Marriage License Difficulties

libby2483 · July 2012

In Wisconsin, you need to apply for a marriage license within 30 days of the wedding in the county where you have lived for the last 30 days. Well, at the end of May, FI and I moved out of our apartment, lived in a hotel in a different county for a few weeks while we finished up the school year, lived with a family member in yet a different county for less than 30 days, and then moved into our house. However, we have only lived in our current house 10 days (and will not have lived in it 30 days by the time we need to apply for the license due to the waiting period).

I wasn't sure which county we should apply for our marriage license in, and when I called to ask, no one at the county clerk's office was sure either! They put me on hold for a while and gave me a few different answers, and then decided we could apply in our current county, as long as we could prove residency in our old apartment. Well, that led to a search for documents with our old address. We were finally able to scrounge up an old bank statement and pay stub.

Luckily, when we got to the county clerk's office, we were able to get everything with no problem! How is everyone else doing with getting their marriage license?

dramaqueen2985 · July 2012

Just got mine today! I'm so excited! And I'm really glad to hear that everything worked out for you two.

ohnoitskaroljo · July 2012

Jeez girl! I know the pain of Wisconsin's laws (we're in Waukesha county) - we had a similar experience.

My license has my address from like, 3 places ago. FI's license has his parents address (which he lived at before he moved in with me and my parents and before we moved into our own apartment). We moved into our apartment on the 1st of July, and when we applied we'd only been in our new place for 2 weeks - so we had to provide proof that we lived in waukesha county before that - which luckily when we lived at my parents house before it was also in waukesha county (right on the border!!!) I had to provide like 3 different bills / stubs to try to prove our previous address since we didn't have a lease for that place (but we had a lease for this place). SO ridiculous. The broad was SO confused too. But today I got to go pick up our license and all is settled now

MrsNaut0812 · July 2012

Wow. All we need is a license showing who we are and we're good to go. No special paperwork to prove where we live and we can get it the day before if we choose to. I am thinking we will go in 2 weeks or so since we are about a month out from the wedding. I am glad we don't have to do all that! I would be stressed out looking for paperwork. That is the one thing I can't stand to do lol.

ohnoitskaroljo · July 2012

Here's the requirements for Wisconsin:

"* Proof of Identification - Both parties must bring some form of identification. The easiest way to prove your identification is with a valid Wisconsin Driver's license, ID, and Passport.

* Proof of Residency - At least one party must be a resident of Waukesha County for at least 30 days. The easiest way to prove residency is with a valid Wisconsin Driver's license with current address.

* Social Security Numbers - Both parties are required to show proof of their social security numbers in order to obtain a marriage license.

* Birth Certificates - All applicants must bring in a certified copy of their birth certificate from the Register of Deed's office in the county where they were born (which will have a raised or colored seal on it.) Photocopies or hospital certificates will not be accepted.

* Divorce Papers/or Certified Death Certificates - If one of the applicants has been married before, they must bring a file stamped copy of the Divorce Judgment, Annulment papers or certified death certificate from their last marriage. If the marriage ended in divorce, the divorce must be final for at least 6 months.

* Date of Ceremony - Wedding date must be set with your officiant, Judge or Court Commissioner before applying for your license.

* Officiant - You will need to know the name, address and telephone number of the person performing your wedding ceremony. "

AND it's $105 CASH to apply. />.<

jesslimax · July 2012

Wow that's crazy!! I just applied for mine today and all we needed to do was both show up in person to sign it. No forms of ID or anything. And ours is only $25! Sorry to those that have such a hassle to get theirs! That must really suck.

20pearls16 · July 2012

That's just too much! Thank God in PA you just need ID and any divorce decrees. You can apply in any county and use the license in any county in the state. We got ours last month.

lilsparkles169 · July 2012

When we went to get our marriage license in NY, we needed our drivers licenses, birth certificates with raised seals (neither of ours had the seal so we had to pay for a copy that did have it), and $40 cash and within 60 days of the wedding.

rungirl12 · July 2012

Can't wait to apply for my WI marriage license... should be a fun one at the courthouse downtown Milwaukee with all those crazy requirements and inconvenient hours. We can't go until Friday at the very earliest!

