Marriage Licenses

All that is required for single adults to obtain a marriage license is for them to come in person to the Clerk’s office, bring their driver’s license or other acceptable identification card, and be prepared to pay the fee. A recent change in the law also requires both applicants to provide either their Social Security number, naturalization number, immigration number, or passport number.

No. Payment may be made by cashier’s check, certified check, money order, or credit card. Our office accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. A convenience fee of $2.00 or 2.95% of the total charge, whichever is greater, will be assessed when paying by credit card.  (The Clerk’s Office does not receive any part of this fee.)

For Florida residents who file a certification that they both have completed a state-sanctioned marriage preparation course within the past 12 months, there is no waiting period. For Florida residents who have not both taken the course, there is a three-day waiting period between issuance of the license and the time it becomes valid for use. (Note: The parties may have taken the course separately. They are not required to have taken it together, but both must have taken it to qualify for the discounted fee and no-waiting period.)

No. If either party is a nonresident of this state, no waiting period is required.

The law provides for waiving the three-day waiting period if the parties declare there is a specific “hardship” in their situation.

Yes. However, exceptions can be made only when there is good cause in extreme circumstances. Yes. However, exceptions can be made only when there is good cause in extreme circumstances.

No. Blood tests for marriages in Florida are no longer required.

When the application is filed, the license is issued immediately. The process normally takes no more than 15 minutes. However, there is a three-day waiting period before the license becomes valid for use if both parties are Florida residents and neither party has completed a state-sanctioned marriage preparation course.

To obtain a license without parental consent, both of the applicants must be at least 18 years of age. An applicant who is at least 17 years of age may marry with the written consent of his/her parents or a legal guardian’s consent, but only if the other party is not more than two years older than the younger party.

No, the Clerk’s Office or County Judge is unable to issue a marriage license to applicants 16 years of age and younger.

No. Permission of one parent is only sufficient if that parent has sole legal custody of the minor or if the other parent is deceased.

Florida marriage licenses are valid for 60 days from the date of issuance. The marriage license form must be returned to the Clerk’s Office for recording within 10 days after the marriage is performed.

Certified copies are normally received within 10 days after the completed marriage certificate is returned to the clerk’s office for recording in the county’s official records.

No. There is no citizenship requirement.

Yes. Deputy clerks can perform a civil marriage ceremony; the fee is $30.00. Please note our office cannot perform the marriage at the time the license is obtained if the three-day waiting period applies.

No. Licenses are issued and marriages performed without appointments during normal business hours.

No.

Talk to your clergyman, chaplain, other religious adviser, or personal counselor.

No. You do not need the documents, but the application does require you to note when and how your last marriage ended (divorce, annulment, or death).

No. Although the marriage license application does not specifically ask about the possible relationship of the parties, Florida law prohibits close blood relations from legally marrying. The nearest degree of relations who may legally marry in the state of Florida is first cousins.

Yes. As of 01/06/2015, applicants may marry partners of their own gender.

Every marriage license shall be issued by a county judge or clerk of the Circuit Court under his hand and seal. The county judge or clerk of the circuit court shall issue such a license, upon application for the license, if there appear to be no impediments to the marriage.

It is unlawful for any county court judge or clerk of the circuit court in the state to send out of his office any marriage license signed in blank to be issued upon application to persons not in the office of the county judge or clerk of the circuit court. However, under some unusual circumstances, and at the discretion of the marriage license supervisor, an application may be filled out by one of the parties (leaving no blanks), with the understanding that the absent party will provide sworn certification subsequently in order for the license procedure to be properly validated.

All regularly ordained ministers of the gospel or elders in communion with some church, or other ordained clergy, and all judicial officers, clerks of the circuit courts, and notaries public of this state may solemnize the rights of matrimonial contract, under the regulations prescribed by law.

Any marriage which may be had and solemnized among the people called “Quakers” or “Friends”, in the manner and form used or practiced in their societies, according to their rites and ceremonies, shall be good and valid in law; and whenever the words “minister” and “elder” are used in this chapter, they shall be held to include all the persons connected with the Society of Friends, or Quakers, who perform or have charge of the marriage ceremony according to their rites and ceremonies. [F.S. 741.07]

A license must be certified and filed with the Clerk’s office within 10 days of the ceremony.