North Dakota Marriage Laws: License, Ceremony, and Divorce

North Dakota marriage laws require a license from a county recorder and a ceremony performed by an authorized officiant, with both applicants appearing in person to apply. There is no residency requirement and no waiting period, so a couple can apply, marry, and have the license recorded the same week. Both parties must be at least 18 (or 16–17 with written parental consent), must not be within a prohibited family relationship, and must have the mental capacity to consent. The signed license has to be returned to the issuing office within five days of the ceremony.

Who Can Legally Marry

Anyone 18 or older who is not otherwise disqualified can marry without additional consent.¹ Applicants aged 16 or 17 can marry only with written consent from the parent who has legal custody, the surviving parent, or a legal guardian if both parents are deceased. No license may be issued to anyone under 16, even with parental approval.²

The following marriages are void from the start as incestuous:

Parents and children, including grandparents and grandchildren of any degree
Siblings of the whole or half blood
Uncles and nieces of the whole or half blood
Aunts and nephews of the whole or half blood
First cousins of the whole or half blood

These restrictions apply equally to children born within or outside of marriage, and a marriage performed elsewhere that violates them has no legal effect in North Dakota.¹

Both parties must also have the mental capacity to understand and consent to the marriage contract. If one party was of unsound mind at the ceremony, the marriage is grounds for annulment, though it becomes valid if that party later regains capacity and freely continues living as spouses.³

Getting the Marriage License

North Dakota does not require either applicant to be a state resident. The license can be issued in the county where either party resides, where a parent of either party resides, or where the marriage will take place.¹ Members of the armed forces stationed in North Dakota count as residents of the county where they are stationed. No blood test is required.

Both applicants must appear together in person before the county recorder, or the official the county commissioners have designated in the recorder’s place.² Mail-in and single-applicant applications are not accepted.

Each applicant submits an affidavit confirming they are over 18 and presents a birth certificate or other satisfactory proof of age. Applicants under 18 must provide the written parental or guardian consent described above. The application asks for full legal names, birthplaces, and current addresses, and if either person was previously married, information about how that marriage ended.²

The license fee is $65 in most counties. Cash is always accepted; checks and credit cards depend on the county, and credit card payments often carry a small surcharge.⁴ There is no waiting period. The license is valid for 60 days and can be used anywhere in the state. If it expires unused, no refund is available and you must buy a new one.⁵

Who Can Perform the Ceremony

North Dakota law authorizes the following officiants anywhere in the state:

Judges of courts of record, including district court judges and North Dakota Supreme Court justices
Municipal judges
County recorders, or the official designated by county commissioners in the recorder’s place
Ordained ministers, priests, and clergy authorized by a recognized denomination
Any individual authorized by the rituals and practices of a religious persuasion

That last category is broader than it looks. If a religious group’s own practices authorize a person to perform weddings, that person qualifies under state law even without formal ordination. The statute does not explicitly address online ordination, so couples planning to use an online-ordained officiant should confirm acceptance with their county recorder’s office before the wedding.

Ceremony and Recording Requirements

The ceremony can be religious or civil. A few legal requirements apply either way.

Both parties must express their consent to marry during the ceremony. That consent is the core legal act that creates the marriage.¹

Two witnesses are required. The marriage certificate must be signed by two witnesses in addition to the officiant, so plan accordingly if you’re considering a very small ceremony or elopement.¹

After the ceremony, the officiant completes and signs the marriage certificate, returns the original license and certificate to the issuing office within five days, and immediately delivers a duplicate copy to the couple.² Once recorded, the certificate is the official proof of your marriage. You’ll need certified copies for things like updating insurance, filing joint taxes, or changing your name. Following up with your officiant to make sure the return happens on time is worth the effort, because an unrecorded marriage can create trouble when you later need to prove marital status.

Common Law Marriage

You cannot form a common law marriage in North Dakota. Living together, sharing finances, and presenting yourselves as married does not create a legal marriage inside the state; a license and an officiated ceremony are required.¹

A common law marriage validly created in a state that recognizes them will generally be honored here, but the couple would need documentation showing the marriage was valid where it was formed.⁶

Recognition of Out-of-State Marriages

North Dakota recognizes marriages performed in other states and countries when they were legal where they took place and do not violate the state’s core restrictions, such as the prohibited-relationship rules.⁶ If you’re moving to North Dakota, hold on to your original marriage documents, and keep records establishing where and when a common law marriage was formed if that applies to you.

Premarital and Marital Agreements

North Dakota has adopted the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act at Chapter 14-03.2, covering agreements signed before the wedding and agreements signed during the marriage. These can address property rights, spousal support, debt responsibility, and how attorney’s fees would be allocated in a dissolution. To be enforceable, the agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and a court will refuse to enforce it if the challenging party proves involuntary consent or duress, lack of a reasonable opportunity to consult independent counsel, missing plain-language explanation of rights being waived (unless the party had their own lawyer), or inadequate financial disclosure. No agreement can limit a child’s right to support or restrict remedies available to a domestic violence victim.⁷

Annulment

An annulment treats the marriage as though it never legally existed. A district court can grant one on any of these grounds existing at the time of the marriage:

Either party was under the legal age of consent, or needed parental consent and married without it
One party’s previous spouse was still living and that marriage was still in effect
Either party was of unsound mind
Consent was obtained through fraud
Consent was obtained through force
Either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage, and the incapacity continues and appears incurable
The marriage falls within the prohibited incestuous relationships

For several of these grounds, the right to annulment can be lost. If the underage party reaches legal age and freely continues living with the other spouse, or if a defrauded party learns the full truth and stays, the court will treat the marriage as ratified. The window is not unlimited, so acting promptly matters.

Divorce in North Dakota

To file for divorce, the person initiating the case must have been a good-faith resident of North Dakota for at least six months before filing. If the filer moves to North Dakota during the case, they can still obtain a divorce as long as they have been a resident for six months before the final decree is entered.⁸

North Dakota is commonly described as a no-fault state because you can divorce simply by claiming irreconcilable differences, meaning substantial reasons exist for not continuing the marriage.⁹ Neither spouse has to prove wrongdoing, and this is the ground most couples use. The state also recognizes fault-based grounds: adultery, extreme cruelty, willful desertion, willful neglect, substance abuse, and felony conviction.⁸ Fault grounds rarely change the outcome for property division but can matter in certain disputes over spousal support or custody.

Property division follows equitable distribution: the court divides marital property and debts fairly, though not necessarily equally. The valuation date for assets and debts is either one both parties agree on or, by default, 60 days before the scheduled trial date, with adjustments allowed if an asset’s value changes significantly before trial. Special rules apply when one spouse has a government pension in place of Social Security.⁸

1
Justia Law. North Dakota Code Title 14, Chapter 14-03 – Marriage Contract
2
North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Code 14-03 – Marriage Contract
3
Justia Law. North Dakota Code Title 14, Chapter 14-04 – Annulment of Marriage
4
Cass County, ND. Marriage Licenses and Weddings
5
Cass County, ND. Marriage Licenses
6
North Dakota Department of Human Services. IM 5254 Definition of Spouse/Marriage
7
Justia Law. North Dakota Code Title 14, Chapter 14-03.2 – Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act
8
Justia Law. North Dakota Code Title 14, Chapter 14-05 – Divorce
9
North Dakota Court System. Divorce