West Virginia Marriage Laws

48-2-405 Record of marriage to be kept by person officiating

A record of each marriage performed, with the names of the parties, their respective places of residence prior to marriage, and the date of marriage, shall be kept by the officiating religious representative in the permanent record of the church, synagogue, spiritual assembly or religious organization which he or she serves.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 4: Marriage Ceremony

48-2-101 Necessity of marriage license

Every marriage in this state must be solemnized under a marriage license issued by a clerk of the county commission in accordance with the provisions of this article. If a ceremony of marriage is performed without a license, the attempted marriage is void, and the parties do not attain the legal status of husband and wife.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-102 Where an application for a marriage license may be made; when an application may be received and a license issued; application by mail

(a) If one or both of the applicants are residents of this state, they may apply for a marriage license to be issued by the clerk of the county commission of the county in which a resident applicant usually resides. If both parties are nonresidents of this state, they may apply for a license to be issued by the clerk of the county commission in any county in this state.

(b) Applications for licenses may be received and licenses may be issued by the clerk of the county commission when the office of the clerk is officially open for the conduct of business.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-103 Waiting period before issuance of marriage license; issuance of license in case of emergency or extraordinary circumstances

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection(b) of this section, if either or both of the applicants for a marriage license is under eighteen years of age, the clerk of the county commission may not issue a marriage license until two full days elapse after the day the license application is filed.

(b) In case of an emergency or extraordinary circumstances, as shown by affidavit or other proof, a circuit judge of the county in which an application for a marriage license will be filed may order the clerk of the county commission to issue a license at any time before the expiration of the waiting period prescribed in subsection (a) of this section. The clerk of the county commission shall attach a certified copy of the judge's order to the application and issue the marriage license in accordance with the order. If the judge or judges of the county in which the application will be filed are absent or incapacitated, the order may be made and directed to the clerk of the county commission of the county by a circuit judge in any adjoining judicial circuit, or a special judge appointed by the supreme court of appeals.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-104 Contents of the application for a marriage license

(a) The application for a marriage license must contain a statement of the full names of both female and male parties, their social security account numbers, dates of birth, places of birth and residence addresses.

(b) If either of the parties is a legal alien in the United States of America and has no social security account number, a tourist or visitor visa number or number equivalent to a United States social security account number must be provided.

(c) Every application for a marriage license must contain the following statement: "Marriage is designed to be a loving and lifelong union between a woman and a man.

The laws of this state affirm your right to enter into this marriage and to live within the marriage free from violence and abuse. Neither of you is the property of the other. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, battery and assault of a spouse or other family member, and other provisions of the criminal laws of this state are applicable to spouses and other family members, and these violations are punishable by law."

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-105 Execution of the application for a marriage license

Both female and male parties to a contemplated marriage are required to sign the application for a marriage license, under oath. The application must be signed before the clerk of the county commission or another person authorized to administer oaths under the laws of this state.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-106 Proof of age

(a) At the time of the execution of the application, the clerk or the person administering the oath to the applicants shall require evidence of the age of each of the applicants. Evidence of age may be as follows:

(1) A certified copy of a birth certificate or a duplicate certificate produced by any means that accurately reproduces the original;

(2) A voter's registration certificate;

(3) An operator's or chauffeur's license;

(4) The affidavit of both parents or the legal guardian of the applicant; or

(5) Other good and sufficient evidence.

(b) If an affidavit is relied upon as evidence of the age of an applicant, and if one parent is dead, the affidavit of the surviving parent or of the guardian of the applicant is sufficient. If both parents are dead, the affidavit of the guardian of the applicant is sufficient. If the parents of the applicant live separate and apart, the affidavit of the parent having custody of the applicant is sufficient.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-107 Recording an application for a marriage license

The clerk of the county commission shall record the application for a marriage license in the register of marriages provided for in section 2-203. The clerk shall note the date of the filing of the application in the register. The clerk's notation, or a certified copy thereof, is legal evidence of the facts contained in the license.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 1: Application for Marriage License

48-2-201 Form of marriage license

The marriage license shall be in form substantially as follows:

Marriage License.
State of West Virginia, County of __________________, to wit:

To any person authorized to celebrate marriages:

You are hereby authorized to join together in matrimony ______________________________ and ______________________________

Given under my hand, as clerk of the county commission of the county of _____________, this _____ day of ______________, 2______.

