Our East coast tour of marriage laws has finished off the East Coast and turned west. Let’s take a swing around the gulf coast to pay a call on the beautiful states in the heart of the south: Alabama and Mississippi.
Alabama
There is no residency requirement to get married in Alabama, but you do need to provide a valid form of ID as well as your social security number. If you were divorced within the six months prior to your wedding date, bring a certified copy of the divorce decree. There is also a sixty-day waiting period after a divorce before you can apply for another marriage license.
The fee to apply for a marriage license is about $45. There is no covenant marriage option, no proxy marriage and no same sex marriage option in Alabama. Cousin marriages and common law marriages are both allowed in Alabama. Applicants under the age of 18 will need a certified copy of their birth certificate and both parents must be present with a court order and their own identification.
If one or both parents are deceased, the state will require a $200 bond payable to the State of Alabama and evidence of the deceased parents should be provided. Your Alabama marriage license is valid for 30 days and you can obtain a copy of your Alabama Marriage Certificate at:
Alabama Department of Public Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
434 Monroe St
Montgomery, Alabama 36130-3017
Phone: (334) 613-5300
Mississippi
There’s a 72-hour waiting period after you’ve applied for your marriage license. Mississippi has no residency requirement for getting married. You will need to provide valid picture ID as well as your social security number. You also need to provide your parents’ addresses and mothers’ maiden names.
You will need a blood test within 30 days to prove that you are both syphilis free. The results need to be from a certified laboratory. There is no option for covenant, cousin or common law marriage. Mississippi also prohibits using the marriage laws of another state to get around Mississippi’s marriage laws. So residents cannot go to another state to validate their marriage if it is illegal in Mississippi.
Same sex marriages are specifically banned in Mississippi’s state code from 1972 and it says: Any marriage between persons of the same gender is prohibited and null and void from the beginning. Any marriage between persons of the same gender is valid in another jurisdiction does not constitute a legal or valid marriage in Mississippi.
If that’s not enough, voters also passed a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2004.
Finally, if you are under 21, you need parental consent to get married. If parents are not present when the application is made, the application will be held until the parents can be notified by certified mail. A Mississippi marriage license is valid indefinitely. You can obtain a copy of your Mississippi Marriage Certificate:
Mississippi Vital Records
P.O. Box 1700
Jackson, Mississippi 39215-1700
Phone: (601) 576-7450
The above information should be taken as guidance only, legal requirements for state and county marriage licenses change often. Please verify the necessary paperwork and more with the office of the county clerk prior to making your wedding plans