Marriage Legality

rambutman

How does one go about checking if they have a legal marriage?

In summary - in a moment of madness 10 years ago got married in the Far East in dubious circumstance. I'm not sure whether the marriage was legal and whether i actually need to get divorced to remarry in Ireland.

I'm not looking for legal advice - more kind of point in the direction where i can get it

Any directions?

Thanks in advance

ABajaninCork

A solicitor?

BailMeOut

try ordering a marriage certificate in the country you were "married"?

seamus

You'll need to get in touch with the embassy of the country in which you think you got married to see what you can do to establish whether or not you're legally married.

rambutman

the "marriage" in question was later used to obtain a visa to ireland, a marriage certificate was not ordered but was bought later for a sum of money, the marriage itself was a religious ceremony...........a muslim one, it was never registered in Ireland.

I did talk to a family law solicitor a few years back..........she started talking district court to annul it even though she wasn't sure if it was valid or not..........got a barrister in for a few hours at 250 euro per hour. I left after several sessions none the wiser but a few quid down.

seamus

The basic rules are that if you have been legally married in a foreign jurisdiction, then you are married according to Irish law.

So the only way to establish if you are legally married for Irish purposes, is to find out directly from the country in which you were married. You are not required to register the foreign marriage in Ireland to make it "legal".

In the event that the marriage is legal in the country of origin, then you will need to obtain a divorce either in that other country (if your "spouse" lives there), or a divorce in Ireland if your "spouse" lives here, or you no longer know where your "spouse" is.
There may also be grounds for having it annulled depending on the circumstances.

However, that's if a legal marriage took place at all.

Marcusm

Who used it to obtain a visa? Consider all the ramifications for you if you have previously asserted (possibly under a stat declaration) or similar that it was valid. For you to positively assert the opposite now could lead you to a perjury or contemp action rather than just the hassle of a divorce. You might also want to ensure our solicitor has all the specifics; Jerry Hall wasn't so lucky in upholding the validity of her Balinese marriage but it does not mean that all foreign religious marriages are invalid.

Our man in Havana

Usual form is for Ireland to recognise any legal marriage no matter where it happened.

This is handy to know if you ever need to avail of a ryanair divorce.

coylemj

seamus wrote: »

You'll need to get in touch with the embassy of the country in which you think you got married to see what you can do to establish whether or not you're legally married.

and they will tell you how to do the following....

BailMeOut wrote: »

try ordering a marriage certificate in the country you were "married"?

If the civil authorities have no record of the 'marriage' then legally you did not get married there. The same would apply if (e.g.) you got married in a Catholic church in France but didn't do a registry office wedding as well. The only thing that matters as far as Irish law is concerned is if the civil authorities in the country in question recognise the ceremony that you went through as constituting a valid civil marriage, regardless of what religious element was contained therein.

Peregrinus

rambutman wrote: »

the "marriage" in question was later used to obtain a visa to ireland, a marriage certificate was not ordered but was bought later for a sum of money, the marriage itself was a religious ceremony...........a muslim one, it was never registered in Ireland.

Reliance upon the marriage to obtain a visa, and the fact that someone was able to get a certificate of the marriage, both point strongly to the likelihood that the marriage was legal in the country where it was celebrated and, therefore, in Ireland (and pretty well everywhere else). Unless the other party has died or divorced you you are married, and if you marry a second time without obtaining a divorce or an annulment you will be committing bigamy.

You're in a sticky situation, because somebody has relied on this marriage to obtain entry to Ireland, and the immigration authorities will be less than pleased if this comes to light. I don't know, though, whether they will take any action against you, but it's a possibility you need to consider.

Still, you need to sort yourself out, because you will never be able to marry legally in Ireland or anywhere else until you do.

The first thing to do is to confirm what we already suspect; that the marriage was legal in the country where it was celebrated. As others have said, a quick-and-dirty way of checking this is to apply to the local marriage registration authorities for a copy of the marriage cert.

Then take yourself and your marriage cert off to a solicitor specialising in family law, who will advise on whether divorce or annulment is the way to go, in terms of cost and time. Are you in a position to track down your husband/wife? It will go much more smoothly if they are on board and agreeable.