Marriage certificate
The registration of civil marriages, customary marriages and civil unions are done by the Department of Home Affairs. Civil marriages fall under the Marriage Act. South Africa also recognises customary marriages through the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, which became effective in November 2000. Civil unions are recognised in terms of the Civil Union Act (2006).
If you are planning on getting married, you must ensure you are legally allowed to marry, understand the legal consequences of a marriage, particularly that marriages in South Africa are automatically in community of property, unless a valid ante-nuptial contract has been entered into before the marriage, and make sure that your marriage will comply with all the legal requirements for a valid marriage.
“Because of the large number of fraudulent marriages reported every year, a facility has been put in place for residents to check their marital status at any time. You will need your ID number in order to do this,” says Dirk Janse van Noordwyk, from the Nigel branch of Home Affairs.
You can also sms the letter ‘M’ followed by your ID number (example: M5001010050080) to 32551. A reply will be sent back to your cellphone to confirm your marital status and the date of your marriage. The sms costs R10 and will be charged by your network service provider.
Documents needed for marraige:
* The ID of each person getting married.
* If a foreign national is marrying a South African citizen, they should both present their valid passports, as well as well as a completed BI-31 Form.
* If the wedding is for a person under the age of 18, the written consent of both parents, or the legal guardian, the Commissioner of Child Welfare or a judge should be submitted on form DHA-32 as well. If the minors getting married are under the ages of 18 for boys, or 15 for girls, the written consent from the Minister of Home Affairs will also be required.
* If either of the people getting married are divorced, then the divorce must be finalised before the marriage can happen.
* If either of the people getting married are widowed, the deceased spouse’s death certificate must be submitted.
To get a marriage certificate, two witnesses and the marriage officer must sign the marriage register at the ceremony. Then the marriage officer must give the couple a handwritten marriage certificate (BI-27) free of charge.
The marriage officer must then submit the marriage register to the nearest office of the Department of Home Affairs, where the marriage details will be recorded in the National Population Register (NPR).
Customary marriages in South Africa are ones that are “negotiated, celebrated or concluded according to any of the systems of indigenous African customary law which exist in South Africa”. This is according to the Home Affairs website.
The most important requirements needed in order to enter into a customary marriage are:
The marriage must be negotiated, entered into or celebrated in accordance with customary law.
The prospective spouses must be above the age of 18 and both prospective spouses must consent to the marriage.
“Customary marriages must be registered within three months of taking place,” says van Noordwyk.
If a man is already in a customary marriage and wants to have another customary marriage, he has to – at his own cost – get a court order from a court which will regulate his future matrimonial property system.
The Civil Union Act allows anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, to marry either through a civil union, a civil marriage or a customary marriage.
The procedure of a civil union is almost the same as a normal marriage:
The ID’s of both people entering into the marriage must be presented, a completed Declaration for the Purpose of Marriage (Form DHA-1763) and a completed Registration of a Civil Union (Form DHA-1764), in which the couple must indicate whether or not they are entering into a Civil Union marriage or a Civil Union partnership.
Recording an adoption
Adoptions must be registered with Home Affairs in the child’s birth register, if so requested by the adoptive parents.
To record an adoption, the adoptive parents must complete Form BI-193, submit a written request to record the adoption to any domestic office of Home Affairs, submit a certified copy of the adoption order and pay the fee required to record an adoption.
