Amelia Island Weddings

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Traditions

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Why Amelia Island?

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Marriage License Requirements

For single adults to obtain a marriage license they must both be 18 years or older and come into the Clerk's office, (Exceptions can be made only when there is good cause in extreme circumstances.) Bring your driver's license and social security cards. If you are unable to produce a social security card you may submit a naturalization number, immigration number or passport number. The process for obtaining a marriage license normally takes no more than 20 minutes. When the application if filed, the license is issued immediately.

If either party has been widowed or divorced, they must know the month/day/year that the marriage ended.

The fee to obtain a marriage license is $88.50, however, applicants who file a certification that both parties have completed a state-sanctioned marriage preparation course for (Florida resident’s only) within the past 12 months, are entitled to a discount of ($32.50), making the fee $56.00. The Clerk’s Office maintains a list of registered course providers. You may make payment by personal check or cash.

For Florida residents who file 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 taken the course, there is a full three-day waiting period between issuance of the license and the time it becomes valid for use. (Note: The parties may take the course separately, they are not required to take it together, but both must take it in order to qualify for the discount and both must read a 16 page Family Law Handbook (copy provided by the Clerk’s Office).

The waiting period does not apply to nonresidents of Florida. If one party is a resident of Florida and the other party is a nonresident the three-day waiting period is waived only if the Florida resident takes the state-sanctioned marriage preparation course, but no discount is given.

The law provides waiving the three-day waiting period if the parties declare there is a specific "hardship" or "good cause." A County Court Judge must make the determination of approving a waiver of the delayed effective date before the marriage license is issued.

A Florida marriage license is valid for 60 days from date of validity. The marriage license must be returned to the clerk’s office for recording within 10 days after the marriage is performed.

Certified copies are normally mailed out within 10 days after recording in official records to the couple. One certified copy is provided as part of the marriage license fee. Extra-certified copies may be obtained for a fee of $2.00 each.

There are restrictions for obtaining a marriage license. To obtain a license without parental consent – both male and female must be at least 18 years of age. The 18-year minimum age does not apply for individuals who have been married previously. A County Court Judge can waive the age requirements for applicants who can prove that they are parents or expectant parents.

No license to marry shall be granted to any person under the age of 16 years of age, with or without the consent of the parents (unless both parties sworn under oath that they are the parents of a child, or when the fact of a pregnancy is verified by the written statement of a licensed physician) and only then, the County Court Judge can issue the license.

Both parents must give their consent for a minor to marry, except if only one parent has sole legal custody of the minor or if the other parent is deceased. (Provide documents)

There are no citizenship requirements for couples wanting to marry in the State of Florida.

A blood test is not required in the State of Florida.

Florida law prohibits close blood relations from legally marrying. These include such relationships as parent-child, brother-sister, uncle-niece, and aunt-nephew. The nearest degree of relations who may legally marry in the State of Florida is first cousins.

Marriages between persons of the same gender are not recognized in the State of Florida.

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 license, upon application for the license, if there appears to be no impediments to the marriage. (F.S. 741.01)

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. (F.S. 741.03)

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, as required by Chapter 741 of the Florida Statutes.

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)

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