Legal Stuff
Here, you’ll find information about what documents and identifications you need to provide to your celebrant before the ceremony, what the legal requirements of marriage are, and answers to frequently asked questions to do with all the legalities of getting married in Australia. This information can all be found in more detail in the Guidelines on the Marriage Act 1961, which you can download and peruse on the Attorney-General’s Department here.
What do we have to sign before the ceremony?
Short answer: The Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) & the Declaration of No Legal Impediment
NOIM
A Notice of Intended Marriage must be executed and received by me at least 30 days prior to your marriage ceremony. I will either:
a) prepare this document with you in person and witness your signing of it, so all you have to do is turn up with a couple of documents to our first or second meeting, or
b) send you a digital link so that you can fill out all the details electronically, and then email me copies of your identification documents - in this instance, we will still need to meet up so that I can witness your signatures (or you can have another authorised witness), or alternatively I can witness you signing it over Zoom
I must sight your passports (either Australian or overseas, doesn’t matter if it’s expired within the last ten years, as long as it wasn’t cancelled, or reported lost or stolen), OR your birth certificate (or an official extract of a birth certificate) plus a secondary form of ID that includes a photo (eg. Driver’s License, Proof of Age card). To recap: if you have a passport, that’s all I need to see. If not, I’ll need your birth certificate and something else.
If either of you have been previously married, I will need to sight an original Divorce Certificate or Death Certificate. A NOIM is valid for 18 months once signed; if for whatever reason, your ceremony doesn’t take place within 18 months of signing the NOIM, a new one must be prepared. Once completed, the NOIM stays with me until the ceremony is completed; then I send it to the Attorney General’s Department along with your Official Certificate of Marriage and Declaration of No Legal Impediment. Also, after I have received your NOIM, I will give you a copy of a brochure named Happily Ever Before & After. This contains some advice in terms of relationships and marriage, counselling, and some other handy info to help you with changing names, etc. It’s a requirement that your celebrant provides you with this information, and is in no way a reflection of you and your relationship!
It is sufficient that I sight a scanned or emailed copy of your documents if we don’t meet in person to prepare the NOIM; however, your signatures must be witnessed by me or an authorised witness.
To obtain a copy of your Victorian Birth Certificate or the Victorian Death Certificate of your former spouse contact the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.
If you require a copy of your Divorce Certificate o‹r Decree Absolute, contact the Family Law Court in the state in which the marriage was dissolved. For further details visit the Federal Circuit Court of Australia website.
Please note the Marriage Act 1961 has temporarily been amended to allow for authorised witnesses to remotely witness the signing of the NOIM, until 31 December 2022. See the below statement from the Attorney-General’s department:
“We write to advise that the Marriage Act 1961 has been temporarily modified due to COVID-19, to enable an authorised witness to remotely witness the signing of the Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM). This is a temporary response to assist parties to the marriage meet the notification requirements given the continuing impact of the COVID pandemic. The Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Modifications—Statutory Declarations and Notices of Intention to Marry) Determination 2021 (the Determination) which modifies the Marriage Act 1961 (the Marriage Act) commenced operation on 21 December 2021, and is the date from when authorised celebrants can begin witnessing signatures remotely. This arrangement will be in place unPl 31 December 2022, when the relevant legislative instrument will be repealed.”
One or both of us was born overseas and our documents are not in English. Is this ok?
Foreign language documents must be officially translated into English and a NAATI accredited Translation Certificate supplied. You can find more information about this on the NAATI website.
What if I can’t find or don’t have my birth certificate or passport?
If a party does not have a birth certificate or passport, the party, or a parent of the party, may make and give to the celebrant a statutory declaration setting out the reasons why it is ‘impracticable’ (practically impossible) to obtain such a certificate or extract. The declaration must also state, to the best of the declarant’s knowledge and belief, and as accurately as the declarant has been able to ascertain, when and where the party was born.
This is only to be done in circumstances where it would be incredibly difficult or impossible to obtain the original birth certificate (for example, if a party was born in a refugee camp and never received a birth certificate). Sadly, “I had a bit of a look in the garage but couldn’t find it” doesn’t quite qualify!
What if one or both of us is under the age of 18?
If one of you is aged between 16 and 18 years old, you may still get married. However, if both of you are under the age of 18, you cannot get married under any circumstances. It is also not sufficient that a parent or guardian gives consent to the marriage. The two minimum requirements that must be met if one of you is between 16 and 18 years old are:
a judge or magistrate has made an order authorising the person to marry a particular person of marriageable age (over 18 years), and
the required consents (e.g. parental, guardian etc.) have been given or dispensed with
Your celebrant can accept your NOIM if a party is under the age of 18 years at the time of signing, but will be 18 years old or over by the date of the marriage. In this instance, no consents or court orders are required.
What if our ceremony is less than one month away and we haven’t signed our NOIM?
Under special circumstances, a shortening of time may be granted. It is not within the powers of a celebrant to do this, however; this must be done by a prescribed authority. You can find a list of prescribed authorities on the Attorney-General’s website.
