Higher fees unveiled for some marriages officiated by the Kent County Clerk of the Peace

It will cost a little more to make those wedding bells ring for some ceremonies performed by the Kent County clerk of the peace, while the county is also increasing some fees for wills, deeds and sheriff services.

The fee to get married will be rising for couples who want the ceremony after office hours or at another site.

For Delaware residents, the previous fee was a flat $50 no matter when or where the ceremony was performed by the clerk of the peace. That will remain the fee for weddings at the clerk’s office during office hours for in-state residents.

However, if you want to be married at a different time or place, as of May 1, new fees have been unveiled.

For marriages at the Clerk’s Office after office hours on weekdays, the fee is $75. The fee for Saturdays is $100.

Having the ceremony at another site is going up to $100.

For out-of-state residents, the former fee was a flat $100 regardless of the time or place. That will remain the fee for weddings at the office during office hours. However, after hours weekdays, the out-of-state fee is now $125; on Saturdays $150 and at another location $200.

In the past three years, the clerk has performed more than 300 weddings annually, said Kelly Pitts, county public information officer.

The clerk officiated 377 ceremonies in 2021, followed by 332 in 2022 and 362 in 2023.

But the biggest year in recent memory was during the pandemic in 2020 with 532 weddings. That’s because Kent County still allowed ceremonies by the clerk the entire year while other Delaware counties and many surrounding states paused the practice.

“We did weddings for [people from] Pennsylvania, Maryland and even Virginia during COVID, as well as for the other counties,” Pitts said.

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Other county fee changes for wills, deeds, sheriff

In addition to the Clerk of the Peace, other county offices announced fee changes including the Recorder of Deeds, Record of Wills and Sheriff.

At the Recorder of Deeds office, starting June 1 the cost of having pages faxed will be $1 for every page. It was $1 for the first page and 50 cents for each additional page. A subscription to the county deeds website with unlimited printing use is going up by $25 to $75 per month.

In the Sheriff’s Office, many fees aren’t changing but others will go up starting July 1. Examples of smaller fee changes include $5 more to serve a subpoena, now $20.

One of the biggest jumps will affect landlords if sheriff’s deputies are needed to stand by at a property during an eviction. The fee was $100 for the minimum four deputies for the first hour, but starting July 1, it will be $400. Each additional hour will remain at $100 per deputy.

The Register of Wills also released a revised schedule of fees which started April 24, but most of those fees are $25 or less, like $1 to file a death certificate, $2 per page to record a will and $5 to file a petition.

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Some Kent County, Delaware Clerk of the Peace wedding fees are rising