To legally marry someone in the United States, you need four things: both of you have to meet your state’s eligibility rules, you need to apply for a marriage license at the local clerk’s office with the right documents, you need a ceremony conducted by someone legally authorized to perform it, and the signed license has to be filed afterward so the marriage goes on the public record. Every state writes its own version of these rules, but the framework is the same across the country.
Eligibility: Who Can Legally Marry
Both parties have to clear a short list of requirements before a clerk will issue a license.
Age
The standard minimum age to marry without parental consent is 18 in nearly every state. Nebraska sets it at 19, and Mississippi at 21. Many states still allow minors as young as 16 to marry with parental consent, a judge’s approval, or both, and a smaller number have no statutory floor at all when certain conditions apply. The direction of travel is the other way, though: thirteen states plus the District of Columbia have banned marriage under 18 outright, with no exceptions. If either of you is under 18, look up your state’s current law before anything else, because these statutes have been changing quickly.
No Existing Marriage
You cannot marry if you are already married to someone else. Bigamy is a crime in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, and in some states it’s a strict liability offense, meaning a genuine belief that your prior divorce was final or your former spouse had died is not a defense. If you were married before, you need the final divorce decree or, if your former spouse died, the death certificate.
Family Relationship
Marriage between close blood relatives is prohibited everywhere: siblings, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and aunts or uncles with nieces or nephews. First-cousin marriage is treated inconsistently. Roughly a third of states allow it, some permit it only with conditions such as genetic counseling or a minimum age, and the rest prohibit it.
Mental Capacity and Consent
Both people must be able to understand what marriage is and consent to it voluntarily. The standard mirrors the capacity needed for any binding contract. There is no formal evaluation in advance, but a marriage can later be annulled if one party lacked capacity at the time of the ceremony.
Same-Sex Marriage
Same-sex couples have the right to marry in every state, and that right is settled under both the Constitution and federal statute.1Justia US Supreme Court Center. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015)2Congress.gov. H.R.8404 – Respect for Marriage Act The clerk’s office handles same-sex applications the same way as any other.
Documents to Bring to the Clerk’s Office
Pull your paperwork together before your appointment. Most clerks will ask both of you for:
- A government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, state ID, or passport.
- Proof of age. Many jurisdictions want a birth certificate in addition to the photo ID.
- Your Social Security number. Most jurisdictions require it on the application, though acceptable documentation varies.
- Proof that any prior marriage ended, meaning a certified copy of the divorce decree or the former spouse’s death certificate.
If any of your documents are in a language other than English, you’ll likely need a certified English translation: a word-for-word translation with a signed statement from the translator attesting to its accuracy. Call the issuing clerk’s office before you go to confirm exactly what they accept, because requirements differ from county to county.
Getting the Marriage License
The marriage license is the government’s advance permission to marry. You apply at a local government office, almost always the county clerk, and both parties generally have to appear in person. A few states let one person apply on behalf of the other with a notarized affidavit, but that’s the exception rather than the rule.
Application fees run from about $20 to $115 depending on the jurisdiction. Some counties discount the fee if you complete a premarital education course.
About a third of states impose a waiting period between the day the license is issued and the day you can actually use it. The most common waits are 24 hours and 72 hours, with a handful of states going up to six days. The rest let you marry the same day you pick up the license. If your timeline is tight, check the specific waiting period for the county where the wedding will take place.
Licenses also expire. The valid window is as short as 30 days in states like Delaware, Hawaii, and Kentucky, and as long as one year in Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming. Most states fall in the 60-to-90-day range. If the license expires before your ceremony, you have to reapply and pay the fee again.
One requirement you can forget about: blood tests. No U.S. state has required a blood test or medical exam to obtain a marriage license since 2019, when Montana, the last holdout, dropped it.
The Ceremony
A license alone doesn’t make you married. You need a ceremony, and it has to be conducted by someone legally authorized to perform marriages. That step, called solemnization, is what turns the license into a binding marriage.
Who Can Officiate
Authorized officiants come in two broad categories. On the religious side: ordained ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, and similar clergy. On the civil side: judges, magistrates, justices of the peace, and in some places county clerks or mayors. Most states are flexible about what counts as clergy, and ministers ordained through online organizations such as Universal Life Church or American Marriage Ministries are generally accepted. If a friend or relative is getting ordained online to officiate your wedding, call the county clerk where the marriage will take place and confirm they’ll accept the credential. A few jurisdictions have been more skeptical of online ordinations.
