Unlike any other wedding in India, court marriage includes two people getting solemnized under the court marriage Act procedure. In this, the marriage takes place in the court itself and the presence of marriage officer and any other three witnesses is enough for court marriage. Marrying in the presence of a marriage officer and following the legal procedure of marriage is enough to declare that marriage is legally valid for lifetime.
Condition for court marriage:
There are certain conditions to apply for court marriage in India.
Your marital status should be unmarried/ widow or widower/ divorcee. If you have a living spouse without being legally separated, you can face legal consequences.
The age limit is 21 years for male and 18 years of female for being eligible for court marriage in India.
Both the parties should have all legal documents as their identity proves.
Both the parties should not be unsoundness of mind or having any mental disorder and even must not be in a state of being unable to give valid consent for the marriage.
The procedure of court marriage
The procedure for court marriage comes under chapter 2 of Marriage Acts in India and you will have to go through these steps carefully to get married legally.
Notice to apply for court marriage
In the very first step of court marriage, a notice should be given to the marriage officer for application under section 5 of the Marriage Act. It is necessary to give notice by both the parties to the officer who has jurisdiction, where at least one of the parties has been living in the same place for a minimum of 30 days to issue a notice.
Required documents under the marriage act:
An application form is to be filled by both parties with all genuine details. It is a compulsory part of the court marriage procedure, which one should follow carefully.
Receipt of fees paid with the application form in district court.
Evidence for your minimum 30 days resides in that particular place where you have given the notice to get married.
Both parties have to give separate affidavits.
The Date of birth proof documents.
Present proof of marital status for both parties.
2 copies of passport-size photos of each must be duly attested by a gazetted officer.
Divorce proof, in the case of a divorcee, and the death certificate of your spouse if you are a widow or widower.
Special marriage act
A marriage between two adult persons from different religions comes under the Special Marriage Act. If two adult persons want to solemnize and they belong to different religions but hold Indian citizenship, then our Indian government gives them full freedom to apply for court marriage.
Required documents
All required documents will be the same; the extra document you will only need is your religion certificate.
Publication
The notice is published by the marriage officer in some conspicuous place in the marriage registrar's office for 30 days. Suppose the parties do not reside where they are given a notice for the marriage. In that case, the officer will send a copy of the notice to the marriage officer of the place where they live permanently.
Objections
Any person under section 7 can raise their voice against that particular marriage and create objections to the marriage officer. The objections should be made within 30 days of the publication of the notice. If any such objection is raised by anyone, the marriage officer should record that in the marriage notice book. After receiving any such misgivings, the marriage officer should set an inquiry, and if he finds the objection is not valid, then he should complete the rest of the procedure within 30 days. But if the objections stand, marriage should not be solemnized by the marriage officer. Both parties can appeal to the district court for this.
Declaration by the parties and the witnesses.
If no objection is made after 30 days of the publication of the notice, then both the parties and their witnesses have to sign a declaration form specified in the third schedule. After signing the form both the parties will receive a date of marriage. During signing the declaration form some documents are required of those three witnesses like one passport size photo of each witness and an identification prove such as PAN card or Aadhaar card.
Place and form of marriage
The court marriage, under section 12 will takes place at the marriage registration office in the presence of marriage officer and the three witnesses on the given date. Both parties should be present. If any party is not present on the given date, then they have to go through all the procedure again.
Certificate of marriage.
After completing all the legal formalities of the court marriage procedure, the couple will receive their marriage certificate within 30 working days. Post receiving your marriage certificate, you are free to declare yourself as a married couple.
