Look Up Free New York Marriage Records (Certificate Access)

Search free New York marriage records to reveal whether someone is currently married or has been before.

These records usually include the names of each spouse, the date and location of the ceremony, and the marriage officiant’s name. However, figuring out where to look and how to request these documents is key to a successful lookup. This resource will help record seekers efficiently find information on New York marriages through official state, county and municipal agencies.

Are New York Marriage Certificates Open to the Public?

New York marriage certificates are not a part of public records due to the sensitive information they contain. A record seeker may obtain a marriage record only when they fulfill either of the following requirements:

• If they were or are the spouse
• If the record is older than 50 years from the current year (the date of their inquiry)
• If they have a legal reason that entitles them to the record, such as a court order

For the first and third criteria, they must provide documentation identifying them and their relationship to the spouse or couple. For the second criteria, such a record becomes available as a genealogical record, and no documentation is necessary.

How To Look Up Free New York Marriage Records & Licenses

Researching marriage records and licenses can provide valuable information for historical records, genealogical tracing, and legal cases in New York. However, because marriage records and licenses are not publicly available, record seekers must contact the appropriate state agency directly.

Certified marriage record copies can be obtained by authorized individuals from the New York State Health Department as long as the marriage took place outside of the state’s five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, or Staten Island.¹

For these boroughs, it’s best to get a hold of the particular City Clerk Borough Office and more information on this process can be found below.²

When the marriage record is older than 50 years from the date of their search and the couple is deceased, it is considered a genealogical record. In such a case, the searcher can obtain it from the NY Department of Health Genealogy page, the NYC Municipal Archives, or the clerk’s office in the county or borough where the marriage took place.^{3, 4}

More detailed information about this process can be found in the next section.

Individuals who have a legal reason to obtain a marriage record must contact the clerk’s office of the county, city, or town where the marriage took place. A letter from an attorney may be sufficient authorization in some cases. In other cases, the record seeker must have a court-ordered subpoena.

To order marriage records by mail, the requester must print out the mail-in application for a copy of marriage certificate and complete it.⁶

Then, submit a copy of an acceptable form of identification; either a) a photo ID of either a driver’s license, state-issued ID, U.S. passport, or U.S. military-issued ID; or b) two of the following pieces of mail showing proof of address and name from either a utility or telephone bill or a letter from a government agency no older than six months from the current date.

If the requester is applying from a foreign country that requires a passport to travel, they must also submit a copy of their U.S. passport.

The cost to order by mail is $30. Inquirers can pay by postal money order, certified check, or personal check made payable to the NYS Department of Health. If they are paying from a foreign country, they must pay by international money order or by a check issued by a U.S. bank. Cash is not acceptable.

Mail the documents and payment to the following address:

Vital Records Certification Unit
P.O. Box 2602
Albany, NY 12220-2602

To order by phone, record seekers must call the Vital Records Call Center toll-free at (855)322-1022. The cost is $45 plus the vendor processing fee. They can pay by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, or ACH (electronic check).

Interested parties can also order online through Vitalchek’s New York State Vital Records Order Certificates form. Choose Marriage Certificate, then select New York and the city or borough where the marriage took place. Enter the date of marriage, then select a reason.

The cost is $45 plus a $13.50 VitalChek processing fee, which they can pay for by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, or ACH (electronic check).

Note: New York does not recognize common law marriages.

Searching Counties, Cities & Boroughs in New York for Marriage Records or Licenses

The state-level search for marriage records offers the broadest, most general results possible that may prioritize marriage licenses over certificates. Some counties, cities and boroughs provide marriage records or licenses through their own offices as well.

Also, when they need earlier marriage records from before state-wide recording of marriages was required, they may likewise need to search the county or city. Other benefits of searching at the county or city level are in-person visits and dedicated information lines.

One of the best sources to find marriage records or licenses from Kings County, Queens County, and New York City is the Office of the City Clerk NYC Marriage Bureau, Marriage Records section.⁷ The fee to search for a marriage record is $5 for the first year, $1 for the second year, and 0.50 for each additional year. The fee for a marriage record for domestic use is $15 and for foreign use, $35.

There are four possible methods for finding marriage records or licenses depending on the date range of the inquiry: In-person, by mail, by email, or over the phone.

