Age Requirements for both Parties

• 18 years of age or older (both parties)
• 16 and 17 years of age (either party) a court order is required

ID Requirements (Secured and Verifiable Identification)

Common Primary Forms Approved:

• Any Valid Federal or State Issued Photo ID
• Colorado Temporary ID’s (expired less than 60 days)
• Current Passport
• Valid Military ID (Active or Inactive duty)
• Tribal Identification Card with intact photo (US or Canadian)
• Certificate of Naturalization with intact photo
• Certificate of (US) Citizenship with intact photo

Please note- other than the Colorado Temporary ID, as explained above, all forms of identification must be current and cannot be expired.

Common Forms not Approved:

• Consular cards
• City and county detention center ID cards
• Novelty ID cards
• Souvenir birth certificates (issued by hospitals)
• Social Security cards

For a full list of Primary Forms, Secondary Forms, and Non-approved Forms, please refer to one of the application packets provided below under Documents/Downloads.

• One of the parties is still married to another person. All divorces must be final. Proof of divorce must be provided if finalized in the last 60 days.
  
  
• Half-blood and whole blood relations of the following:
  • ancestor and descendant
  • brother and sister
  • uncle and niece
  • aunt and nephew
    
    
• Marriage/Civil Union licenses issued by other states. Marriage/Civil Union licenses from Colorado must be used in Colorado. Marriage/Civil Union licenses from other states are NOT valid for solemnization in Colorado.
  
  
• Proof of Colorado Residency of an incarcerated individual must be provided.  Simply being incarcerated in Colorado is not valid proof of Colorado Residency. 

Please note- Marriage/Civil Unions between cousins is permitted in Colorado.

The last four digits of your Social Security Number (SSN) is required on all applications (C.R.S. 14-15-109). If a party does not have an SSN, the party must complete a No SSN Affidavit. This affidavit can be found in the application packets provided below under Documents/Downloads.

The form may be signed and notarized in advance or signed in front of the Deputy County Clerk at the time of application.

• Witnesses are not required in Colorado.
• Depending on your type of ceremony, some clergy, judges, or public officials may request a witness(s).

Couples have many options when it comes to officiating their ceremony:

• Self-solemnize (couple officiates own ceremony)
• A judge
• A retired judge
• A magistrate
• An authorized public official
• Any mode of solemnization recognized by a religious affiliation

Clergy from out-of-state need not be registered in Colorado.

Couples who solemnize their own Marriage/Civil Union license must:

• Complete the bottom portion of the license
• Both parties must sign as the Officiating Party and as Party 1 and Party 2

• The person certifying a license (officiating the ceremony), shall complete the license and forward it to the Clerk & Recorder's Office within sixty-three days (63) of the ceremony.
  
  
• Any license that is not submitted on time to the Clerk & Recorder's Office, shall be required to pay a $20.00 LATE FEE, and an additional $5.00 LATE FEE may be assessed for each additional day of failure, up to a MAXIMUM of $50.00.
  
  
• Please return completed license to:

• Licenses must include the county and location where the ceremony took place, the date of the ceremony, the officiating party’s signature and title, and both parties’ signatures.

Once our office completes the license and records it, the original will be sent back to the applicants.

Colorado has recognized common law marriage as legal and binding since 1877 and is one of twelve states to do so. A common law marriage is established when the parties mutually consent to be husband and wife. Common law marriage does not require any license, ceremony, or documentation for it to be legal.

Parties to a common law marriage are entitled to all rights, privileges, and responsibilities of a legal and binding marriage. If the parties need documentation of a marriage, it is recommended that they file a signed, notarized affidavit, attesting to the marriage, with the County Clerk and Recorder in the county where they reside.

This affidavit will be filed as a document, not as a marriage record. Only legal divorce or death of one of the parties may terminate common law marriage.

Affidavit of Common Law Marriage

The following are the only two requirements for common law marriage:

• The parties are free to enter into a marriage (neither is married to another person).
• Both parties are of legal age (18). If between the ages of 16 and 17, a court order is required.

The following are examples of what constitutes a common law marriage:

• The parties hold themselves out to the public as husband and wife.
• Maintenance of a joint checking and/or savings account.
• Joint ownership of property.
• Mutual financial support.
• Filing of joint income tax returns.
• Registration as husband and wife on applications, leases, contracts, registers, etc.
• Use of the man's surname by the woman.

Periods of cohabitation, without the aforementioned, do not constitute a common law marriage.

Copies and certified copies can be requested at https://www.fremontco.com/clerk-and-recorder/public-record-search