legally according to common law, even though it is not recorded.

They got a marriage license and an official performed the marriage ceremony; the preacher/minister and the witness(s) should have signed the papers and sent them off to Vital Records. Now there should be a Marriage Certificate registered in the County the marriage was performed. This is very strange. Have you contacted the family friend or the preacher to ask what they did with the Marriage License after the ceremony? Sounds like a legal marriage has occured but WHY is there nothing on file with the County Recorders Office? May want to do some more digging or atleast clarify as to WHOM and WHAT documents where never finished.

Ok They got a License which anyone can get. if the preacher and at least two witnesses sign the license also they sign it, it can be valid the only thing is , is that they need to register it with the court after all the signing. if there is no registration and the court does not have legal documents of the marriage technically there has been no marriage, Considering it has to be legal in the eyes of the law. Yes God knows yet the law has got to take a precedence here.
It has to be registered because if it is not in the eyes of the law they are not legally married.

If they Did not file the papers I don't think so But of course that brings up a whole new can of worms what if she wants that child now? Nothing you can do about it Unless she is declared an unfit mother. And is your son the Named father on the birth document?

what do you mean they never followed through with papers after marriage? they got a marriage license and a preacher married them....sounds legal to me....my opinion.
who the hell goes to a funeral and decides on a quick wedding "while they;re there????? lol

No. If someone neglected to file the paperwork with the government, then they are not legally married, although religiously married if everything here is the way it happened.

No.

The license expires...the preacher has to solemnize the marriage. If none of that was done, there is no legal marriage.

If they do not have a marriage license..they are not married.

It depends since you said they went and got marriage licenses (I think you meant one btw) after the funeral.
The marriage license is legal. The paperwork to register at court is not legal, but usually the most important thing is the actual marriage license. Now if you are saying that you cannot find the marriage license that proves they are married, then there may be no actual marriage. And you don't register your marriage with the court, you register it with the marriage bureau who issues the marriage license. Talk to a lawyer to get legal advice on this issue because it seems interesting and may be, as someone mentioned earlier, a common law marriage if the state accords itself to common law rules.
It sounds to me like you are wondering about custody of the little girl that you have with you at the moment. File custody paperwork and if in your state, you can ask the court to determine the parentage of the child (even though the girl was born after the marriage happened), you can find out if the girl is even your son's. Either way you can file for full legal and joint custody if the mother is not in the picture.
Since they got married in Ohio right after the funeral, have you checked Ohio's marriage bureau to find the license? And if not there, have you checked the state or county you live in to find it? If they got the marriage license as you stated, then that should make the marriage legal and you can go through divorce proceedings, even though there are no documents...at least in California we can do that. I'm not sure about your state though.

Good luck and I hope you can find a lawyer that can give you the advice you are seeking.