To get married in Illinois, you and your partner apply together in person at a county clerk’s office for a marriage license, wait one calendar day for that license to take effect, then have an authorized officiant perform the ceremony within 60 days. There is no residency requirement, no blood test, and no witness requirement. The rest is paperwork and timing.
Who Can Marry in Illinois
Anyone 18 or older can apply without additional approvals.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/203 – License to Marry A 16- or 17-year-old can marry with the written consent of both parents or a legal guardian. If one parent cannot be found despite genuine efforts, the other can sign an affidavit explaining why, and that counts as both parents’ consent. When neither parent will consent, a court can still approve the marriage after making a reasonable effort to notify them.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/208 – Judicial Approval of Underage Marriages
Illinois will not issue a license for marriages between:
- Ancestors and descendants, siblings (full or half-blood, including by adoption), and aunts or uncles with nieces or nephews.
- First cousins, unless both are at least 50 years old or one provides a physician’s certificate confirming permanent sterility.
- Anyone whose prior marriage, civil union, or similar legal relationship has not been dissolved.
These restrictions apply whether the family relationship is biological or through adoption.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/212 – Prohibited Marriages Both people also need the mental capacity to understand what they are agreeing to; a marriage can later be declared invalid if either party lacked capacity because of mental incapacity, intoxication, or coercion.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5 – Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act
Neither of you has to live in Illinois. Out-of-state and international couples can apply for and receive a license in any Illinois county, which makes destination weddings straightforward.
One boundary worth flagging: Illinois abolished common law marriage under 750 ILCS 5/214. Living together, no matter how long, does not create a marriage here. If you formed a valid common law marriage in a state that recognizes them, Illinois will generally honor it, but you cannot establish one inside Illinois.
Applying for the Marriage License
Both of you must appear together, in person, at the county clerk’s office. You cannot send a proxy and you cannot apply separately. The license is issued in the county where the ceremony will take place, and most clerks enforce this by requiring the application in that same county.5Montgomery County, Illinois. Marriage Licenses If the ceremony ends up happening in a different county by accident, the statute provides a safety net: the marriage is not automatically invalid.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/207 – Effective Date of License
The application asks each person for name, sex, occupation, address, Social Security number, and date and place of birth.7Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/202 – Marriage License and Marriage Certificate Bring:
- A government-issued photo ID such as a driver’s license, state ID, or valid passport.
- Proof of age. An unexpired ID showing your date of birth usually satisfies this, though some offices may also accept a certified birth certificate.
- If either of you was previously married, a certified copy of the final divorce decree, or a death certificate if your former spouse died. The statute requires satisfactory proof that the new marriage is not prohibited, and this is how clerks verify it.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/203 – License to Marry
Any document in a language other than English will typically need a certified English translation, complete with the translator’s signed statement of competence in both languages, their contact information, and the date. Translations done by friends or relatives are usually not accepted.
Fees vary by county. Cook County charges $60, while Madison County charges $35.8Cook County. Marriage Licenses9Madison County ILLINOIS. Marriage Licenses Budget somewhere in the $30 to $75 range, and confirm the amount and accepted payment methods with your county office before you go. Many counties now let you pre-fill the application online, which shortens the counter visit.
The One-Day Wait and the 60-Day Window
Your license does not take effect the moment it is issued. Under Illinois law it becomes effective one calendar day after the date of issuance.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/207 – Effective Date of License This is a full-day delay, not a 24-hour clock. A license issued Friday morning is not valid until Saturday. For a Saturday wedding, pick it up no later than Friday.
If your timing is tighter than that, you can ask a judge to waive the waiting period so the license takes effect immediately. It requires a short petition in the circuit court and is routinely granted for couples with scheduling conflicts or other good reasons.
Once effective, the license is valid for 60 days. If the ceremony does not happen inside that window, the license expires and you have to start over with a new application and a new fee.10Kane County Clerk. Marriage License Instructions
Who Can Perform the Ceremony
Illinois authorizes a broad range of officiants:
- Any judge of a court of record, including retired judges (unless removed by the Judicial Inquiry Board) and judges of the Court of Claims.
- A sitting mayor or president of any Illinois city, village, or incorporated town.
