WESTPORT–Couples applying for a marriage license in town – or anywhere else in Connecticut – now have to wait two days before it is issued.

A state law that went into effect Thursday requires a 48-hour waiting period before the town clerk’s office can issue the document, a provision that state lawmakers and Gov. Ned Lamont passed to curb fraudulent marriages, and even human trafficking. It was passed unanimously in the General Assembly.

Connecticut State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-17) said state legislators had heard of many instances of apparent sham marriages and trafficking, including busloads of men and women showing up at a courthouse to get married. 

“The examples we were given were so egregious,” said Kavros DeGraw, who co-chairs the  planning and development committee, which introduced the legislation. “It was not hard to agree that we don’t want to see fraud marriages taking place and we certainly don’t want human trafficking.”

Westport issues about 175 marriage licenses each year, said Town Clerk Jeffrey Dunkerton. He wrote to the town’s justices of the peace in the days before the rule began. The law also sets a 65-day expiration date on licenses.

“Please keep these changes in mind when scheduling ceremonies and advising couples who will be obtaining their marriage license,” Dunkerton wrote to the justices of the peace.

The town clerk’s office generally maintains a list of 60 justices of the peace – 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 20 unaffiliated – Dunkerton said. The town website currently lists 55 residents with the position. Their four-year terms end Jan. 2, 2029.

(Anyone interested in becoming a justice of the peace when the current term nears its end should apply through their local party if they are a Democrat or Republican, or through the Town Clerk’s office if they are not registered to either major party.)

Since the $50 license must be applied for and picked up in person, applicants must visit Town Hall twice to obtain the document.

That’s part of the idea, Kavros Degraw said. It makes it more difficult for people to avoid a waiting period in another state by hopping over the border into Connecticut.

“If you’re coming from out of state, it would be really hard to come twice,” Kavros DeGraw said of the waiting period. Also, she said, “It might give a justice of the peace the opportunity to meet with the bride and the groom separately and have a conversation.”

New York requires a 24-hour waiting period and Massachusetts’s is three days, according to their state websites. Rhode Island does not require a waiting period.