Getting married abroad can seem a wonderfully romantic thing to do, but if you fail to organise things properly your dream wedding could quickly turn into the stuff of nightmares.

All foreign countries have rules about the documents you need to produce to prove who you are and your right to marry or enter a civil partnership with the person you have chosen. Many of these documents will need to be verified as well as having the documents legalised by the Foreign Commonwealth Office or the Consular for the county where you are getting married – formally known as ‘notarised’ – before you leave the UK to satisfy the authorities abroad that they are legally correct and authentic.

Jonathan Durkin, notary public and solicitor at Prosperity Law Liverpool and Manchester, explains what documents you are likely to need and how a notary public can help make sure everything is in order.

Documents usually required

Almost all countries will require you to prove:

  • who you are;

  • where you live;
  • your age and nationality;
  • your legal right to marry, particularly if you have been married before; and
  • that there is no reason the marriage or civil partnership should not go ahead.

Some of the documents you will need may have to be issued by a government department in the UK, or obtained from the relevant authority in the country you wish to marry in. These may include certificates of no impediment to your marriage and of your marital status from the local Registry Office, for example in Spain, or certificates of celibacy and of custom in, for example, France.

Other documents you can arrange yourself with the help of a notary public, such as your birth certificate, decree absolute, death certificate of a former spouse or civil partner, proof of change of name by deed poll and proof of address.

A notary public can also help if the country you wish to marry in requires you to make a statutory declaration about your right to marry, as is required for example in Italy.

Jonathan Durkin can provide a range of notarial services to help your marriage abroad go according to plan. For a confidential discussion about your plans and personal requirements, please contact Jonathan on 0151 958 0057 or email Jonathan@ProsperityLaw.com

The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only.  They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice.  The law may have changed since this article was published.   Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.