The Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Amendments to the Registration of Marriages Regulations 2015

7.  After regulation 10 insert—

“Form of marriage document issued after publication of banns or grant of special or common licence

10A.   The form of a marriage document to be issued under section 21A(2) of the Act is form 13A if the document is issued in England, or form 13A(w) if the document is issued in Wales.

Prescribed content of marriage document: particulars about the condition of the parties

10B.— (1) A person (“the issuer”) required to issue a marriage document under section 21A(2) of the Act must enter the particulars required in space 4 (condition of the parties) on form 13A or 13A(w) (as the case may be) in accordance with this regulation.

(2) The issuer must enter, in relation to each party to the proposed marriage separately (in the column relating to that party) the word or words required by whichever entry in column (3) of the table in regulation 9B corresponds to the entry in column (2) of that table describing the condition of that party or the circumstances.

(3) But the requirement of paragraph (2) to enter particulars in relation to each party separately is subject to paragraph (4), which applies where—

(a) the circumstances are those in column (2) of row 4, 9, 10, 13 or 14 of the table; or

(b) the circumstances are those in column (2) of row 11, 12, 15 or 16 of the table and the corresponding entry in column (3) requires words to be entered in the form of a single entry in relation to both parties.

(4) Where this paragraph applies, the issuer must enter the words required by the relevant entry in column (3) of the table in the form of a single entry relating to both parties across both columns of space 4 (instead of entering those words in relation to each party separately).

(5) The issuer must not enter anything in space 4 other than the word or words required by this regulation.

Prescribed content of marriage document: particulars about the parties’ parents

10C.— (1) A person (“the issuer”) required to issue a marriage document under section 21A(2) of the Act must enter the particulars required in space 7 (particulars of parents) on form 13A or form 13A(w) (as the case may be) in accordance with this regulation in relation to each party to the proposed marriage.

(2) Where a party provides the issuer with the required particulars of a parent of that party for inclusion in the marriage document, the issuer must—

(a) enter those particulars in the column relating to that party,

(b) if informed by the party that the parent has died, enter the word “deceased” after the parent’s surname, and

(c) if provided with the parent’s former occupation and informed by the party that the parent has or had retired from that occupation, enter the word “retired” after that occupation.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), where a party provides the issuer with the required particulars of a step-parent of that party for inclusion in the marriage document, the issuer must—

(a) enter those particulars in the column relating to that party,

(b) enter the word “step-parent” after the step-parent’s surname,

(c) if informed by the party that the step-parent has died, enter the word “deceased” after the word “step-parent”, and

(d) if provided with the step-parent’s former occupation and informed by the party that the step-parent has or had retired from that occupation, enter the word “retired” after that occupation.

(4) The issuer must not enter any particulars of any step-parent of a party under paragraph (3) if entering all the required particulars of step-parents provided by the party for inclusion in the marriage document would result in particulars of more than four individuals in total being entered in space 7 in relation to that party (including particulars of any parent of the party).

(5) The issuer must not enter any particulars of a party’s parents or step-parents other than the particulars (if any) which this regulation requires the issuer to enter.

(6) Where the issuer is not required by this regulation to enter any particulars at all in space 7 in relation to a party, the issuer must draw a line in ink, or cause a line to be printed, through that space in the column relating to that party.

(7) In this regulation, “the required particulars” of a parent or step-parent are the parent’s or step-parent’s—

(a) name and surname, and

(b) current occupation or, if the parent or step-parent has no current occupation or has died, former occupation (if any).”