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Hinds County exact answer

Is there a marriage license waiting period in Hinds County?

This answer belongs to the issuing office and task named above. It does not substitute a statewide summary or infer a rule the office does not publish.

Direct answer

There is no waiting period between issuance and the ceremony in Hinds County. 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.

Published rule and conditions

Marriage license 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 requirement

It 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.

Issuing office

Hinds County Circuit Clerk

Open the issuing office

Official sources for this answer

  • Senate Bill 2851, 2012 Regular Session, as sent to the Governor — the act that eliminated Mississippi's three-day marriage license waitMississippi Legislature - checked July 30, 2026

    AN 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; TO REPEAL SECTION 93-1-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE RIGHT TO CONTEST THE ISSUANCE OF A MARRIAGE LICENSE BY ANY INTERESTED PARTY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. ... SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.

  • Bill history for Senate Bill 2851, 2012 Regular Session — Mississippi Legislative Bill Status SystemMississippi Legislature - checked July 30, 2026

    The Bill Status System records SB 2851 with the short title "Marriage license; eliminate 3-day waiting period and blood test.", a disposition of "Law", an effective date of "July 1, 2012" and chapter number "431". This is the record that the act became law rather than dying as an introduced bill.

  • Senate Bill 2826, 2023 Regular Session (as introduced) — reproduces Sections 93-1-1 through 93-1-25, Mississippi Code of 1972Mississippi Legislature - checked July 30, 2026

    93-1-11. (1) It shall be unlawful for any clerk to issue a marriage license between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. When a clerk shall issue a license he shall certify on said license the time when it was issued. ... 93-1-13. A marriage shall not be contracted or solemnized unless a license therefor shall first have been duly issued. ... 93-1-15. (1) No marriage contracted after April 5, 1956, shall be valid unless the contracting parties shall have obtained a marriage license as otherwise required by law, and unless also the marriage, after such license shall have been duly issued therefor, shall have been performed by or before any person, religious society, institution, or organization authorized by Sections 93-1-17 and 93-1-19 to solemnize marriages.

Answer boundary

MarriageLicenseCheck is an independent reference, not the issuing office or legal advice. Applicant facts, timing, prior marriages, and document type can change the result. The official office decides what it will accept.

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