Court Marriage Requirements

Court Marriage refers to the marriage taking place at the office of the Marriage Registrar. This is one of the many ways in which the marriages are solemnized in India. Court marriage works in a completely legal framework where any two Indian citizens can get married. These are governed by the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1954. These marriages can also take place between an Indian citizen and a foreigner. The main attraction of the marriage is the minimal time taken by the whole procedure and its non-expensiveness. This legal marriage takes place before the Deputy Commissioner of the area. The SDM is the marriage officer or registrar only when the marriage has already taken place and has to issue the marriage certificate.

So, what are the main requirements of the court marriage? At first, a joint application has to be filed before the Registrar. Along with the application, there is a requirement of individual affidavits duly attested by the Notary Public. These affidavits specify their ages, place of residence, marital status, mental status and even the fact they are not related to one another. Since there are minimum marriageable age requirements, being 21 years for males and 18 years for girls, there is a requirement to mention the same in the affidavits. Also, there is a need to mention the marital status so that the marriage does not contravene any law in force on this score. The requirement of mentioning the mental status is also important so that the mental health of people is known prior to marriage. If anything is found to have been misstated intentionally in the affidavit, then the marriage can be annulled.

Along with the affidavits and the joint application, there is also a requirement of providing documentary proof of age and residence. For the former, the couple can provide the school certificates, passport and pan card. For the latter, the couple can provide the Passport, Ration Card, Voter ID card and Rent Agreement. The couple is also required to provide two passport sized photographs. There is also a need to have three adult witnesses to the marriage who are also required to put their photos on the documents. This complete application for legal marriage also serves as a notice to the Registrar informing about the intention to get married.

The Registrar is duty-bound to send a copy of this notice to the respective addresses of the applicants mentioned in the application, one copy is put up on the notice board of the registrar and one on the notice board of the registrar under whose jurisdiction the other person lives. If there is any objection to the marriage, it can be raised within the time period of the notice period which is generally one month. Another purpose of the notice is to ascertain the truth and veracity of the stated facts by the couple. One shall be mindful that only those objections to the court marriage are entertained which are legally tenable and are related to the eligibility criteria of the marriages.