Ministerial Credentials

517.05 Credentials of Minister

Ministers of any religious denomination, before they are authorized to solemnize a marriage, shall file a copy of their credentials of license or ordination or, if their religious denomination does not issue credentials, authority from the minister's spiritual assembly, with the local registrar of a county in this state, who shall record the same and give a certificate of filing thereof. The place where the credentials are recorded shall be endorsed upon and recorded with each certificate of marriage granted by a minister.

517.15 Unauthorized Person Performing Ceremony

A person who knowingly undertakes to solemnize a marriage, without lawful authority to do so, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

The fee for filing your Ministerial Credentials in Faribault County is $20.00. Ministerial Credentials need to be recorded once in the State of Minnesota. They need not be filed in each County where a marriage may take place. Any fact of marriage received without a statement as to what county in Minnesota the Ministerial Credentials are recorded in will not be placed of record.