Planning or ready to get married? Certainly, one of the things you must have heard or be told about is marriage license. As excited and eager as you might be looking forward to the D-day, getting a license and ensuring it is filled out the way it should is very important. So, to make things easier, this article is about how to go about it, and the necessary things you need to know to fill out a marriage license perfectly.
You might have heard that this part of getting married is confusing and stressful, but be rest assured it isn’t if you know the right thing to do and steps to take. Everything has a pattern and procedure; so following it duly makes it less complicated. Let’s see how it goes.
Getting Your Marriage License and Filling it out
Let’s start with the definition of a marriage license. A marriage license is a document issued by the government, that allows you and your partner to get married legally. This also means that the first step towards making your marriage legal and getting a marriage certificate is filling out a marriage license. It is your marriage license that will lead you to the path of getting a marriage certificate later.
Getting a marriage license and filling it out is in a step by step procedure you must understand and be prepared for, to make things easier for yourself. Let’s take a look at these steps:
- Make your plan by starting with the date
Just as you know, date is highly important and necessary when getting married. But not only for the celebration because your picked date must be in synchronization with the range of dates on your marriage license. Yes, marriage licenses do expire. And if yours should expire before you get married, you’ll have to apply again, costing you more money. This is to say that you have to file your application for a marriage license towards the end of your appointed/chosen date.
- Select your venue for the wedding
Why is it important to choose a location for your wedding before obtaining a marriage license? This is because whatever location you decide to get married is where you must file the application for your marriage license. It must be filed under the county you are getting married, not anywhere else.
- Visit your County Clerk’s office and provide the necessary documents and information
Having picked your date and location, you can then proceed to visit your county clerk’s office (in this case, your county clerk’s office is that of the county or municipal you will be getting married) to submit the necessary documents and provide the required information. But have in mind that these requirements vary from state to state and county to county. However, here is a list of the important documents and information you most probably won’t miss. So be prepared to pay the fee which is between $35 – $150, and provide…
- Birth certificate
- Driver’s license
- Social security card
- Your parents’ birth date, birth state, and names in full
- Your divorce certificate if you want to remarry. And more.
Now, moving on to the actual filling out of the marriage license process, here are the things that will be required:
- Fill out the necessary information
The information that will be required for you to provide contains some of those that have been mentioned earlier. But here’s a more specific list:
- Legal names of the couple before marriage
- The names of the parents of both parties to be married
- The residential address of you and your partner
- Get the necessary signatures
This is the last part, and it is expected to be done by the wedding officiant. With everything already done, including the wedding, getting the required signatures seals everything concerning the marriage license up. Hence, it is usually done at the end of the wedding ceremony. The officiant would pen down his/her’s signature, including the signatures of the couple and two witnesses. The witnesses could be your parents, friends, or relatives physically present during the joining together.
With all these done, your marriage license can then be returned to your wedding location county clerk. The purpose has been served.
For more information, be sure to visit www.usmarriagelaws.com