The five circumstances in which a shortening of time may be granted, according to the Marriage Act 1961, are as follows:
employment-related or other travel commitments
wedding or celebration arrangements, or religious considerations
medical reasons
legal proceedings, or
an error in giving notice.
Unfortunately, a prescribed authority has no discretion to grant a shortening of time outside of these circumstances.
What if we can’t meet with our celebrant at least 30 days prior to the ceremony to sign the NOIM?
You can find someone local to you who can witness your signing of the NOIM instead. Those allowed to witness the signing of a NOIM include:
an authorised celebrant
a justice of the peace
a barrister or solicitor
a legally qualified medical practitioner
a member of the Australian Federal Police or the police force of a State or Territory
We’re going to be overseas before our ceremony! Who can sign our NOIM?
A NOIM signed outside Australia must be signed in the presence of one of the following:
an Australian Diplomatic Officer
an Australian Consular Officer
a notary public
an employee of the Commonwealth authorised under paragraph 3(c) of the Consular Fees Act 1955, or
an employee of the Australian Trade Commission authorised under paragraph 3(d) of the Consular Fees Act
Please note that a NOIM signed outside of Australia cannot be witnessed by an authorised celebrant.
What if our celebrant is unable to perform our ceremony for some reason at the last minute?
Your celebrant can transfer your NOIM to a new celebrant quite easily. Your new celebrant will also need to sight your documents in person before the ceremony, but there is no need to re-fill out the NOIM.
What if we’re not Australian citizens?
Not a problem! You do not have to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia to legally marry in Australia.
Something to keep in mind, however, is that some overseas countries don’t recognise a marriage entered into in Australia as valid unless certain requirements (such as a prior granting of permission from a country’s embassy) are fulfilled. If you intend to return to another country after your marriage in Australia, it’s worth checking with authorities from that country what the requirements are.
Declaration of No Legal Impediment
This form must be signed prior to the ceremony, but preferably as close to the date of the ceremony as possible (in case any details from the NOIM have changed since then). This form signifies that each party to the marriage declares themselves free to marry (eg. that they’re not already married), and that there is no legal impediment to the marriage. Because this form is on the reverse side of one of the official marriage certificates that will be signed at your ceremony, this document must be signed in person (you can’t just print your own copy of it). This can be done place at an agreed upon meeting, the ceremony rehearsal, the day of the ceremony (as long as it is before the ceremony), or if there is no other option, at the same time as the signing of the NOIM.
What do we have to sign on the day of the ceremony?
Short answer: Two official certificates of marriage (one that has the No Legal Impediment form on the reverse side, which is sent to the Attorney General’s Office with the NOIM by your celebrant after the ceremony, and one that your celebrant keeps for a minimum of seven years), a third certificate (called Form 15), which is the pretty-looking marriage certificate that you get to keep forever.
These three forms will be signed during the ceremony. You will both sign all three of them, then your witnesses will sign all three of them, then I will sign all three of them. I will then find a safe spot to put your Form 15 certificate and take the other two home with me, or if you prefer, I can take all three and arrange a time to give you the Form 15 certificate at a later date.
MORE LEGAL STUFF
Aside from the NOIM and Declaration of No Legal Impediment, what are the legal requirements for marriage in Australia?
a. You must both be over 18 years of age. If one person is under the age of 18, marriage is still possible by parental consent as per section 12 of the Marriage Act.
b. The ceremony must be witnessed by two people, over the age of eighteen years. Your celebrant does not count as a witness.
c. The Marriage Act 1961 requires that certain statements are included in your ceremony – the Monitum and the legal vows. Your celebrant will explain this in more detail at first meeting.
We want our friend/family member to perform our ceremony but they’re not a celebrant. Is this possible?
Yes and no. Your celebrant must perform the legal portions of the ceremony - that is, the Monitum, the legal vows, and signing of the documents. However, if there’s someone special that you’d like to read your introduction, or another section of the ceremony that isn’t a legal requirement, this can be arranged. It is important that witnesses to the marriage know that the celebrant is the prescribed authority who is legally authorised to solemnise your marriage, and this must be made verbally clear at the ceremony.
We/one of us/our witnesses/many of our guests don’t speak English. Can we have a translator at our ceremony?
Absolutely! In fact, it’s essential that the two parties getting married, as well as their two witnesses, and the celebrant all understand what is being entered into during the ceremony. Therefore, if one of you or your witnesses doesn’t speak much English, it would be a great idea to hire a NAATI-certified translator who can ensure that everyone is on the same page. This includes ceremonies conducted in sign language, such as Auslan.
The interpreter may not be one of the parties to the marriage. However, while it is not overly recommended, the interpreter may act as one of your witnesses, as long as this does not compromise their professionalism (this may be decided at the discretion of the celebrant).
Subsection 112(2) of the Marriage Act states that the celebrant must not solemnise a marriage at which the services of an interpreter are to be used unless the celebrant has received a statutory declaration by the interpreter stating that they understand, and are able to converse in, the language/s required. Immediately after the ceremony, the interpreter must provide the celebrant with a certificate of the faithful performance of their services as interpreter. This must be in the approved form.40, which is available on the Attorney-General’s Department’s website.