Marriage:Court Exemption Order

bobbyss

Reading about the recent Margaret Cash case I think she said she got married at 16.
What is the legal age limit for marriage in the Republic?
I understand that you can marry under the age of 18 (16?) through a Court Exemption Order.
Anyone know about this and under what circumstances do under 18s get married in the Republic?

Peregrinus

It's rare nowadays. You need court approval if you're under 18, and this is not lightly given. "We love each other!" and "But my daughter is pregnant!" do not cut much ice with flinty-hearted district judges. Cases where it might be allowed would be, e.g., the couple is emigrating and need to be married for visa purposes. Some compelling practical consideration like that.

If the under-18 year old partner is domiciled in NI or further afield, then the couple could marry abroad in a place where they are not so fussy about ages (e.g. Scotland) and that would be recognised in Ireland. But if an Irish under-18 year old goes abroad to marry in order to evade the Irish age-for-marriage rules, that won't be recognised.

Caranica

Bizarrely it was the domestic violence bill that was signed into law just before the summer that tightened up the rules on child marriages even further.

ohnonotgmail

Peregrinus wrote: »

It's rare nowadays. You need court approval if you're under 18, and this is not lightly given. "We love each other!" and "But my daughter is pregnant!" do not cut much ice with flinty-hearted district judges. Cases where it might be allowed would be, e.g., the couple is emigrating and need to be married for visa purposes. Some compelling practical consideration like that.

If the under-18 year old partner is domiciled in NI or further afield, then the couple could marry abroad in a place where they are not so fussy about ages (e.g. Scotland) and that would be recognised in Ireland. But if an Irish under-18 year old goes abroad to marry in order to evade the Irish age-for-marriage rules, that won't be recognised.

Can they not get married in northern ireland? The marriageable age there is 16 with the consent of the parents

Peregrinus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Can they not get married in northern ireland? The marriageable age there is 16 with the consent of the parents

They can. But if one of the couple is domiciled in RoI, is under 18 and doesn't have court consent to marry, RoI will not recognise the marriage.

The general rule for recognising foreign marriages is that laws as to the formalities of marriage - notice of marriage, who can celebrate, requirements for the ceremony, witnesses, that kind of thing - are governed by the law of the place where the marriage is celebrated. So if you go and marry foreign your country will accept and recognise that, provided you observed the local rules in foreignland about how to marry. But rules as to your capacity to marry - Are you too young? Are you already married to someone else? - are governed by the law of your domicile. So if you're Irish-domiciled, and if Irish law regards you as not having the capacity to marry, it won't treat you as acquiring that capacity just because you crossed a border. If you're 17 and domiciled in Ireland and wish to marry in NI or Scotland, you still need to get court consent in Ireland and, if you don't, Ireland won't recognise the NI/Scottish marriage.

Under His Eye

What if this Irish domiciled person only returned years later (let's say 20) would the marriage still be invalid?

Peregrinus

Under His Eye wrote: »

What if this Irish domiciled person only returned years later (let's say 20) would the marriage still be invalid?

Yes, I think so. There's a distinctin between void and voidable marriages, a void marriage being an absolute nullity from the get-go, and a voidable marriage being one which is capable of being nullified, but can instead be ratified by the conduct of the parties (i.e. knowing of the problem, they stick together and make a go of it).

But a marriage where one of the parties lacks capacity is void, not voidable. So even if they stick together until the younger party reaches the ripe old age of 20, they're still not married. The passage of time will never solve the problem of the lack of capacity to marry at the time they actually married.

Of course, if age was the only problem at the time they married then, unless one of them has married someone else in the meantime, they are free to marry. So, on return to Ireland, they can pop down to the registry office and sort the matter out. In theory, anyway.