TDCJ WEDDING FAQ'S

Absolutely! It is a process but yes those who are incarcerated are able to get married. If you are on the approved visitation list and there is no spouse on your loved one's FAMILY HISTORY PROFILE you can get married!

YES. Though it is at the discretion of the unit and Access to Courts. 

Per the TDCJ Policy, they will only remove a spouse (common law or formal) with an official divorce decree or death certificate. In cases where the common law spouse has legally remarried and you can obtain the certified marriage certificate they may accept that. You can contact TDCJ's Access to Courts for more information.

No, not all units will take wedding pictures. Some may if they have available staff to do so. We will do a small photo session either before or after your wedding.

This is the short version. This process is lengthy.

1. Locate the county you desire to file in and obtain the absent affidavit. You want to call them and ask them what Identification they accept for Absent Affidavit when one person is incarcerated. You want to verify they will accept the certified copy of the TDCJ ID or if they will require the birth certificate. 

2. Your loved one will need to send an I-60 to the law library and request a copy of his/her TDCJ Inmate ID. They will have them fill out a withdrawal form for  the cost of a copy. tell your loved one to retain a $2.00 minimum on their inmate trust fund account (This can take up to 12 weeks)

3. Once the Law Library receives the payment from your loved one's inmate trust fund account for the copy, you will send the ABSENT AFFIDAVIT to the UNIT'S LAW LIBRARY and they will call your loved one down to complete and notarize the form. He/she should atke an envelope and stamp with them to immediately return the form to you.

4. Once this is done, your loved one will send an I-60 to the Chaplain's office to request the wedding date.  The Chaplain, Law Library and Warden will review all paperwork to ensure it is legitimate and accurate and then make their decision. If you require a certain date or month due to travel, it is imperative that your loved one include that in the I-60 to the chaplain.

5.COMMUNICATE everything to your officiant! You want to ensure he/she can accommodate your wedding date!

This will vary by unit. You can call your unit of assignment and verify which days of the month they conduct marriages.

First and foremost. we recommend contacting the county where your loved one is at and see if the county's Justice of Peace conducts weddings at the unit. By far they are the most affordable wedding officiant there is. 

If you do not want to use the JP (Justice of Peace) we suggest asking around the various FB Groups for referrals. 

The biggest red flag we have seen is families are making payment to officiants before they know the unit has approved the officiant to conduct the service. Each officiant must apply to conduct marriages at the unit and must be approved to do so by Access to Courts. In addition, each incarcerated person who desires to get married must request to do so and include who the intended officiant will be. This will be approved or denied by the unit. 

Do to this process, TIMSA encourages you to not pay anyone for any services or sign any contract for services before you have the approval or denial from the unit. You don't want to be in a non-refundable situation and your anticipated officiant is denied.

There actually is not a "TDCJ OFFICIANT" title. This is not a title that the TDCJ bestows on anyone. Anyone using this is choosing the word play to gain your attention and to let you know they conduct weddings at TDCJ Facilities. 

The TRUTH is anyone who meets the legal requirements of an OFFICIANT can apply for access to conduct marriages on TDCJ property. There is an approval process and once approved to have that access it is valid for 1 year. This means your own minister/pastor can go through the approval process to conduct your ceremony. 

In Texas many of the Judges/Justice of Peace (JP's) have gone through this process and they conduct ceremonies for a fraction of the cost. 

The industry standard for wedding officiants to conduct weddings is around $350. Give or take. What you are seeing with the pricing from those doing weddings at TDCJ units is they are charging you a travel fee and including their hotel accommodations to that fee. That is great if it is who you truly want to do your ceremony and if it is within budget. If it is not within budget or you need to plan a more modest ceremony we ALWAYS recommend calling the local Justice of Peace. The JP's usually have the best rates in the game.  Our goal at TIMSA is to give you the tools to make your day the day you deserve and to not strain your financially.