Marriage laws vary by state across the United States because each state writes its own rules on who can marry, how to apply for a license, who may perform the ceremony, and how long a license stays valid. The federal government sets no national marriage code. What that means in practice: age limits, fees, waiting periods, officiant requirements, and even whether you can be married without a ceremony at all depend entirely on where you apply. The core steps are similar everywhere — prove your identity, meet eligibility rules, pay a fee, have the union solemnized by someone the state authorizes — but the details differ enough that a quick call to the county clerk where you plan to marry is the single most useful thing you can do before setting a date.
Who Can Legally Marry
Age
In every state you can marry without restriction at 18. Roughly 20 states and territories have made 18 an absolute floor with no exceptions. The rest allow minors, usually 16 or 17, to marry with parental consent, a court order, or both. Where a judge has to sign off, the court evaluates whether the marriage is genuinely in the minor’s best interest rather than simply approving the request. If you are under 18, expect more paperwork and a longer timeline than a standard adult application.
Same-Sex Couples
Since 2015, every state must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The Supreme Court held in Obergefell v. Hodges that the right to marry is protected under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, making state bans unconstitutional.1Justia Supreme Court. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015) The application, documents, and fees are identical regardless of the couple’s gender.
Prohibited Relationships
Every state prohibits marriages between close blood relatives: parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and siblings including half-siblings. First-cousin marriages are banned or heavily restricted in about 30 states; the remaining states allow them under varying conditions. A marriage that violates these rules is void from the start, and some states treat knowingly entering such a union as a criminal offense.
Already Married
Bigamy is prohibited everywhere and can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor depending on the state and circumstances. You must be legally single, divorced, or widowed before applying for a new license. A second marriage entered while the first is still active has no legal standing.
Mental Capacity
Both people must have the capacity to understand what marriage means and to consent voluntarily. Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs when signing the application, or having a condition that impairs judgment, opens the marriage to a later annulment challenge. Courts look at whether the person could genuinely comprehend the commitment at the moment they agreed to it.
What You Bring to the Clerk’s Office
Gathering documents before you visit is the best way to avoid a wasted trip. Clerks who process marriage licenses see incomplete applications constantly, and most will send you home rather than hold your place.
- A valid, unexpired government photo ID: driver’s license, state ID, or passport. Bring the original; photocopies and digital images are almost never accepted.
- A certified copy of your birth certificate if your jurisdiction asks for one. Call ahead, because ordering one from another state can take weeks.
- Your Social Security number. Federal law requires states to record it on the application as part of child support enforcement procedures. If you don’t have one, expect to sign an affidavit or provide alternative documentation.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures To Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement
- If you have been married before, a certified copy of your final divorce decree, annulment judgment, or your former spouse’s death certificate. The document must show the date the prior marriage ended. Clerks check these carefully to confirm any mandatory post-divorce waiting period has run before issuing a new license.
The application itself asks for both parties’ full legal names, any former surnames, and the full names and birthplaces of each person’s parents. You will also list the planned ceremony location and the officiant’s name. Everything on the form is sworn under penalty of perjury, so an error that looks like misrepresentation can create problems if the marriage’s validity is ever challenged.
Getting the License
Appearing in Person
Nearly every jurisdiction requires both people to appear together at the county clerk’s office, city hall, or equivalent local agency. The clerk verifies your IDs against the application and watches you sign. Most states don’t require residency, which is why destination weddings work. Non-residents generally apply in the county where the ceremony will take place.
Fees and Discounts
Marriage license fees range from under $20 to over $100, depending on the jurisdiction. Several states offer a significant discount, sometimes eliminating the fee entirely, if you complete a state-approved premarital education course before applying. Course length typically runs from four to twelve hours. Payment at clerk’s offices is often limited to cash, money order, or debit card, so confirm before you go.
Waiting Periods
Some states impose a mandatory wait between the time your license is issued and the earliest legal ceremony date, generally 24 to 72 hours. Many states have no wait at all. Where waiting periods apply, waivers are sometimes available for military personnel, couples who completed premarital counseling, or situations a judge finds show good cause. A ceremony held before the waiting period expires is legally invalid, so plan accordingly.
How Long the License Lasts
Once issued, a license is good for a limited window, usually 30 to 90 days, though a few states allow up to six months. If you don’t hold the ceremony before it expires, you reapply and pay the fee again.
Proxy Marriages
A proxy marriage lets one or both people be absent from the ceremony, with a stand-in appearing in their place. Only a handful of states permit this, and eligibility is almost always limited to active-duty military members deployed overseas or otherwise unable to attend. Montana is the only state that routinely allows double-proxy marriages, where neither person needs to be present. Proxy service fees can run several hundred dollars above the standard license cost.
Who Can Perform the Ceremony
A license doesn’t make you married; the ceremony does. The person presiding must be authorized by the state. That generally includes judges, justices of the peace, and ordained clergy from any recognized religious denomination. Many states also recognize ministers ordained online, though some require those officiants to register their credentials with a county office before performing any ceremonies. If you are using an online-ordained officiant, contact the local clerk’s office well in advance and ask what documentation is needed. Getting turned away because the officiant didn’t file a form is a common disaster.
Colorado and Pennsylvania allow self-uniting (or self-solemnizing) marriages where no officiant is required. The couple conducts their own ceremony and signs the license themselves. The tradition has roots in Quaker practice but is available to anyone in those jurisdictions.
Virtual Ceremonies
Utah offers a fully remote marriage system where couples from any state can apply online, attend a video ceremony, and receive a legal marriage certificate without ever setting foot in the state. Colorado’s self-solemnization option can also effectively be completed remotely. Several other states allowed virtual ceremonies during the pandemic but have since reverted to in-person requirements, so verify current rules before assuming a video call will suffice.