[Deleted User] · July 2012

We're in Jersey... apply within 6 months, but license is only good for 30... no one there TOLD us that (she told us to come back anytime after 72 hours), but luckily re-read the webpage so we're picking ours up this week!

ohnoitskaroljo · July 2012

omg Rungirl that's shitty that you gotta go downtown. I HATED going to that courthouse - the workers are always SO rude!!!

courtneyconger · July 2012

I'm sooooo nervous about getting ours. It's pretty simple. We just have to show up together each with a valid ID. But FI and I are living in different states at the moment and won't be together in the right county until 3 days before the wedding. No crazy requirements to worry about, but we're cutting it awful close!

libby2483 · July 2012

Courtney, is there a waiting period for actually getting the license after applying where you are getting married? I know in Wisconsin, the waiting period starts the day AFTER the application day. In Wisconsin, the waiting period is 5 days, but since the county clerk isn't open on the weekends, it can actually be longer. We applied today (Tuesday) and won't be able to pick it up until Monday.

I'm sure you thought this through, I just know that sometimes this information isn't very well publicized on county websites, and I wouldn't want you to run into any problems!

courtneyconger · July 2012

I appreciate that, Libby! No waiting period. I was so concerned about this that the last time I was in the county we're getting married in, I went to the courthouse myself and asked if there was a waiting period, other paperwork, etc. After all my questions, I looked the lady in the face and said, "So if I come in here with my fiance, our IDs, and the correct amount of cash 3 days before the wedding, will I have any problems walking out with it that day?" And she said I'd be fine. The only waiting period is the line to get to the front desk!

Thanks for checking though! I covered all my bases....I'm just so nervous!

ohnoitskaroljo · July 2012

Good luck Courtney! Try to not worry - you'll be fine!

You did explain to her that you're out of state too right?

KT020803 · July 2012

In Illinois, we only need a drivers liscence for proof but we need to apply in person in the county that our ceremony will be held in. The courthouse is only about 20 minutes from us, but I wanted to do it back in June when we had all this free time and now we won't be able to go until 2 weeks before the wedding because I work an hour away from home and the courthouse is always closed so I need to use vacation time to go and apply.

orangemell2012 · July 2012

We just got ours and they spelled my name wrong! I am Mellissa, so 2 L's and 2 S's. Thanks Mom, so they had to send out a new one with my name spelled correctly. I am used to my name being spelled wrong so it usually just makes me laugh!

bridejl · July 2012

Rungirl, FI and I have already gone to the courthouse for our license and it was easy! Yeah the lady who helped us wasn't the most excited, since they do this all the time, but a worker who helped another couple while we were there was super enthusiastic about it. All we did was show all our documents and she didn't question anything about how long we have been living at our apartment, etc. We just filled out the info, she looked at our docs, we said "I do" with our right hands up, paid and that was that.

unicorntrees · July 2012

Massachusetts here. We just needed to show up in person and fill out paperwork, then pay the license fee. Didn't need an ID or anything. I figured they would at least want that, but nope! The time period here to get a marriage license is 60 days, and then there is a 3 day waiting period before you can pick it up. We have ours already, so we're all set on that front.

Good luck to those of you that still need them!

RichNicci4211122 · July 2012

Wow just reading some of the hoops that some of you have to jump through to get a marriage license makes my head spin. UGH! Here in Ohio it depends on the county that you live in what the requirements are. Ours was pretty simple, even though I was "told" that you had to apply then wait 2 weeks to get it then wait 2 weeks before you could use it. FI and I went about 2 weeks ago and all we had to show was our birth certificates, drivers license and divorce decrees. That was it. We signed it and when she brought it back she said that we could go get married right then and there if we wanted to. So I made the joke to FI about skipping the whole wedding and finding a judge there in the court house and getting it over and done with. LOL

Gingery1 · July 2012

Ours was easy as pie. Went in prepared with our pre-filled out application and walked out with our license in 15 minutes. They did not even ask us for our IDs. There is a 3 day wait period as well that apparently did not apply. Our state allows our license to be valid for 60 days to be used anywhere in the state. We got it lucky out here.

Marriage License Difficulties

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