Hinds County marriage license
To marry in Hinds County, you apply to the Hinds County Circuit Clerk. There, both applicants must appear together.
- Fee
- $36
- Waiting period
- NoneMarry the same day
- License valid
- Never expires
- Both must appear
- YesTogether, at the same time
Reviewed July 30, 20266 official sourcesSee sources
Where to apply
- Apply online
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes no online, mail or remote application. The only route it describes is both applicants appearing together in the office.
Not published by this office- Apply in person
- Yes
Hinds County has two judicial districts, each with a Circuit Clerk office: the First in Jackson and the Second in Raymond. Both are open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, except on legal holidays.
Official requirementTo obtain a marriage license in Hinds County, both applicants must appear together in the Circuit Clerk’s Office.
When to apply
We will work out when you can apply. We never ask for names, dates of birth or any other personal detail.
Who must appear
- Both applicants
- YesOfficial requirement
To obtain a marriage license in Hinds County, both applicants must appear together in the Circuit Clerk’s Office.
- Residency
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes no residency requirement either way.
Not published by this office
Identification and personal information
We list what the office says it may ask for. We never collect any of it.
- Identification
- Proof of age for both applicants, in the form of a driver's license, ID, passport or birth certificate
The Clerk's published list is a proof-of-age list rather than a general photo-ID list; a birth certificate is accepted.
Official requirementProof of age is required by both applicants in the form of driver's license, ID, passport or birth certificate.
- Social Security number
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes no Social Security number requirement.
Not published by this office- Age
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes no minimum age. Mississippi's statutory minimum ages in Section 93-1-5 are still written as different ages for men and women, text that predates Obergefell v. Hodges; this site does not reproduce or apply it. Ask the Circuit Clerk directly if either applicant is under 18. The separate parental-consent rule for applicants under 21 is recorded below.
Not published by this office- Applicants under 18
- Anyone under 21 — not just under 18 — must give the circuit clerk satisfactory evidence that their parents or guardians consent to the marriage, and applicants under 21 must file affidavits showing the age of both applicants.
Mississippi's consent threshold is 21, which is higher than in most states. An 18, 19 or 20-year-old applicant still needs parental consent evidence.
Applies in some casesHowever, males and females under the age of twenty-one (21) years must furnish the circuit clerk satisfactory evidence of consent to the marriage by the parents or guardians of the parties.
Prior-marriage documents
- If a marriage ended
- The Clerk must be told the date the last marriage ended. A copy of the divorce decree is required only when the divorce was within the last 30 days.
The 30-day threshold is specific to Hinds County and is shorter than the six-month or unlimited decree rules used elsewhere.
Applies in some casesIf either applicant has been married before we must know the date the last marriage ended. If the divorce was within the last 30 days, we must have a copy of the divorce decree.
Fee and payment
- Fee
- $36
The Clerk's fee table on the same page still carries a $22.00 line for a marriage license. $36 matches current state law — Miss. Code Ann. Section 25-7-13(1)(i) sets the circuit clerk's marriage license charge at $35.00, and the county adds the $1.00 records-management fee under Section 25-60-5 — so the $22.00 line reads as stale. Confirm the amount when you call.
Official requirementThe fee is $36, we accept cash or card.
- Payment methods
- Official requirement
- Cash
- Card
The fee is $36, we accept cash or card.
Waiting period and expiration
- Waiting period
- No waiting period
No such requirement appears in the state statute that governs how a marriage is made here. The office itself publishes nothing either way.
Mississippi abolished its three-day wait in 2012. Senate Bill 2851 of that year — enacted as Chapter 431 and in force since 1 July 2012 — is titled, in the Legislature's own words, an act "to eliminate the 3-day waiting period for a marriage license", and it deleted the subsection that had kept the application on file for three days before the clerk could issue. Section 93-1-5 now sets out the conditions precedent to issuance as a closed list: a sworn written application, proof of age, parental-consent affidavits for applicants under 21, a judge's written waiver where an applicant is below the statutory minimum age, and a refusal where an applicant is intoxicated or cannot understand the application. None of them is a delay. Section 93-1-11 is the only other timing rule on issuance and it limits the hour, not the day — a clerk may not issue a license between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. The Hinds County Circuit Clerk does not restate any of this, so it is recorded from the statute rather than from the office.
