The Marriage Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations made under the Marriage (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 make provision for the various forms and particulars to be prescribed in connection with the preliminaries to, and the solemnising of civil and religious marriages. They also include procedures required for the approval of places by a local registration authority (“an authority”) for civil marriage other than at the Registrar’s Office.

In particular the regulations set out –

(1) the form required for giving notice of intention to marry (“the marriage notice”) and the requirement for giving 14 days notice (regulation 3) and the giving of notice in person (regulation 4);

(2) the particulars to be taken from each marriage notice and kept by the registrar (regulation 5);

(3) (i) the form of marriage schedule and the requirement for the registrar to issue it within the 14 day period prior to the marriage (regulation 6(1) and (2));

(ii) the circumstances where a marriage may be solemnised in a different place to that specified in the marriage schedule (regulation 6(3));

(iii) the circumstances where a marriage may be solemnised by a person other than the one specified in the marriage schedule (regulation 6(4) and (5));

(4) the form of certificate in respect of legal capacity to marry to be issued where a person wishes to marry abroad (regulation 7);

(5) the form of notices for the return of the marriage schedule after the marriage (regulation 8);

(6) the form of medical statement required where by reason of serious illness or disability a marriage is to take place at home or in hospital (regulation 9);

(7) the form of marriage notice and marriage schedule where there is a second marriage ceremony and the modification of Article 6 of the Order in the circumstances where there is a second marriage ceremony (regulation 10);

(8) the form of consents required for persons over 16 years of age but under 18 years of age (regulation 11) and the particulars to be taken from each consent or court order (regulation 12);

(9) the provision for correcting errors and the form of the statutory declaration to be completed (regulation 13);

(10) the form of statement by a responsible authority where either party is detained in prison or hospital (regulation 14);

(11) the parties who may apply for approval of a place for the solemnisation of a civil marriage and the application procedures which those parties must follow for the different types of approval (regulations 15, 16 and 17);

(12) the requirements for public notice of applications and third party objection procedure (regulations 18 and 19);

(13) the considerations to be taken into account by an authority in determining an application (regulation 20);

(14) the procedure for attaching standard conditions to a place approval (as set out in Schedule 12 to the Regulations) and non-standard conditions to either place or temporary approvals (regulation 21), the notification of decisions (regulation 22), and a restriction on successive applications (regulation 23);

(15) the duration of approvals (regulation 24) and the procedure for renewal (regulation 25);

(16) the determination and charging of fees by an authority for the approval of places and renewal of approvals (regulation 26) and in respect of the attendance by registrars at approved places (regulation 27);

(17) the grounds and procedures for revocation, suspension and variation of an approval (regulations 28 and 29);

(18) the procedures for review of any decision by an authority under these regulations (regulation 30);

(19) the grounds and procedures for appeal to the county court (regulation 31);

(20) the deeming of a person who takes over the interest in a place approval as the approval holder (regulation 32);

(21) the requirements for the keeping of registers of approved places (regulation 33);

(22) the duty on the Registrar General to issue supplementary guidance (regulation 34);

(23) the form of a certified copy of an entry in the marriage registration records in the custody of the registrar and the Registrar General (regulation 35); and

(24) the extract from the marriage registration records to be issued for certain statutory provisions and the list of these provisions (regulation 36).