There is no legal limit to how many times you can get married in Tennessee. The state’s marriage license application even has a field for which numbered marriage you’re entering, with options running well into the double digits. The only firm rule is the obvious one: each previous marriage has to be legally over before you walk into the next one.
How a Previous Marriage Must End
Before you can lawfully remarry, your last marriage has to be terminated in one of three ways.
- Divorce. The marriage ends the day a judge signs the Final Decree of Divorce. Not the day you filed, not the day you separated, not the day you moved out. The signed decree is the document that matters.
- Annulment. An annulment treats the marriage as if it never legally existed. Tennessee courts grant them for reasons like fraud, bigamy, or a prohibited family relationship.
- Death of a spouse. A certified copy of the death certificate is the proof the marriage ended.
Without one of these, any new ceremony is legally meaningless and potentially criminal.
No Waiting Period Before You Can Remarry
Tennessee does require a cooling-off period during a divorce itself. A divorce petition has to sit on file at least 60 days before it can be finalized, or 90 days if the couple has children under 18.1Justia. Tennessee Code 36-4-103 – Divorce on Ground of Irreconcilable Differences
That waiting period applies to getting divorced, not to getting married again. Once the judge signs the Final Decree, Tennessee imposes no additional delay. You could technically go straight from the courthouse to the county clerk’s office and apply for a new license the same day.
What Happens If You Marry Before the Last One Is Over
Marrying a new person while you’re still legally married to someone else is bigamy under Tennessee law. Both the already-married person and anyone who knowingly marries them can be charged.
Bigamy is a Class A misdemeanor. The standard maximum jail sentence for that class is 11 months and 29 days, and the bigamy statute carries its own enhanced fine of up to $5,000, double the usual $2,500 cap for Class A misdemeanors.2Justia. Tennessee Code 39-15-301 – Bigamy3Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines for Misdemeanors
The civil fallout is just as serious. A bigamous marriage is void in Tennessee, meaning it has no legal effect at all. Tennessee courts have also refused to apply the “putative spouse” doctrine to bigamous marriages, so even an innocent party who had no idea their partner was still married to someone else gets no protection for property division or related claims. The only break the law offers is on the criminal side: if you genuinely and reasonably believed your prior marriage had ended through death, divorce, or annulment, that belief is a defense to the bigamy charge itself.2Justia. Tennessee Code 39-15-301 – Bigamy
Applying for a Marriage License When You’ve Been Married Before
The Tennessee marriage license application asks directly about your marital history. You’ll be asked whether you’ve been previously married, which marriage this is for you, the date your last marriage ended, and whether it ended by death, divorce, or annulment.4Tennessee County Clerk. Marriage Licenses – Tennessee County Clerk
Both parties have to appear in person at the county clerk’s office with a valid government-issued photo ID and proof of a Social Security number. Many clerks will also want to see a certified copy of your Final Decree of Divorce or, if a prior spouse died, a certified copy of the death certificate. Bring those with you to avoid being sent home.
What Remarriage Can Cost You
Being legally free to remarry is one thing. Doing it without checking what you’ll lose is another. Two situations trip people up most often.
Alimony Can Stop the Day You Remarry
If you receive alimony in futuro, the most common form of long-term periodic support, it terminates automatically when you remarry. You are required to notify the paying spouse immediately. If you don’t, that spouse can recover every dollar paid after the remarriage date.5Justia. Tennessee Code 36-5-121 – Decree for Support of Spouse
Transitional alimony doesn’t end automatically, but the original divorce order can be written to terminate it on remarriage. Alimony in solido, a lump-sum award, survives remarriage entirely because it’s treated as a fixed property award rather than ongoing support.5Justia. Tennessee Code 36-5-121 – Decree for Support of Spouse Pull your divorce decree and read the alimony section before you set a wedding date.
Social Security Benefits From a Former Spouse Also End
If a prior marriage lasted at least 10 years, you may qualify for divorced spouse Social Security benefits worth up to half of your ex’s benefit amount. Remarrying ends that eligibility.6Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404.331
A few quirks are worth knowing. Your ex-spouse’s own remarriage doesn’t affect you; you and their new spouse can both draw on the same work record. And if you were married to the same person more than once, the Social Security Administration can combine those marriages toward the 10-year threshold, provided you remarried that person no later than the calendar year after the divorce became final.7Social Security Administration. If You Had A Prior Marriage
If you’re currently unmarried and one of your prior marriages hit the 10-year mark, run the numbers before you remarry. The benefit disappears the day the new marriage begins.
Estate Planning Matters More the Second and Third Time Around
If you die without a will in Tennessee, the state’s intestate succession law decides who inherits. When you leave behind a surviving spouse and children, the spouse gets either one-third of the estate or a share equal to each child’s share, whichever is greater.8Justia. Tennessee Code 31-2-104 – Share of Surviving Spouse
The statute doesn’t distinguish between children from your current marriage and children from earlier ones. All surviving children share equally. Two children from a prior marriage plus a current spouse means each takes a one-third share. If you want anything different, a will or estate plan is the only way to lock it in. For anyone entering a second or third marriage with children from an earlier relationship, this is worth handling before the wedding, not after.