Official requirementIt shall be unlawful for the circuit court clerk to issue a marriage license until the following conditions precedent have been complied with: (a) Application for the license is to be made in writing to the clerk of the circuit court of any county in the State of Mississippi. The application shall be sworn to by both applicants and shall include: (i) The names, ages and addresses of the parties applying; (ii) The names and addresses of the parents of the applicants, and, for applicants under the age of twenty-one (21), if no parents, then names and addresses of the guardian or next of kin; (iii) The signatures of witnesses; and (iv) Any other data that may be required by law or the State Board of Health.
- Waiver
This does not apply here.
There is no waiting period left to waive. The judicial waiver that Section 93-1-5 still provides waives the minimum-age requirement, not any delay; the separate judicial waiver of the three-day period disappeared along with the period itself in 2012.
Not applicable hereAN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 93-1-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ELIMINATE THE 3-DAY WAITING PERIOD FOR A MARRIAGE LICENSE AND TO DELETE THE REQUIREMENT FOR A BLOOD TEST FOR SYPHILIS
- License expires
This does not apply here.
No such requirement appears in the state statute that governs how a marriage is made here. The office itself publishes nothing either way.
Nothing in Chapter 1 of Title 93 puts an outer limit on a Mississippi marriage license, so there is no expiry to express as a number of days. Section 93-1-13 requires only that a license "first have been duly issued" before the marriage is contracted or solemnized, and Section 93-1-15 makes the marriage valid where a license was duly issued and the ceremony was performed by a person authorised by Sections 93-1-17 and 93-1-19 — neither attaches a deadline, and no other section of the chapter does either. Because this record carries no expiry figure, the ceremony-date planner cannot draw an outer boundary for Hinds County. The Circuit Clerk publishes nothing on the point, so ask the office if a long gap is planned between issuance and the ceremony.
Not applicable hereA marriage shall not be contracted or solemnized unless a license therefor shall first have been duly issued. No irregularity in the issuance of or omission in the license shall invalidate any marriage, nor shall this section be construed so as to invalidate any marriage that is good at common law.
- Where it is valid
- Mississippi law lets a couple apply to the circuit clerk of any county in the state, so a Hinds County license is not tied to Hinds County residents.
State law addresses only where you may apply. Neither the Circuit Clerk nor the statute quoted here states where the ceremony itself may be held, so do not assume statewide use without asking.
Official requirementApplication for the license is to be made in writing to the clerk of the circuit court of any county in the State of Mississippi.
Witness and ceremony notes
- Witnesses
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
No ceremony witness requirement or count is published. Section 93-1-5 does require the signatures of witnesses on the sworn application itself, which is a different thing from witnesses at the wedding.
Not published by this office- Officiant
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes nothing about who may officiate, and does not say whether the office performs ceremonies.
Not published by this office
Returning and recording the license
- After the ceremony
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk publishes no deadline for returning the completed license for recording, though its published fee covers recording and filing returns.
Not published by this office- Processing
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The Circuit Clerk does not publish how long issuance takes or whether the license is handed over the same visit.
Not published by this office
Ordering the certified record afterwards is a separate request: official certified copy page
Access and language
- Published notes
This office does not publish this. Confirm with them directly before relying on it.
The county site offers a text-resize control but publishes no accessibility statement and no language-access notice.
Not published by this office
Common questions
- How much does a marriage license cost in Hinds County?
- The fee is $36, set by the Hinds County Circuit Clerk.
- Is there a waiting period for a marriage license in Hinds County?
