Vermont Marriage Laws
Congratulations! If you've found yourself at this page it is likely that you are either planning to be married or have been asked to perform a wedding ceremony in Vermont. Ordained ministers of the Universal Life Church have successfully performed thousands of legal marriages in Vermont. The information provided below will walk you through the steps one must follow to become a minister and perform a valid wedding ceremony in the state of Vermont.
- ULC Ordination Accepted: Yes
- Minister Registration Required: No
- Minister's Residency: Irrelevant
- Minister's Minimum Age: 18
- Marriage License Waiting Period: 0 Days
- Marriage License Valid For: 60 Days
- Marriage License Return Within: 10 Days
1 How to Become an Ordained Minister in Vermont
If you haven't already, you should get ordained online with the Universal Life Church. Ordination is free and can be completed in just a matter of minutes. Thousands of legally valid marriages are performed by ULC ministers around the world every year. Begin the process by clicking the big blue button below!
2 How to Officiate a Marriage in Vermont
Next, you should contact the office of your local marriage authority (typically your county clerk). Let them know that you are a minister of the Universal Life Church in Seattle, and ask what they will require of you to officiate a legal marriage.
Select your county to quickly generate the contact information for your local marriage authority.
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3 License to Marry in Vermont
After you've contacted your marriage authority, you should visit our online store to purchase whatever documentation will be required. We typically advise ministers in Vermont to get an Ordination Package. While minister registration is not required in the state of Vermont, you may be asked to present proof of your ordination before your county clerk will accept any marriage you perform as having been legally solemnized; additionally, having that proof of ordination can provide a great deal of peace-of-mind for the couple you plan to marry. Additionally, please attempt to leave at least 3 weeks between the date of the wedding ceremony and your order, to ensure that you receive all of your materials in advance.
4 How to Perform a Wedding in Vermont
Now that you've done all of the above, you are ready to perform the wedding! Be sure that the couple has picked up their Vermont marriage license from the appropriate office. This license is valid for 60 days, but there is no mandatory waiting period between when the couple picks up the marriage license in Vermont and when the ceremony may legally be conducted. Please be aware that the signed license must be returned to the issuing office within 10 days after the ceremony has been conducted.
At the Universal Life Church we receive several calls from wedding officiants in Vermont, after they've received their license to marry by getting ordained online, asking for guidance on how to perform a wedding ceremony. Once the legal matters have been taken care of, officiating a wedding (while a sometimes-daunting task) can be a great deal of fun. We would suggest that new Vermont wedding ministers concerned about the ceremony peruse one of our helpful wedding guides. The minister training section of our website should offer a helpful refresher for more experienced ministers.
Vermont Marriage Code
Marriage in Vermont is governed by Chapter 105 of Part 6 of Title 15 of Vermont's Code. Ordained ministers of the Universal Life Church have successfully solemnized thousands of weddings in the state. Below, you will find that we have reproduced a relevant excerpt of this code18 V.S.A. § 5144 (2014)
§ 5144. Persons authorized to solemnize marriage
(a) Marriages may be solemnized by a Supreme Court Justice, a Superior judge, a judge of Probate, an assistant judge, a justice of the peace, a magistrate, a Judicial Bureau hearing officer, an individual who has registered as an officiant with the Vermont Secretary of State pursuant to section 5144a of this title, a member of the clergy residing in this State and ordained or licensed, or otherwise regularly authorized thereto by the published laws or discipline of the general conference, convention, or other authority of his or her faith or denomination, or by such a clergy person residing in an adjoining state or country, whose parish, church, temple, mosque, or other religious organization lies wholly or in part in this State, or by a member of the clergy residing in some other state of the United States or in the Dominion of Canada, provided he or she has first secured from the Probate Division of the Superior Court in the unit within which the marriage is to be solemnized a special authorization, authorizing him or her to certify the marriage if the Probate judge determines that the circumstances make the special authorization desirable. Marriage among the Friends or Quakers, the Christadelphian Ecclesia, and the Baha'i Faith may be solemnized in the manner heretofore used in such societies.
(b) This section does not require a member of the clergy authorized to solemnize a marriage as set forth in subsection (a) of this section, nor societies of Friends or Quakers, the Christadelphian Ecclesia, or the Baha'i Faith to solemnize any marriage, and any refusal to do so shall not create any civil claim or cause of action.
HISTORY: Amended 1965, No. 194, § 10, eff. Feb. 1, 1967; 1971, No. 22, eff. March 23, 1971; 1975, No. 1; 1979, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 26; 1981, No. 113 (Adj. Sess.); 1999, No. 91 (Adj. Sess.), § 28; 2007, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2009, No. 3, § 9, eff. Sept. 1, 2009; 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 147; 2013, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 28, 2014.
View the Vermont Statutes on the official state site⇓ Show the rest