Witnesses
Most jurisdictions require one or two witnesses at the ceremony to sign the marriage license. Their job is to confirm that the ceremony happened and that both parties participated voluntarily. Witnesses typically have to be adults, though the specific age cutoff varies, and a few states have no witness requirement at all. Check the rule where you’re marrying.
If One of You Can’t Be Present, or You Don’t Want an Officiant
A small number of states let couples solemnize their own marriage without an officiant. Colorado and Pennsylvania are the best-known. Other states that allow some form of self-solemnization include Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, and Washington, D.C., though several limit it to specific religious contexts. California offers a similar path through its confidential marriage license.
If one party cannot physically attend, a few states allow proxy marriages, where someone stands in for the absent person. Montana is the most permissive. Colorado, Texas, and Kansas allow proxy marriages under narrower circumstances, usually limited to military personnel stationed overseas. A proxy marriage valid in one of these states is recognized federally and in other states, but USCIS will not recognize it for immigration purposes until the marriage has been consummated.
Filing the Signed License
After the ceremony, the signed license has to go back to the issuing office for recording. The officiant is usually responsible for returning it within a set window, often 30 days. It’s an easy step to lose track of in the week after the wedding, and skipping it causes real headaches later when you need to prove the marriage for insurance, property, or benefits.
The marriage itself is generally still valid even if the paperwork gets filed late or never, because the binding act is the ceremony. But without a recorded marriage, you can’t obtain a marriage certificate, and proving the marriage exists becomes much harder. In some states, an officiant who misses the filing deadline can face fines or misdemeanor charges.
Once the license is recorded, the clerk’s office issues a marriage certificate as official proof. Order several certified copies from the vital records office right away. You’ll need them for almost every follow-up task: updating identification, enrolling a spouse in health insurance, retitling property, dealing with the IRS.
What to Handle After the Wedding
Getting married triggers a series of administrative updates. None happen automatically.
Name Change
If either of you is changing a name, start with the Social Security Administration. Most other agencies need to see your new Social Security card before they’ll update their records. File Form SS-5 and bring your marriage certificate (an original or certified copy, not a photocopy) and a current photo ID.3Social Security Administration. Application for a Social Security Card (Form SS-5) There’s no fee.
For a passport, the State Department will update your name at no cost if both the passport and the legal name change happened within the past year. Submit Form DS-5504 with your current passport, your marriage certificate, and a new passport photo.4U.S. Department of State. Name Change for U.S. Passport or Correct a Printing or Data Error If more than a year has gone by, you apply for a full renewal and pay the regular fee. Driver’s license, bank accounts, and employer records come after Social Security and the passport.
Taxes
Your marital status on December 31 sets your filing status for the whole year.5Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status Marry on New Year’s Eve and you file as married for that entire tax year. Your choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately. Joint filing usually produces a lower combined tax, but not always, especially when both spouses have similar high incomes. Brackets, the standard deduction, and eligibility for certain credits all shift.
Immigration
If one spouse is a U.S. citizen and the other is a foreign national, the citizen can petition for the non-citizen spouse’s permanent residency by filing Form I-130 with USCIS. Spouses of U.S. citizens qualify as immediate relatives, so an immigrant visa is always available without a multi-year wait.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative Marriage fraud for immigration purposes is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both, and USCIS investigates suspected sham marriages through separate spousal interviews, home visits, and reviews of financial records.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1325 – Improper Entry by Alien
One Note on Common-Law Marriage
Not every valid marriage starts with a license. A handful of states still recognize common-law marriage, where a couple becomes legally married by living together and holding themselves out as spouses. The states currently recognizing new common-law marriages are Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah, along with Rhode Island and Oklahoma through case law.8National Conference of State Legislatures. Common Law Marriage by State Living together for a long time does not, by itself, create a common-law marriage anywhere; the elements typically include mutual agreement to be married, cohabitation, and publicly presenting yourselves as married. If you want a conventional marriage with a license and a ceremony, this isn’t a path you need to think about, but a common-law marriage validly formed in one of those states must be recognized in every other state.