Marriage license application process now online
Cook County Clerk David Orr has announced a new online feature allowing soon-to-be newlyweds the opportunity to fill out most of their marriage application license information online, saving the couple and taxpayers time and money.
Illinois law requires that before a couple marries, they must appear before the clerk in the county where they will be married to sign and complete their marriage license application and pay the fee ($60 in Cook County).
Until now, the entire process took place at a clerk's office, but with the new feature incorporated into Clerk Orr's recently overhauled website, anyone seeking to marry in Cook County can begin that process from home.
Since the online application's soft launch last November, 800 couples have started their marriage license application process online. On average, the application has shaved roughly 6 minutes off each Cook County Clerk's office marriage license visit - turning in many cases a 10-minute trip into a four-minute visit.
At this time, the Cook County Clerk's office is the only county clerk's office in Illinois to offer this online marriage license application process.
"While everyone still must come to the Clerk's office to finalize the marriage license process, we realize that anyone who comes to a government services office hopes to spend as little time as possible there, so if beginning the marriage license application process at home can save half that time or more - everyone's happier," Orr said.
Couples may begin the marriage license application process online at marriageapplication.cookcountyclerk.com.
Marriage license applications can still be started and completed in person at any one of the Clerk's six office locations. The Clerk's six offices are located in downtown Chicago in the Daley Plaza Pedway and at the Cook County Circuit Court courthouses in Skokie, Markham, Maywood, Rolling Meadows and Bridgeview.
The online marriage license application process is just the latest of a number of time- and money-saving elements Orr's office has implemented in recent years, including Online Voter Registration; the online Running for Office Starter Kit; Assisting with the Cook County Tax Portal; Making Clerk and Treasurer tax data available to the public online; Using GIS technology to create the online TIF Viewer and more.
For more information about the new online marriage license application, visit cookcountyclerk.com.
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