Marriage License for Out of Stater

jacksgirl84

Looking for direction/advice for anyone who has obtained a waiver of the 3 day waiting period for a marriage license.  To give a little background, my fiance and I live in Chicago and are having destination wedding in Nantucket in June as that is where we got engaged.  Unfortunately, we won't be able to make it out to Nantucket in enough time before our Friday wedding to get a marriage license at that time (because of taking off time of work for wedding and honeymoon).  So, our original idea was to fly out to Boston on a Thursday night in May (a month before the wedding) and apply Friday for license and have it mailed to us after the waiting period, flying back to Chicago that afternoon.  Well, I was just informed that we would have to pick up the license in person after the three day waiting period.  So, my questions are: if we still continue with our Boston plan, could we apply for waiver on Friday, and if granted, not get married for 30 some days - essentially how good is the marriage license with waiver good for? Additionally, is the waiver easily granted to a reason such as ours since we are not getting married right away?  OR, alternately, is there a county (near Boston) anyone knows of that will mail the marriage license to us after the three day waiting period if we apply regularly?  THANKS so much your help!!

marshallra

Waivers are easily granted. In fact waivers and adoptions are the only fun things we do in probate court. ( usually divorces and estates) The three day period is the time between filing an application for and then picking up the license. Once issued it is good for 60 days. You apply for a waiver in order to get a license issued immediately. You could go to court on a friday and take the order right to the city or town clerks office to have the license issued. So you could get it done the day before or even the day of the wedding ( assuming it is a weekday.). A few things to be aware of: the probate and family court on Nantucket doesn't always sit everyday( meaning there isn't always a judge available). Because of cut backs the Probate Court clerk's office closes by 3:30 every day all over the state. If you do file a motion to waive the waiting period I would plan on getting to court right at the opening- 8:30 am. The other thing to watch out for is that lots of Town clerk's offices close early on Fridays.

marshallra

A few more thoughts: The motion to waive is actually a motion for a marriage without delay so you might not be able to get it allowed if you don't intend to use it for 30 days. Marriage licenses are issued by individual town clerks offices -not countys. The courts are however set up on a county system. I know of nothing that would require you to pick up your license right away. So if you were to fly in, apply and then not pick it up for a few weeks I don't think it would be a problem.. The other alternative is to find a sympathetic clerk wwho will mail it to you. You will probably have to call town by town. Boston seems like an obvious choice but they are so big...... There are lots,of towns inclose proximity. Brookline, Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville ( all still pretty big). Smaller but near by cities would be Newton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth. I'd try and call a few tomsee if any would be willing to mail.