__________________________

Clerk as aforesaid.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 2: Marriage License

48-2-202 Endorsement and return of licenses by persons solemnizing marriage; duties of clerk pertaining thereto

(a) The person solemnizing a marriage shall retain the marriage license and place an endorsement on it establishing the fact of the marriage and the time and place it was celebrated.

(b) Before the sixth day of the month after the month in which the marriage was celebrated, the person who solemnized the marriage shall forward the original of the marriage license to the clerk who issued the license.

(c) In the event that the marriage authorized by the license is not solemnized within sixty days from the date of its issuance, then the license is null and void. If the county clerk has not received the original license within sixty days after the expiration date on the license, the clerk shall notify each of the applicants of that fact, by certified mail, return receipt requested.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 2: Marriage License

48-2-203 Register of marriages

(a) The clerk of the county commission is required to maintain a suitable book to be used as a register of marriages. The clerk shall keep a complete record of the following information:

(1) Factual information that relates to the eligibility of a person to obtain a marriage license: Provided, That if the license is issued because the female is pregnant, the pregnancy will not be noted by the clerk in the register of marriages;

(2) Each marriage license issued by the clerk; and

(3) An endorsement by a minister, priest, rabbi, or judge certifying that the marriage was solemnized.

(b) The clerk shall index the register of marriages in the names of both parties to the marriage.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 2: Marriage License

48-2-204 Record of marriage celebrated outside of state

If at the time of celebrating any marriage out of this state, either or both of the parties thereto is a resident of this state, a certificate or statement of that fact, verified by the affidavit of any person present at such celebration, or a transcript of the marriage record, certified by the custodian of such records, from the state where the marriage was celebrated, may be returned to the clerk of the county commission of the county in which the husband resides, if he is a resident, or otherwise to the clerk of the county in which the wife resides, and an abstract thereof shall be recorded by the clerk in the register of marriages and indexed in the name of both parties.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 2: Marriage License

48-2-301 Age of consent for marriage; exception

(a) The age of consent for marriage for both the male and the female is eighteen years of age. A person under the age of eighteen lacks the capacity to contract a marriage without the consent required by this section.

(b) The clerk of the county commission may issue a marriage license to an applicant who is under the age of eighteen but sixteen years of age or older if the clerk obtains a valid written consent from the applicant's parents or legal guardian.

(c) Upon order of a circuit judge, the clerk of the county commission may issue a marriage license to an applicant who is under the age of sixteen, if the clerk obtains a valid written consent from the applicant's parents or legal guardian. A circuit judge of the county in which the application for a marriage license is filed may order the clerk of the county commission to issue a license to an applicant under the age of sixteen if, in the court's discretion, the issuance of a license is in the best interest of the applicant and if consent is given by the parents or guardian.

(d) A consent to marry must be duly acknowledged before an officer authorized to acknowledge a deed. If the parents are living together at the time the application for a marriage license is made and the consent is given, the signatures of both parents or the applicant's legal guardian is required. If one parent is dead, the signature of the surviving parent or the applicant's legal guardian is required. If both parents are dead, the signature of the applicant's legal guardian is required. If the parents of the applicant are living separate and apart, the signature of the parent having custody of the applicant or the applicant's legal guardian is required.

(e) If a person under the age of consent is married in violation of this section, the marriage is not void for this reason, and such marriage is valid until it is actually annulled.

(f) A marriage by an underage person without a valid consent as required by this section, though voidable at the time it is entered into, may be ratified and become completely valid and binding when the underage party reaches the age of consent. Validation of a marriage by ratification is established by some unequivocal and voluntary act, statement, or course of conduct after reaching the age of consent. Ratification includes, but is not limited to, continued cohabitation as husband and wife after the age of consent is attained.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 3: Capacity to Marry

48-2-302 Prohibition against marriage of persons related within certain degrees

(a) A man is prohibited from marrying his mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, granddaughter, half sister, aunt, brother's daughter, sister's daughter, first cousin or double cousin. A woman is prohibited from marrying her father, grandfather, brother, son, grandson, half brother, uncle, brother's son, sister's son, first cousin or double cousin.

