Marriage Validity

Each party to a marriage must provide notice of the intended marriage to the registrar for the district where the marriage is to take place. This notice must be in a prescribed form and accompanied by the required fees and other necessary documents. It may also be prescribed that the marriage notice must be given in person, and a declaration stating that there are no impediments to the marriage must be provided.The registrar may request evidence related to the identity and eligibility to marry from the parties.

Any third party can object to the marriage by notifying the registrar. Unless the objection is based on a technical error in the marriage notice, the registrar will forward the objection to the registrar general and the religious officiant. A marriage schedule is suspended in such cases.

A legal impediment to marriage exists if one of the parties is already married, if they are within prohibited degrees of relationship, if one or both are under the age of 16, if one or both are incapable of understanding the nature of their marriage relationship, or if both parties are of the same sex.

Once notice of marriage is received, a marriage schedule is issued if there are no impediments. This schedule is directed to the officiant, and if a person residing in Northern Ireland wishes to get married outside the UK and has been required to obtain a capacity certificate from their home state by the foreign state, they may notify the registrar, who may then issue a certificate stating that there is no known incapacity.

Religious bodies can apply to the registrar general to empower a named person over 21 to solemnize marriages. The registrar must be satisfied that the person is a fit and proper individual to solemnize marriages and that the applicant body is a recognized religious organization.

The registrar-general maintains a register of individuals entitled to solemnize marriages. Registration can be canceled, and such cancellations may be subject to appeal.

Temporary authorization may be granted to a member of a religious body to solemnize one or more specified marriages or during a specified period. This facilitates solemnization by individuals temporarily in the province.

A religious marriage cannot be solemnized unless a marriage schedule is produced, the parties are present and over 16, and the ceremony follows the recognized form established by their religious body.

Following solemnization, the parties to the marriage, witnesses, and officiant must sign the marriage schedule. Details of the marriage must be returned to the registrar within three days, and the registrar will then record the information.

A civil marriage can only be solemnized in a registration office or a location approved by a local registration authority. The department has the authority to make regulations concerning the approval of such places, including specifying the types of places that may be approved, duration of approvals, renewal conditions, and more.

Marriage may be solemnized at another location if medical evidence is provided indicating that a person, due to severe illness or bodily injury, should not be moved from that place and that this condition is likely to continue for three months. In such cases, the registrar can permit solemnization in the specified place.

A civil marriage cannot be solemnized unless a marriage schedule is available, both parties are present, and two witnesses over 16 are also present. The ceremony must follow a secular form with the appropriate declaration.

The parties involved in a civil marriage, along with the witnesses and the solemnizer, must sign the marriage schedule. It must then be returned to the registrar for registration.

In cases where individuals have gone through a marriage ceremony outside the United Kingdom but cannot prove its validity, the registrar may solemnize their marriage as if they were not already married. The approval of the registrar general is required in such instances.

A person under 18 may not marry unless the relevant consents are obtained. These consents include those of each person with parental responsibility and guardians. In the case of a person under a residence order or in the care of the health and social services board, the latter’s consent is required.

The county court may grant an order dispensing with consent if it is convinced that the proposed marriage is in the best interest of the person and obtaining consent is not reasonably practicable, if the person whose consent is required refuses, or if there is uncertainty regarding whose consent is required.

The validity of a registered marriage cannot be questioned based on failure to comply with formalities but can be challenged on other grounds mentioned below.

If the person solemnizing a marriage deems it necessary, interpreters must be provided at the marriage ceremony.

Certificates of registration of marriage may be issued by the department upon application in the prescribed form.

The Matrimonial Causes Act specifies that certain marriages are invalid for the following reasons:

• Within prohibited degrees of relationship
• Underage
• Not a formalized marriage
• Already married
• Not between a male and female
• Polygamous marriage entered outside Northern Ireland where either party is domiciled in Northern Ireland

The prohibited degrees of relationship are defined by the 1949 Act as amended in 1984 and 1993. The prohibited degrees include mother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, and niece.

If parties are already married, the marriage is automatically void, and bigamy is a criminal offense. If a person is validly married to someone under the law of another country, this is recognized, and a marriage by that person before divorce or a recognized foreign divorce is considered bigamous.

Marriage, in the traditional sense, involves a union between a man and a woman. Refer to separate sections for information regarding civil partnerships and equivalent same-sex quasi-marriages.

The Matrimonial Causes Act also specifies that certain marriages are voidable. This means they are considered valid until steps are taken to have them declared void. These circumstances include:

• Non-consummation due to incapacity
• Non-consummation due to wilful refusal
• Invalid consent due to duress, mistake, unsoundness of mind, or other factors
• Mental illness at the time of marriage
• Suffering from a communicable venereal disease at the time of marriage
• Pregnancy by another person at the time of marriage

Consummation of marriage is achieved through the first sexual intercourse following the marriage ceremony. Pre-marital intercourse is insufficient, and infertility or contraceptive use does not prevent consummation.

A person may be unable to consummate the marriage due to permanent or temporary incapacity, which can be physical or psychological. Refusal to consummate is not impotence, and the court must be convinced that the refusal is psychological.

Wilful refusal to consummate implies a deliberate decision not to do so without just cause.

Consent to marriage may be invalidated on the grounds of duress, fraud, or lack of understanding. Duress requires that a person’s will is overborne by a reasonably held fear of immediate danger.

Mistake must be a fundamental mistake related to the identity of the person or the nature of the ceremony. A person who goes through the ceremony believing it doesn’t establish a marriage ceremony may rely on this ground.

Similarly, a person who goes through a ceremony of marriage with a person other than the intended spouse may also rely on mistake. However, the mistake must be fundamental, and the person must genuinely believe that they are marrying a different individual, not just someone with different characteristics or status.

In most cases, if the petitioner conducts themselves in such a way that leads the respondent to believe that they will not seek a degree of nullity, the petitioner may not take action. It must be shown that…

An application for nullity must be filed within three years of the marriage, or leave must be granted for proceedings. A court may grant leave outside of the relevant period. This provision applies to nullity based on grounds of lack of consent due to duress, mental illness, venereal disease or pregnancy by another only.  It does not apply to other voidable or void marriages

If an application for nullity is made by way of a summons supported by documentation. A decree of nullity if granted about is to the effect that the marriage never existed.

In case of a voidable marriage, it operates to avoid the marriage from the time that that decree is made.