Illinois sets no limit on how many times you can get married. You can marry a second, third, or fifth time, and the county clerk will issue a license each time, provided one condition is met: every earlier marriage must already be legally over on the day you apply. As long as you are legally single at the moment of the new ceremony, the number of prior marriages on your record does not matter.
That single condition is where most of the law sits. The rest of this article walks through how a prior marriage has to end, what you’ll need to prove it to the county clerk, and what happens if you remarry too soon.
Your Previous Marriage Has to Be Legally Over
Illinois recognizes three ways a marriage ends for purposes of remarrying.
The first is divorce, which Illinois formally calls a dissolution of marriage. A judge enters a final judgment, and both former spouses are legally single from that date forward.
The second is a declaration of invalidity, Illinois’s term for an annulment. Instead of ending a valid marriage, the court declares that the marriage was never legally valid to begin with. Grounds include lack of consent (through incapacity, intoxication, force, duress, or fraud), inability to consummate the marriage where the other spouse did not know at the time, marriage by a 16- or 17-year-old without the required parental consent or judicial approval, and marriages that Illinois prohibits outright, such as bigamous or incestuous ones.1Justia. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5 – Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage
The third is the death of a spouse. No court order is needed. The surviving spouse is legally single from the date of death and free to remarry.
What the County Clerk Will Ask For
When you apply for a new marriage license, both applicants have to appear in person before a county clerk. The application will ask about any previous marriages, including the date, the location, and the court where each earlier marriage was dissolved or declared invalid, or the date and place of a former spouse’s death.2Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/202 – Marriage License and Marriage Certificate
The clerk also has to be satisfied that the new marriage isn’t prohibited, which in practice means proof that any earlier marriage has actually ended.3Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/203 – License to Marry Bring the final divorce decree, the declaration of invalidity, or the death certificate. Don’t assume the county already has these documents on file. A license won’t issue without them.
Remarrying Before the Previous Marriage Ends Is a Felony
The “no limit” rule has a hard edge. Knowingly marrying someone while you already have a living spouse is bigamy, and Illinois classifies it as a Class 4 felony.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 720 ILCS 5/11-45 – Bigamy and Marrying a Bigamist
A Class 4 felony conviction can bring one to three years in prison, or three to six years in an extended-term sentence, along with a fine of up to $25,000. A court may impose probation of up to 30 months instead of prison.5Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-45 – Class 4 Felony
The second marriage itself has no legal effect. Illinois automatically treats it as prohibited from the moment it happens, and no court order is technically required to invalidate it.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/212 – Prohibited Marriages Many people in that situation still seek a formal declaration of invalidity because it settles property questions and creates a clean paper trail for any future license application.
One narrow exception can rescue an otherwise bigamous marriage. If the impediment is later removed — for example, the earlier divorce finally becomes final — and you and your new spouse are still living together at that point, Illinois automatically treats you as lawfully married from the date the impediment disappeared.6Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5/212 – Prohibited Marriages
Void vs. Voidable: Why It Matters Before You Remarry
Illinois draws a line between two kinds of legally defective marriages, and the difference matters when you want to marry again.
A void marriage is treated as though it never existed. Bigamous marriages and marriages between close family members fall into this category. Because a void marriage has no legal standing from the start, no court action is technically required to end it. Getting a formal declaration of invalidity anyway is common practice, since it gives you documentation the county clerk will accept without argument.
A voidable marriage is treated as legally valid until a court says otherwise. The defects that make a marriage voidable rather than void involve consent or capacity: mental incapacity, intoxication, fraud, duress, physical inability to consummate, or being underage without the required consent.1Justia. Illinois Code 750 ILCS 5 – Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage
The practical point: if your earlier marriage was voidable, walking away doesn’t make you legally single. You must go to court and get a declaration of invalidity before you can lawfully remarry. Until a judge rules, the marriage is still on the books.
How a New Marriage Affects Support and Benefits From an Old One
Remarrying changes more than your relationship status. It can change money coming in from a previous marriage.
Alimony
For divorce or separation agreements signed after December 31, 2018, the federal tax treatment of alimony is straightforward: the payer cannot deduct payments, and the recipient does not report them as income.7Internal Revenue Service. Divorce or Separation May Have an Effect on Taxes Remarrying does not change that federal treatment. It can, however, end alimony entirely. Many Illinois divorce agreements and court orders include a clause terminating spousal support when the recipient remarries, so check your judgment before setting a wedding date.
Social Security
Remarriage can significantly affect Social Security payments tied to a former spouse’s work record. If you are receiving divorced-spouse benefits based on an ex’s earnings, those payments generally stop when you remarry.8Social Security Administration. Will Remarrying Affect My Social Security Benefits?
Survivor benefits work differently and depend on your age when you remarry:
- Remarry before age 50, and you typically lose eligibility for survivor benefits, though you may regain them if the later marriage ends through divorce or annulment.
- Remarry between ages 50 and 59, and you may still qualify for disabled surviving-spouse benefits if you were disabled at the time of the new marriage.
- Remarry after age 60, and you can generally still collect survivor benefits on your deceased former spouse’s record, or switch to benefits on your new spouse’s record, whichever is higher.
Report any remarriage to the Social Security Administration promptly. Overpayments have to be paid back.8Social Security Administration. Will Remarrying Affect My Social Security Benefits?