- The county clerk in counties with two million or more residents, which in practice means Cook County.
- Any person officiating in accordance with the practices of a religious denomination, Indian Nation, Tribe, or Native Group. If the faith tradition requires a specific officiant, that person must be in good standing with the religious organization.11Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/209 – Solemnization and Registration
Ministers ordained online through organizations like American Marriage Ministries or Universal Life Church regularly perform Illinois weddings. The state keeps no registry of officiants and does not require them to sign up with any government office. And the statute contains a valuable protection: a marriage is not invalidated by the fact that the person who solemnized it was not legally qualified, as long as either spouse believed the person was qualified.11Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/209 – Solemnization and Registration If you hire someone you genuinely believe is authorized, the marriage counts even if their credentials later prove questionable.
Couples in faith traditions that do not use an officiant, such as Quaker or Bahá’í communities, can perform self-uniting ceremonies. For everyone else, the statute generally expects an officiant to be present.
Witnesses are not required.10Kane County Clerk. Marriage License Instructions Have a crowd, have two friends, or have no one. The ceremony is legally complete once solemnized by an authorized person.
Filing the Certificate After the Wedding
The person who solemnized the marriage completes the certificate portion and returns it to the county clerk’s office within 10 days. In a self-uniting ceremony without a single officiant, both spouses are responsible for completing and filing it.11Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/209 – Solemnization and Registration Missing that deadline does not void the marriage, but it creates administrative headaches and can delay certified copies.
Once the clerk records the certificate, the office forwards the record to the Illinois Department of Public Health within 45 days.12Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/210 – Registration of Marriage Certificate After that the marriage is part of the state’s permanent vital records, and you can order certified copies from either the county clerk or the Department of Public Health. You will need them for the updates below.
What to Update After the Wedding
Getting married does not automatically change your legal name. If either of you plans to take a new name, do the agencies in order, because most of them expect Social Security records to match before they will process a change.
Social Security
Complete Form SS-5 and bring it to a local Social Security office with your certified marriage certificate and a valid photo ID. Original or certified copies only; photocopies are not accepted. There is no fee. A new card with your updated name typically arrives in two to four weeks.
Driver’s License
After your Social Security record updates, visit an Illinois Secretary of State office with your marriage certificate and current license. Fees are generally modest. Some offices may want a day or two after the SSA update for systems to sync.
Passport
If your passport was issued within the past year, you can change the name for free using Form DS-5504, mailing the form with your current passport, certified marriage certificate, and a new photo. Expedited processing is an extra $60. Past one year, you file a standard renewal application with the usual fees.13U.S. Department of State. Change or Correct a Passport
Health Insurance
Marriage triggers a 60-day special enrollment period on the federal Marketplace. Inside that window you can join your spouse’s employer plan, add your spouse to yours, or enroll in a new Marketplace plan outside of open enrollment.14HealthCare.gov. Special Enrollment Period The clock starts on your wedding date. Miss it and you wait for open enrollment.
Federal Taxes
Your filing status changes for the entire year in which you marry, even if the wedding is on December 31. Your options become married filing jointly or married filing separately. Joint filing usually produces a lower combined bill, especially when incomes are uneven, but two roughly equal high earners can hit a marriage penalty. Running the return both ways before filing is worth a few minutes.15Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
Legal Changes Marriage Brings
Two shifts happen the moment you are married, and both are worth knowing about before the wedding.
The first is inheritance. If you die without a will in Illinois, your surviving spouse takes the entire estate when there are no descendants, and half when there are descendants (the other half passing to those descendants).16Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 755 ILCS 5/2-1 – Rules of Descent and Distribution Even a will that leaves your spouse little or nothing can be renounced by the surviving spouse in favor of a statutory share. The practical step is to update your will, retirement and life insurance beneficiary designations, and powers of attorney shortly after the wedding.
The second is that Illinois follows the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act at 750 ILCS 10. A prenuptial agreement lets the two of you decide in advance how property, debts, and spousal support will be handled if the marriage ends. It has to be in writing and signed by both parties, and it can address most financial matters, though it cannot limit a child’s right to support. Voluntary signing and fair financial disclosure are what make one hold up later, so both parties getting independent legal advice before signing is the single best step toward enforceability.