(b) The prohibitions described in subsection (a) of this section are applicable to consanguineous relationships where persons are blood related by virtue of having a common ancestor.

(c) The prohibitions described in subsection (a) of this section are applicable to persons related by affinity, where the relationship is founded on a marriage, and the prohibition continues in force even though the marriage is terminated by death or divorce, unless the divorce was ordered for a cause which made the marriage, originally, unlawful or void.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 3: Capacity to Marry

48-2-303 Prohibition against marriage not to include persons related by adoption

For the purpose of section 2-302, cousin or double cousin does not include persons whose relationship is created solely by adoption. If it necessary to open and examine the record of any adoption proceeding in the state to ascertain that a relationship of cousin or double cousin is created solely by adoption, then an application may be made to the circuit court that held the adoption proceeding, by the clerk of the county commission seeking to issue the marriage license, or either party applying for the license, to open the record and cause it to be examined. Upon such application, the judge shall examine the record confidentially and report to the clerk whether the record discloses any consanguinity prohibited by this section and may grant such other relief prayed for which may be proper under article 22 of this chapter.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 3: Capacity to Marry

48-2-403 Ritual for ceremony of marriage by a religious representative

A religious representative authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage shall perform the ceremony of marriage according to the rites and ceremonies of his or her religious denomination, church, synagogue, spiritual assembly or religious organization and the laws of the state of West Virginia.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 4: Marriage Ceremony

48-2-404 Ritual for ceremony of marriage by a judge or justice

The ritual for the ceremony of marriages by a family court judge, a circuit judge or a justice of the supreme court of appeals may be as follows: At the time appointed, the persons to be married, being qualified according to the law of the state of West Virginia, standing together facing the judge, the man at the judge's left hand and the woman at the right, the judge shall say:

"We are gathered here, in the presence of these witnesses, to join together this man and this woman in matrimony. It is not to be entered into unadvisedly but discreetly, sincerely and in dedication of life."

(Then shall the judge say to the man, using his Christian name:)

"N., wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together in the bonds of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and in health?"

(Then the man shall answer:)

"I will."

(Then the judge shall say to the woman, using her Christian name:)

"N., wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband, to live together in the bonds of matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and health?"

(The woman shall answer:)

"I will."

(Then may the judge say:)

"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?"

(The father of the woman, or whoever giveth her in marriage, shall answer:)

"I do."

(Then the judge shall ask the man to say after him:)

"I, N., take thee, N., to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as life shall last, and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

(Then the judge shall ask the woman to repeat after him:)

"I, N., take thee, N., to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as life shall last, and thereto I pledge thee my faith."

(Then, if there be a ring, the judge shall say:)

"The wedding ring is an outward and visible sign--signifying unto all, the uniting of this man and this woman in matrimony."

(The judge then shall deliver the ring to the man to put on the third finger of the woman's left hand. The man shall say after the judge:)

"In token and pledge of the vow between us made, with this ring, I thee wed."

(Then, if there be a second ring, the judge shall deliver it to the woman to put upon the third finger of the man's left hand; and the woman shall say after the judge:)

"In token and pledge of the vow between us made, with this ring, I thee wed."

(Then shall the judge say:)

"Forasmuch as N. and N. have consented together in wedlock, and have witnessed the same each to the other and before these witnesses and thereto have pledged their faith each to the other, and have declared the same by giving (and receiving) a ring, by virtue of the authority vested in me as judge of this court, I pronounce that they are husband and wife together."

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 4: Marriage Ceremony

48-2-501 Unlawful acts by clerk of the county commission; penalties

(a) It is unlawful for a clerk of the county commission to do any of the following acts:

(1) To make a false entry as to the date of application for a marriage license;

(2) To issue a marriage license prior to the end of the required three-day period (unless a circuit judge dispenses with this requirement by order pursuant to section 2-103);

(3) To issue a license on any Sunday or a legal holiday; or

(4) To receive an application for a marriage license or issue a marriage license in any place other than the office of the clerk of the county commission.

