Marriage License Information and Forms
MARRIAGE LICENSE INFORMATION
If you are getting married in Massachusetts, the two parties involved can file an Intention of Marriage with any city or town clerk in the state. Each office has their own hours and fees. In Wales the fee is $40.00 plus $10.00 for the certified copy. The marriage paperwork can be sent to you to fill out ahead of time, and when the paperwork is done, you mail, or scan and email, it to the Town Clerk. The Clerk will read it over, contact you with any questions, and make an appointment for the couple to come in, sign the Intention, and pay the fee. By law, unless one party is too sick to come in, or is away in the military or is incarcerated, both people must come in and sign the intention. Proof must be provided for each cause.
There are three pages to complete. As you fill out the paperwork, be sure to keep Party A and Party B the same on each form. The first is the legal Intention of Marriage form, which has each partner’s personal and family information, and questions about former marriages. The Intention of Marriage is signed under penalty of perjury in the presence of the Town Clerk. The second is the marriage worksheet, which collects contact information for the parties along with information about the date, the location of the wedding, and the officiant. And the third is a page that collects your Social Security numbers. The intention and worksheet are public information, so the Social Security numbers are collected on a separate sheet which is not public.
If you don’t have someone selected to perform the ceremony, the Clerk’s office has a list of local JPs who can perform the wedding. Also, you can have any individual who is special to you get a “One Day Solemnization Certificate” from the State, and then that person can perform the wedding. However, it takes about 6-7 weeks to complete that paperwork for the One Day Solemnization. Since the wedding cannot take place unless the Solemnization Certificate has been received by the Town Clerk, you would want to start the process right away.
Once both parties have signed the Intention, the Clerk completes the marriage license. By law, you must wait until three days after you file the paperwork to receive the marriage license. So, in Wales, if you file on a Monday, you can pick up the license on Thursday. Since we are closed on Fridays, if you file on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday you would have to come in on the following Monday or Tuesday to pick up the license. The license can be mailed, or one person can come and get the license. Be sure to allow time to read over the license and check for any spelling errors, and any corrections would be made immediately. The license is good for 60 days from the date you sign the Intention of Marriage. The Clerk will give you the date to pick up the license and the date of expiration when you sign the intention form.
After the ceremony, the officiant signs the license and mails it back to the Town Clerk in the envelope provided. When the Clerk receives the license, the Clerk will complete the registration and send a certified copy to the newly married couple.