Witnesses
Witness requirements vary. Many states require one or two adults to observe the ceremony and sign the license, verifying that it happened and that both people consented voluntarily. In some states the officiant’s signature alone is enough.
Filing the Completed License
After the ceremony, the signed license must be returned to the issuing office for recording. The officiant is usually responsible for delivering it within a set deadline, typically 10 to 30 days. If the officiant forgets to file, the marriage can be hard to prove even though it’s technically valid. Once recorded, you can request a marriage certificate, which is the permanent legal proof of your union.
Common Law Marriage
Common law marriage recognizes a couple as legally married without a license or ceremony. Only about a dozen jurisdictions still recognize new common law marriages, including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah, with a few others doing so through case law rather than statute.3National Conference of State Legislatures. Common Law Marriage by State Every other state requires a formal license and ceremony.
Where it is available, the couple must show mutual intent to be married, continuous cohabitation, and public presentation as spouses. Shared surnames, joint accounts, joint tax returns, and introducing each other as husband or wife all serve as evidence. No fixed number of years is required; the question is whether the relationship functions like a marriage and is held out as one.
Proving a common law marriage can be harder than you’d expect, especially after a partner dies. The Social Security Administration, for example, requires signed statements from both spouses (if living) and two blood relatives explaining why they believe the marriage exists.4Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.726 – Evidence of Common-Law Marriage Keeping written documentation (joint leases, beneficiary designations, affidavits) makes this much easier.
A common law marriage validly formed in a state that recognizes it must be honored by other states under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, even if the couple later moves somewhere that no longer allows new common law marriages.5Legal Information Institute. Common Law Marriage Ending a common law marriage requires a formal divorce, identical to dissolving any other marriage.
A related but separate rule, the putative spouse doctrine, protects people who genuinely believed they were legally married but weren’t, usually because one partner was already married to someone else. In states that recognize it, a putative spouse who entered the marriage in good faith can still claim marital property rights.6Legal Information Institute. Putative Spouse Doctrine The doctrine does not exist everywhere.
Covenant Marriage
Arizona, Arkansas, and Louisiana offer an alternative called covenant marriage, with stricter requirements both to enter and to leave the union. Couples choosing it must complete premarital counseling with a member of the clergy or a licensed counselor and sign a declaration of intent acknowledging that the marriage is meant to be lifelong and that they commit to seek counseling if problems arise. In exchange, divorce is only available on limited grounds: adultery, a felony conviction with imprisonment, abandonment for at least a year, physical or sexual abuse, or a lengthy separation period. Standard no-fault divorce is not available in a covenant marriage. Only a small fraction of couples in those states choose it, but it is worth knowing about if you are marrying in one of the three.
What Changes Legally Once You Are Married
Marriage rewrites significant parts of your legal and financial life, and some of those changes also depend on which state you live in.
Property
Most states use an equitable distribution framework, where marital property is divided fairly, though not necessarily equally, in a divorce, based on factors like the length of the marriage, each spouse’s earning capacity, and contributions including homemaking. A smaller group of states follow community property rules, under which most assets acquired during the marriage are jointly owned and the starting point for division is 50/50. Which system your state uses directly affects what happens to your house, retirement accounts, and other assets if the marriage ends.
Inheritance
Marriage creates automatic inheritance protections that unmarried partners don’t get. If your spouse dies without a will, intestate succession laws give the surviving spouse a substantial share of the estate, often the whole estate if there are no children. Even when a will exists, most separate property states give the surviving spouse an elective share, typically around one-third of the estate, that the will cannot override.7Legal Information Institute. Elective Share A spouse generally cannot be completely disinherited.
Taxes
Married couples must file federal taxes as either married filing jointly or married filing separately; single is no longer available. For 2026, the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly is $32,200, compared to $16,100 for single filers.8Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Most brackets for joint filers are exactly double the single-filer amounts, so couples with similar incomes see little change. At the top the brackets are not fully doubled, which is where the so-called marriage penalty hits two high earners.
Student Loans
If either spouse has federal student loans on an income-driven repayment plan, marriage can change the monthly payment. Filing jointly generally means combined household income determines the payment, which can raise it. Filing separately uses only your individual income for most plans but costs you other tax benefits like the student loan interest deduction and the Earned Income Tax Credit.9Federal Student Aid. 4 Things To Know About Marriage and Student Loan Debt Running the numbers both ways before your first married tax return is worth the effort.
Name Change
Your marriage certificate is the legal document that enables a name change, but nothing happens automatically. Start with the Social Security Administration, because many other agencies pull your name from SSA records, then update your driver’s license or state ID, the IRS before your next tax return, your passport, your voter registration, and your employer’s payroll records.10USAGov. Agencies To Notify of a Name Change Neither spouse is required to change names at all; keeping your birth name, hyphenating, or taking the other’s surname is your choice.
Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
A prenuptial agreement is a contract signed before the wedding that sets how assets, debts, and spousal support will be handled if the marriage ends; a postnuptial agreement covers the same ground after the wedding. Over half of states have adopted some version of the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, which creates baseline enforcement rules.11Uniform Law Commission. Premarital and Marital Agreements Act To hold up in court, the agreement generally has to be written and signed by both parties, backed by full financial disclosure, reviewed with access to independent legal counsel, and signed without duress. A properly executed agreement can still be struck down if a court finds enforcement would be unconscionable. Getting it right the first time, with separate lawyers and full transparency, is far cheaper than litigating enforceability during a divorce.