How we check every listing

Marriage License Hours is an independent guide to getting a marriage licence by county: office hours or the appointment rule, the fee, what to bring, and what state law requires. This page explains where those facts come from and how much to trust them.

Sources: the county's own pages only

Every county fact comes from a page published by the county itself: the clerk, the recorder, the probate court, the circuit court clerk, or the county website. We do not copy hours or fees from map apps, review sites, wedding sites or other directories, because those are often out of date and give no way to trace a figure back to its origin. State law comes from the statute itself or from the state's vital-records page. Today the listings draw on 61 different websites.

Two independent reads

Each fact is read twice. An extractor reads the source page and proposes the fee and the hours. A separate verifier reads the same page without seeing that answer, and the two must agree on the fee and the hours before anything is published. If they disagree, the fact is held back.

Evidence

For each fact we store the sentence it was taken from, and a fact is kept only if that sentence appears on the source page as written. The stored sentence is evidence for our own records. It is never shown on the site as a quotation. Listings summarize the details in our own words, with a source link and check date so you can read the original page.

Dates and re-checks

Every fact shows the day we read its source. The current listings were checked between 10/19/2026 and 10/19/2026. Source pages are re-checked every quarter, and a page whose content has changed is read again before its listing is updated. If a listing has not been confirmed for more than 120 days, it shows a warning and is removed from search engine indexes until it is checked again.

When sources disagree

Sometimes two county pages give different hours or fees, for example a clerk overview page and the page for a branch office. We never pick one silently. The listing says the pages disagree, shows what each one says, links both, and asks you to call ahead. Right now 32 listings carry a note like this.

What gets published

A county page appears only when it has its hours or appointment rule and a fee, plus at least one more confirmed detail, such as the ID you need, a waiting period, how long the licence is valid, or payment methods. Counties that do not meet that bar are left out rather than shown with guesses. A page is also left out of search indexes when it has fewer than 300 words. A state hub is indexed only when it has at least 5 indexed counties and a summary of the state's law that cites the statute. Today the directory covers 61 counties in 25 states, with 645 individual facts.

What is not covered yet

In Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey and most of New York, licences are issued by town or municipal clerks rather than by the county. Those places are not covered yet, and a search from one of those ZIP codes shows the nearest covered counties instead. That is a distance on a map, not a rule that you can apply there: many states let you apply in any county, others do not, and some require you to apply where one of you lives.

Limits

Hours change for holidays, weather and staffing, and fees change from time to time. A listing can only be as current as its source page and our last check, so treat it as a strong starting point and phone the office before you go. This site is information, not legal advice, and it does not replace the instructions of the office that issues your licence. If you spot something out of date, the contact page or the corrections link in the footer reach us directly.