Get a Marriage License in Guadalupe County, NM

New Mexico marriage licenses are issued by the County Clerk for a flat $55.00 statewide (NMSA 1978 § 40-1-11, as amended by 2025's SB 290, Chapter 124, signed 8 April 2025 — older sources may still say $25.00, and some say $40.00, a figure from a 2024 bill that never became law). The statute splits the fee: $20.00 stays with the county clerk, $20.00 goes to the children's trust fund and $15.00 to the county general fund. There is no waiting period and no residency requirement, and — unusually — the license does not expire: once issued it is valid indefinitely, so take your time planning the ceremony. The license can be used anywhere in New Mexico, and the officiant must return the completed license to the issuing county clerk within 90 days of the ceremony (§ 40-1-15(A)). Call (575) 472-3791 to confirm hours in Guadalupe County before you go.

Both of you do have to turn up — that part really is the law here. NMSA 1978 § 40-1-10(B) requires the couple to personally appearat the county clerk's office. Most states leave that to the counter; New Mexico puts it in the statute. If one of you genuinely cannot attend, the same subsection lets a district court judge, for good cause, authorize that person to obtain the license another way — a certified copy of the authorization goes to the clerk.

On identification, the statute sets a standard rather than a document. § 40-1-10(B) asks for “sufficient identification to satisfy the county clerkas to each person's identity and qualification”. It does not say photo, and it names nothing. That is the floor the law sets; the clerk decides what meets it, and most will want a government-issued photo ID. Bring one, and ring this office first to ask what it accepts.

Your social security number is restricted, not required of you. The clerk “shall collect the social security number of an applicant for a marriage license only as provided for in Section 27-1-10 NMSA 1978” — the child-support enforcement provision — and shall not make it available to another personexcept as that section allows. The number is also not among the items the statutory application form at § 40-1-18 prints. So this is a limit on what the office may do with the number, which our page had turned into a demand that you produce one.