The SSN Affidavit for Marriage License Applicants

Colorado marriage license applications ask for a Social Security number, which trips up most international applicants for the obvious reason: they don’t have one. This isn’t a dead end; it just means one extra form.

What it is, exactly

Colorado’s marriage license statute (C.R.S. 14-14-113) requires a Social Security number on the application, but it allows a substitute. If an applicant doesn’t have one, they sign an affidavit provided by the county clerk’s office instead. The form itself is consistently called the “Affidavit Concerning Social Security Number” across the counties we checked directly (Jefferson and El Paso both use that exact name on their own sites).

The important thing this clears up: you don’t draft this yourself. It’s a standard, fill-in-the-blank form the county already has, not something you or a lawyer need to write from scratch. Most counties post it as a downloadable PDF in a “forms” section of their clerk and recorder site, so you can look it up in advance for your specific county.

Three ways to handle the notarization

Which options you have depends on your county:

1. Sign and notarize it in advance, then bring the completed, notarized form to your appointment. See where to find a notary for where to get that done, and where to print documents in Denver if you need to print the blank form first.
2. Sign it in front of the deputy county clerk at your appointment. Some counties, El Paso confirmed among them, let the clerk notarize it on the spot, which skips the need to find an outside notary entirely. See how to fill in the license application for more on this.
3. Sign it virtually during a video appointment, if your county runs one. Boulder County confirmed does this: the affidavit (Boulder calls it a “Sworn Statement Affidavit,” slightly different naming from the “Affidavit Concerning Social Security Number” other counties use) gets signed on the same call as the rest of the application. See our Boulder County breakdown for the full process.

We've directly confirmed the form name and notarization path for Jefferson, El Paso, and Boulder Counties specifically, not all 64. Check your own county clerk's site for their version of this form and confirm which path they support before you assume any option is available.

The takeaway

If you don’t have a Social Security number, look up your specific county clerk’s version of this affidavit ahead of time. Get it notarized before your appointment, confirm your county’s deputy clerk can notarize it on the spot, or check whether your county (like Boulder) handles it virtually, so this doesn’t become a surprise extra step at the counter.