(b) A clerk of the county commission who violates the provisions of subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or by confinement in the county or regional jail for not less than three months nor more than nine months, or by both such fine and confinement, in the discretion of the court.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 5: Offenses and Penalties

48-2-502 Issuing marriage license contrary to law; penalty

A clerk of the county commission who knowingly issues a marriage license contrary to law is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by confinement in the county or regional jail for not more than one year, or by both such fine and confinement, in the discretion of the court.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 5: Offenses and Penalties

48-2-503 Consanguineous marriage; penalty

(a) If a person marries another who is within the degrees of relationship described in section 2-302, and the relationship is founded on consanguinity, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or be confined in the county or regional jail for not more than six months, or both, in the discretion of the court.

(b) If a person who is a resident of this state marries in another state or country, the person violates subsection (a) of this section if:

(1) The persons married are within the degrees of relationship described in section 2-302 and the relationship is founded on consanguinity;

(2) The person intends to evade the law of this state;

(3) The person intends to return and reside in this state; and

(4) The persons, after marrying, return to this state and cohabit as man and wife.

(c) For purposes of this section, the fact of cohabitation of the persons as man and wife is evidence of their marriage.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 5: Offenses and Penalties

48-2-504 Failure to endorse and return license; penalties

If a person who is authorized to celebrate marriages in this state willfully fails to comply with the provisions of section 2-202, relating to the endorsement and return of a license, his or her authority must be suspended for a period of not less than six months nor more than one year. If the person gave bond under the provisions of section 2-402, the conditions of the bond are deemed to be broken and the bond must be forfeited as otherwise provided by law. The county clerk shall notify the prosecuting attorney of the county of any failure to comply with section 2-202. The prosecuting attorney shall institute proceedings before the circuit court to suspend the person's authority to celebrate marriages. The court shall determine all questions of law and fact.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 5: Offenses and Penalties

48-2-505 Unlawful solicitation of a celebration of marriage

(a) It is unlawful for any religious representative in any manner to solicit the celebration of a marriage ceremony.

(b) It is unlawful for a religious representative to give anything of value, directly or indirectly, as a reward to any person who may accompany, bring, send or direct the holders of a marriage license to the religious representative.

(c) If a person violates the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this section, his or her license to celebrate marriages shall be revoked, and no such license shall thereafter be issued to the person. It is the duty of the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the violation occurs to institute proceedings in the circuit court to revoke the license. Reasonable notice of proceedings to revoke a license shall be given to the licensee. The court shall determine all questions of law and fact.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 5: Offenses and Penalties

48-2-601 Belief of parties in lawful marriage validates certain defects

If a marriage is solemnized by a person professing to be authorized to celebrate marriages when, in fact, the person is not authorized, or if a marriage is solemnized after the license is expired, the marriage is not void and subject to a judgment of nullity based on that fact alone if:

(1) The marriage is lawful in all other respects, and

(2) The marriage is consummated with a full belief on the part of either or both of the persons married that they have been lawfully joined in marriage.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 6: Miscellaneous Provisions

48-2-602 Marriage out of state to evade law

If a resident of this state marries in another state or country, the marriage is governed by the same law, in all respects, as if it had been solemnized in this state if, at the time of the marriage:

(1) The marriage would have been in violation of section 3-103 if performed in this state;

(2) The person intended to evade the law of this state; and

(3) The person intended to return and reside in this state.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 6: Miscellaneous Provisions

48-2-603 Certain acts, records, and proceedings not to be given effect in this state

A public act, record or judicial proceeding of any other state, territory, possession or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of the other state, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship, shall not be given effect by this state.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 6: Miscellaneous Provisions

48-2-604 Additional fee to be collected for each marriage license issued

In addition to any fee heretofore established for the issuance of a marriage license, the county clerk shall collect a sum of fifteen dollars for each marriage license issued which additional sum shall be paid into a special revenue account of the state treasury to be dispersed to local family protection shelters as provided in article 26-101, et seq.

West Virginia Code - Chapter 48: Domestic Relations - Article 2: Marriages - Part 6: Miscellaneous Provisions