When you want to legalize your marriage or planning a civil wedding in any marriage Registry, there are steps and requirements you need know. Firstly you should approach the Registrar of Civil Marriages to declare your intention. It is important for you to be conversant of what to expect and gather information on how to proceed. In this article we will be looking at factors or things that will be an impediment to your smooth ride in getting your civil wedding legalized in any marriage registry in Nigeria.

Subsisting Marriage

According to the Marriage Act – Parties will lack the capacity to embark on a civil wedding if either of them is already married under the Act to another person and the marriage has not been dissolved by any court of law. In addition, section 33 (1) of the Marriage Act states that no marriage in Nigeria shall be valid where either of the parties thereto at the time of the celebration of such marriage is married by native law or custom to any other person other than the person with whom such marriage is had. The Registrar must be satisfied that there is no subsisting statutory or customary law marriage on the part of the parties wishing to marry under the Act, he shall not issue them with a certificate to marry under the Act.

Age

Age is an important factor that is considered to have civil wedding in any marriage registry. According to the Marriage Act which states ‘that unless a party is a widow or widower, there is need to obtain the written consent of either the parents or guardians where such person is under the age of twenty-one years’. ‘The Act further provides in section 49 that whoever shall marry or assist any person to marry a minor under the age of twenty-one years, not being a widow or widower, shall be liable to imprisonment for two years’. Consent In a civil wedding, parental consent of both the male and female parties is a legal requirement but only in cases where either or both of the parties are under the age of twenty-one years.

Consent

In a civil wedding, parental consent of both the male and female parties is a legal requirement but only in cases where either or both of the parties are under the age of twenty-one years.

Kindred and Affinity

If anyone plans to get a civil wedding there must make sure that there is no impediment of kindred or affinity between them. The list of prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity applies to statutory marriages and it is provided in Schedule 1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act (MCA). A Registrar will not honour any parties with a certificate to marry unless satisfied by reason of a sworn affidavit by the parties that there is no such impediment. A marriage between two persons who are within the prohibited degree of consanguinity or affinity is void. Under section 4 of the MCA, where persons are within the prohibited degrees of affinity and desire to marry, they may apply in writing to a Judge for permission to do so and if the Judge is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, the Judge may by an order permit the parties to marry one another. This is what the prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity have to say:

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