For marriage records from 1866 to 1949, record seekers must contact the New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS):

New York City Department of Records & Information Services
31 Chambers Street
Room 103
New York, NY 10007

Telephone number: (212)788-8611

Office hours are 9 am-12 pm and 1 pm-4 pm, Monday through Friday.

Use the Vital Records Center contact form to send an inquiry or view the FAQs.^{8, 9}

If record seekers have a mail request for marriage records from 1950 to 1995, they can call the NYC Marriage Bureau at (212) NEW-YORK (212)669-8090 to have the form sent to them. Their office hours are 8:30 am-4:30 pm Monday and 8:30 am-3:45 pm Tuesday through Friday.

Alternatively, they can mail in a completed record request form.¹⁰

A record seeker may request records less than 50 years old if they were a party to the marriage, present authorization from one of the parties to the marriage, or is an attorney requiring the records as evidence for a case.

Acceptable forms of ID are a photo ID of either a driver’s license, state-issued ID, U.S. passport, or U.S. military-issued ID.

A permanent resident card (green card), a Certificate of Naturalization less than 10 years old, or an employment authorization card issued by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs of the Department of Homeland Security is also acceptable. The payment is $15 and must be made with a U.S. postal money order, money order, or certified check made payable in U.S. currency to the City Clerk of New York.

Mail the request form, copy of personal ID, and payment to the following address:

City Clerk of New York
Attn: Record Room
141 Worth Street
New York, NY 10013

If the request is for marriage records from 1996 to the present, the individual must contact the appropriate county clerk’s office by mail, email, or over the phone:

To search for marriage records or licenses in some cities throughout New York, it is necessary to contact the corresponding county clerk’s office. Other cities require the record seeker to contact the city clerk’s office at city hall:

Researching Your Family Lineage & Genealogy for Free Through Archived Marriage Records in New York

In 1847, New York State passed a law requiring school districts in each town to record births, marriages, and deaths, which failed. With the exception of some cities that began recording marriages in the 1870s, New York did not record marriages between 1850 and 1880.

The cities that did are Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Yonkers, and New York City. NYC, for example, has municipal archives with older marriage records from 1855 to 1949 available via its Genealogy Records page.¹¹ There may therefore be gaps in time depending on the location of the marriage records the curious party is searching for.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t resources for researching older New York marriages during the time periods they were recorded, however.

The NYC Marriage Index has a searchable database  available to the public domain from 1950 to 2017.¹³

Reclaim the Records has an index of New York State marriages outside of NYC from 1881 to 1965 with document images available at the Internet Archive after it won its Freedom of Information request, which referred to the favorable decision of the Gannett Co., Inc. v. City Clerk’s Office, City of Rochester lawsuit from 1993 as well as the NYS Freedom of Information Law (1977 N.Y. Laws ch. 933).¹⁴

Other good resources for researching older marriage records in New York for free are:

• New York State Archives: Birth, Marriage & Death Records and Census Records^{15, 16}
• NYC311: Historic Birth, Death, or Marriage Record¹⁷
• Phone: Call 311 or, if outside the state, (212) NEW-YORK
• The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society¹⁸
• Public Libraries: Local libraries at the county or city level
• Religious Institutions
• Old Newspapers¹⁹

How To Request a Marriage License in New York

To request a marriage license in New York, the interested parties must first complete an application and pay a fee in their city or county. They must also show proof of age and identity.

The marriage license is valid for 60 days anywhere in New York State with the exception of military personnel, for whom it is valid for 180 days. Individuals who are under the age of 18 are prohibited from marrying.

In New York City, interested parties can schedule an online or in-person appointment to obtain a marriage license through the City Clerk at Project Cupid.²⁰ They can also schedule an in-person appointment at the NYC Marriage Bureau.²¹ The fee is $35, which they can pay by credit card or a money order made payable to the City Clerk.

They can begin the application process at City Clerk Online and reach the City Clerk by phone at (212) NEW-YORK.²²

For marital records everywhere else in New York State, they can request a marriage license by applying at any city or town clerk’s office.²⁴ The city or town clerk must witness both parties signing the application. Although they will receive the marriage license immediately, they cannot get married until 24 hours have passed from the time they were issued the license.

The exception is when a county judge or a Supreme Court of New York State judge or justice waives the 24-hour waiting period.

The fee is $40 and includes the couple’s receipt of a Certificate of Marriage Registration, which is issued within 15 calendar days once the marriage officiant returns the license.

All marriage licenses issued in the state are added to New York marriage records.