Get a Marriage License in Essex County, NJ

Source: NJ Dept. of Health ↗ · REG-D30 brochure (PDF) ↗ · Verified 2026-09-16

Two clocks, and they start in different places. The Department of Health's REG-D30 brochure puts it plainly: “The application is valid for six months from the date filed. Once the license is issued, it is good for 30 days from the date of issuance.” So the six months runs from applying and the 30 days from issuing — and the 72-hour wait below sits between them. A Registrar may extend the application to a maximum of one year, but only with prior approval.

Apply in the municipality where either applicant lives, and that license is good anywhere in New Jersey. If neither of you is a New Jersey resident, apply in the town where the ceremony will take place — and then the license is valid only in that municipality. A New Jersey license may never be used outside the state, and another state's may never be used inside it.

Both of you appear, and the statute asks for a witness. N.J.S.A. 37:1-8 ↗ has the licensing officer require “the contracting parties … to appear before him and subscribe and swear to an oath attesting the truth of the facts respecting the legality of the proposed marriage or civil union”, and then: “Said testimony shall be verified by a witness of legal age.” The section sets no number — it says legal age, and what makes that 18 is N.J.S.A. 9:17B-3 ↗, “Majority at 18”, under which “every person 18 or more years of age shall … be deemed to be an adult”. So: bring an adult witness. Bring photo ID (driver's license, passport or state/federal ID), proof of residency, your Social Security number, the witness, and the $28 fee. Do not sign the application beforehand — you sign it under oath in front of the Registrar. Any document in another language needs a certified English translation.

One statutory exception to “both of you”. N.J.S.A. 37:1-17.3 ↗ lets a member of the Armed Forces or the National Guard “who is stationed overseas and serving in a conflict or a war and is unable to appear” marry through an attorney-in-fact, who “must personally appear before the licensing officer with the person who is not serving overseas” and produce the original power of attorney. That is the only route in Title 37 that excuses an applicant from the counter — a deployment, not a busy week.

In a city of the first class the licensing officer is the city clerk. N.J.S.A. 37:1-2 ↗ defines the term: “as to cities of the first class, the city clerk; as to other municipalities, the State registrar; or the deputy of any said official designated by him to issue licenses during his absence.” The Department of Health tells applicants to go to the Local Registrar, which is what the row above says. We are not going to reconcile the two labels for you: phone your municipality and ask which counter issues the license there.

One thing the County Clerk on this page can do: solemnise the ceremony. The brochure lists the county clerk among those authorized to perform a marriage or civil union (Title 37:1-13). It is the license, not the wedding, that has to come from your town.

On what authority: this page used to tell you no section could be cited and checked, because New Jersey publishes its statutes at no stable address. That was wrong, and the links above are the correction — each opens the section on the Legislature's own site. As of 26 September 2026: the 72 hours and the 30 days are § 37:1-4; where you apply is § 37:1-3; the $28 is § 37:1-12's $3 plus § 37:1-12.1's $25, which goes to a domestic-violence shelter fund; 18 is the floor for applicants under § 37:1-6; and the county clerk's authority to solemnise is § 37:1-13(a)(12). What the statutes do notsupply is the six-month life of the application, the list of acceptable ID and the certified-copy rule for a remarriage: those are the Department of Health's, from the page and the REG-D30 brochure cited above, and they stay attributed to it.