- No. There is no waiting period — the license can be used as soon as it is issued.
- How long is a Hinds County marriage license valid?
- It does not expire — once issued, the license remains valid until used.
- Do both partners have to appear in person in Hinds County?
- Yes. Both applicants must appear together to complete the application.
Each answer restates the verified rule above; the official wording and sources are in the numbered sections.
Sources and reviewed date
Every fact above is quoted from one of these pages. Reviewed July 30, 2026.
- Circuit ClerkHinds County Circuit Clerk · issuing authority · retrieved 2026-07-30
- Circuit Clerk FeesHinds County Circuit Clerk · issuing authority · retrieved 2026-07-30
- House Bill 1221, 2024 Regular Session (as introduced) — text of Section 93-1-5, Mississippi Code of 1972Mississippi Legislature · state-level source · retrieved 2026-07-30
- Senate Bill 2851, 2012 Regular Session, as sent to the Governor — the act that eliminated Mississippi's three-day marriage license waitMississippi Legislature · state-level source · retrieved 2026-07-30
- Bill history for Senate Bill 2851, 2012 Regular Session — Mississippi Legislative Bill Status SystemMississippi Legislature · state-level source · retrieved 2026-07-30
- Senate Bill 2826, 2023 Regular Session (as introduced) — reproduces Sections 93-1-1 through 93-1-25, Mississippi Code of 1972Mississippi Legislature · state-level source · retrieved 2026-07-30
Recorded conflicts
- The Circuit Clerk's fee page states two different marriage license amounts. Its fee table row reads "Marriage License — Filing Fee: $22.00", while the applicant instructions immediately below it read "The fee is $36, we accept cash or card." Both have sat side by side since at least December 2024. We publish $36 because it matches current state law: Miss. Code Ann. Section 25-7-13(1)(i), as re-enacted by Senate Bill 2562 of the 2025 Regular Session, sets the circuit clerk's marriage license charge at $35.00, and the same page applies a $1.00 records-management fee under Section 25-60-5 to documents filed as public record. The $22.00 line matches the older $21.00 statutory charge plus that $1.00.
- Mississippi is a circuit clerk state. The Hinds County Chancery Clerk is a separate elected office and handles land records and chancery court matters — it does not issue marriage licenses. Applicants who go to the Chancery Clerk will be sent away.
- Mississippi publishes no free official code portal, so every statutory text here comes from the Legislature's own bill documents, which reproduce the code sections they touch. Only text a bill leaves unamended is relied on: proposed changes are never treated as law, and the sections' pre-Obergefell gendered provisions are neither reproduced nor applied on this site.
- The waiting period and the expiry are recorded from the statute, not from the Circuit Clerk, which publishes nothing on either. Chapter 1 of Title 93 governs marriage license issuance exhaustively — it runs from Section 93-1-1 to Section 93-1-25, Section 93-1-7 was repealed in 2012, and every remaining section was read: 93-1-1, 93-1-3, 93-1-5, 93-1-9, 93-1-11, 93-1-13, 93-1-15, 93-1-17, 93-1-18, 93-1-19, 93-1-23 and 93-1-25 in the Legislature's 2023 reproduction, and 93-1-5 again in the enacted 2012 act and a 2024 bill. None imposes a wait before issuance or a deadline for using the license. The one section not read verbatim is Section 93-1-21, which Section 93-1-19 identifies as the penalty for a religious society's clerk failing to return a certificate of marriage for recording — a post-ceremony recording penalty, not a condition of issuance and not a limit on the license's life.
- Two other pieces of the old law are gone and are not applied here. The three-day wait and the syphilis blood test were both deleted from Section 93-1-5 by Senate Bill 2851 of 2012, and the same act repealed Section 93-1-7, which had let an interested party contest the issuance of a license. The requirement in Section 93-1-11 that the clerk certify the time of issuance is what remains of that scheme.
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