Tennessee Marriage License Information

How much would you say a marriage license costs? Twenty-five dollars? Thirty-five? How about one hundred dollars! That's what a marriage license in Tennessee now costs (actual cost varies by a few dollars county to county).

Why so much? First, some background. Tennessee has the second highest divorce rate in the country! Something had to be done to help more marriages succeed, so lawmakers agreed on a plan to encourage couples to get premarital counseling. They added a sixty-dollar fee to the marriage license. This extra fee is taken off if the couple gets premarital counseling, or takes a premarital preparation course of at least four hours.

There is an official Tennessee Certificate of Completion that the couple gets from the county clerk's office, or often can be downloaded and printed from the clerk's website. The certificate is good for one year, and must be presented at the time the couple gets their license in order to receive the sixty-dollar discount.

The premarital preparation instructor or provider must meet certain qualifications which are listed on the Certificate of Completion. These include: a psychologist, a licensed marital and family therapist, a professional counselor, an official representative of a religious institution, a clinical social worker, a clinical pastoral therapist, a psychological examiner, or any other instructor approved for the judicial district.

The premarital course instructor or provider's name must be notarized on the completion certificate.

Bride and groom may attend/use separate courses, but in that case separate certificates must be filed.

There is an At-Home Marriage Preparation Course that you can do online (www.squidoo.com/premaritalpreparation).

Here are the basic tips you need to know to get a marriage license in Tennessee. To get a license, both bride and groom must appear at the clerk's office together and must present proof of their Social Security numbers. (If either the bride or groom is under the age of 18, their parent must also come.
Those under 16 cannot be married in Tennessee without a court order).

There is no blood test or waiting period.

The license must be used within thirty days of issue.

You can get your license in any Tennessee county and use it anywhere in the state.

These are the general rules as they stand now. Things do change and there are sometimes slight differences from county to county. I always encourage couples to call the county clerk's office where they are getting their license to check on the requirements.

You can find the county clerk's office through a web search or by looking in the blue pages of your phone book, or check for updates at the sites listed in the resource box.