Marriage Legal
Important Legal Considerations
As a Registered Marriage Celebrants both Glenn and Lucy are qualified to conduct Marriages in Australia. For a marriage to be valid there are imortant legal issues regarding documents and wording in the ceremony that must be adhered to. As registered celebrants we undergo On-Going Professional Development to ensure that we are completely up to date with the laws regarding marriage in Australia.
As your celebrant I will guide you through all aspects of your marriage ceremony, ensuring all the legal requirements are met
Giving Notice
Within 18 months of your proposed marriage, and no later than one month and one day prior to it, you must give a completed Notice of Intended Marriage form to the authorised marriage celebrant who is to conduct your marriage ceremony. All marriage celebrants should have the necessary paper work to perform your marriage.
- If you or your partner were born in Australia we will also need to see your Birth Certificates or Extracts of your Birth – NOT YOUR PASSPORTS.
- If you were born Overseas then we will need to see either your Birth Certificate or a Foreign Passport (NOT AUSTRALIAN PASSPORT).
- Evidence that any prior marriage has been dissolved by either death or divorce
Other Forms
- You must both sign a Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage before your marriage ceremony can take place. This is a legal document and must be witnessed by your marriage celebrant.
- Two (2) witnesses over the age of 18 years, who have witnessed and understood the ceremony.
Transfer
If for some reason you need to change your marriage celebrant, it is the responsibility of the first marriage celebrant to ensure the Notice of Intended Marriage form is transferred safely to the second celebrant by hand or registered post. You must ask the celebrant to transfer the notice for you.
If both parties are not able to sign at the same time
If a party to an intended marriage cannot conveniently sign this Notice at the time it is intended to give
notice of the intended marriage, the other party may sign the Notice and give it to the proposed
authorized celebrant. However, in this case, the party who has not signed the notice must sign it in the
presence of that celebrant or another authorized celebrant before the marriage is solemnized.
Legal wording I will include in all ceremonies
The marriage act states that all ceremonies conducted by Authorised Marriage celebrants should contain the following wording . Ceremonies which do not include this wording may be deemed invalid.
Celebrant:“I am duly authorized by law to solemnize marriages according to law.
“Before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are now about to enter.
“Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.”;
The Certificate of Marriage to be issued to couples (Form 15)
A marriage celebrant must issue a prescribed Form 15 marriage certificate to you after your wedding as evidence of your marriage. Your marriage celebrant prepares three certificates of marriage containing the details of your marriage and you and your witnesses will be required to sign all three.
They are:
- the certificate retained by the marriage celebrant for their records;
- the certificate that will be forwarded to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the registration of your marriage; and
- the certificate that will be given to you as a record of your marriage.
What can we do if we have concerns about our marriage celebrant?
If you have a concern about the service you have received from a marriage celebrant in relation to your wedding you may make a complaint. If you have any concerns you should discuss them with the celebrant first but if you are not able to do this, or believe your complaint requires further consideration, there is a special procedure set out in the Marriage Regulations to enable complaints concerning the performance of marriage celebrants to be responded to. The following information outlines the initial process to be followed.
How must the complaint be made?
The complaint must be in writing and made to:
The Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department
3-5 National Circuit
BARTON, ACT 2600
Australia
Insurance
As registered Marriage celebrants we have public liability cover.