Marital status and the right to marry

Information

There are a certain number of conditions you must meet before you can legally marry in Ireland.

Rules

You will only be free to marry if you either

• are single (never married)
• are widowed
• have a State Annulment
• have an Irish divorce
• have a foreign divorce that is recognised in Ireland

and your intended spouse either

• is single (never married)
• is widowed
• has a State Annulment
• has an Irish divorce
• has a foreign divorce that is recognised in Ireland.

If you knowingly marry in any other circumstances other than those outlined above, you will be breaking the law and your "marriage" will be bigamous.

If either or both of you have been married before, you should make this clear to the Registrar when giving the three months notification. You may have to bring some additional information with you.

If you are widowed

If you are widowed, you will be required to produce your deceased partner's death certificate for the Registrar.

State Annulment

A State Annulment is a High Court declaration that although you went through a marriage ceremony at one stage, a legally valid marriage never actually existed. There are a number of grounds for a State Annulment, for example, lack of free consent or non-consummation. You may be required to produce your Decree of Annulment to the Registrar.

Legal status of Church Annulments

It is very important to note that a Church Annulment does not end a legally valid marriage. Therefore, you are not free to remarry after a Church Annulment only. You will only be free to remarry if your partner dies or if you have a State Annulment, an Irish divorce or a valid foreign divorce.

An Irish divorce

If you have an Irish divorce, you will be required to produce your Divorce Decree (Decree Absolute) for the Registrar. Only a divorce allows remarriage - you may not remarry if you have a Judicial Decree of Separation or Legal Deed of Separation only.

A foreign divorce

If you have a foreign divorce, you will have to supply a copy of the Divorce Decree Nisi and Absolute. If the divorce decree is in a foreign language, you must provide an English translation certified by a relevant official body or recognised translation agency.

Not all foreign divorces are recognised under Irish law. A foreign divorce will only be recognised in Ireland if at least one spouse was "domiciled" in the state that granted the divorce when the proceedings started. You may have to provide good evidence that this was the case and, therefore, that the divorce is valid under Irish law.

The Registrar will give you two questionnaires, one for the divorced party seeking to remarry and one for his/her divorced ex-spouse. You must provide certain information about your place of birth, your place of residence and employment at the time of the divorce proceedings, property and business connections abroad and some other relevant facts. If you knowingly give false information, you may be found guilty of perjury - an offence punishable by law.

This information is then forwarded to the Registrar General whose consent is required before the marriage ceremony can take place. If he/she is of the opinion that the foreign divorce is valid, then the new marriage can go ahead. If not, you can provide additional information to prove validity or else you can apply for a hearing before the Circuit Court.

The Court's decision on the validity of a foreign divorce in Irish law is final and binding, although you may, of course, appeal to a higher court. If the Court decides that your foreign divorce is not binding, your only option if you wish to remarry in Ireland may be to get a divorce under Irish law.