Court Marriage Checklist & Notice Timeline (India, Special Marriage Act)

About the Court Marriage Checklist & Notice Timeline (India, Special Marriage Act)

A court marriage in India is a marriage before a Marriage Officer under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, open to any couple whatever their religion. One of you must have lived in the Marriage Officer’s district for at least 30 days before you give the notice; the notice is put up for 30 days in which anyone may object; and the marriage must be solemnized, before the Marriage Officer and three witnesses, within three calendar months of the notice. A marriage already performed in another form can also be registered under section 15.

This checklist works out those dates from your residence and notice dates, checks the conditions of section 4 (age, no spouse living, valid consent, prohibited degrees), lists the documents Marriage Officers ask for — with Delhi’s official list as an example and the State portals that take notices — and drafts the notice of intended marriage (Second Schedule), the declarations (Third Schedule), an affidavit for each of you and, for a registration, an application under section 15. The free preview shows the pages marked; a Pro pass unlocks the Word file, the PDF, the text and printing.

Common uses

• Planning the date of a court marriage around the 30-day notice.
• Checking the age and residence conditions before giving the notice.
• Preparing the notice of intended marriage, the declarations and the affidavits.
• Registering a religious marriage under section 15 of the Special Marriage Act.

Conditions of the Special Marriage Act (section 4)

• Neither of you has a spouse living — a divorcee brings the divorce decree, a widow or widower the death certificate.
• Valid consent: neither of you is incapable of consent through unsoundness of mind, or suffering from a mental disorder making you unfit for marriage and the procreation of children, or subject to recurrent attacks of insanity.
• Age: the bridegroom has completed 21 and the bride 18 at the time of the marriage.
• Not within the degrees of prohibited relationship of the First Schedule (37 relations for a man and 37 for a woman, by blood, half blood, uterine blood or adoption), unless a custom of one of you, notified by the State Government, permits the marriage.

To register a marriage already celebrated (section 15), the ceremony must have been performed and you must have lived together as husband and wife since; both of you must be 21 at registration, and you must have lived in the district for 30 days before applying.

The notice timeline

• Residence: one of you must have lived in the district for at least 30 days immediately before the notice (section 5).
• Notice and publication: the Marriage Officer enters the notice in the Marriage Notice Book and puts it up in the office; a copy goes to the district where the other party permanently lives (section 6).
• Objections: anyone may object within 30 days of publication that a condition of section 4 is not met (section 7). The Marriage Officer decides an objection within 30 days; a refusal can be appealed to the district court within 30 days (section 8).
• Marriage: after the 30 days, if no one has objected, before the Marriage Officer and three witnesses, who sign the declarations first (sections 11 and 12).
• Lapse: if the marriage is not solemnized within three calendar months of the notice, the notice lapses and a new one is needed (section 14).

The days are counted as the law counts “from”: the day of publication is left out, so a notice put up on 1 March can be objected to until 31 March and the marriage can take place from 1 April.

Documents Marriage Officers ask for

The Act prescribes the notice and the declarations; each State’s rules and Marriage Officers set the rest. Delhi’s Revenue Department, for example, asks for the application form signed by both of you with the fee receipt; proof of date of birth (matriculation certificate, passport or birth certificate); proof that one of you has lived in Delhi for more than 30 days (a ration card or a report from the police station’s SHO); a separate affidavit from each of you on your date of birth, marital status and that you are not related within the prohibited degrees; two passport-size photographs of each of you attested by a Gazetted Officer; and the divorce decree or the late spouse’s death certificate where it applies. Confirm the list with your district office.

Limitations

• Not legal advice: a checklist and draft forms from the Act. State rules, portals, fees and the Marriage Officer’s own requirements differ and prevail; have a lawyer review the documents.
• The dates assume the notice is published the day you give it; if your office publishes it later, every date moves.
• It does not file anything: you give the notice to the Marriage Officer yourself, in person or on your State’s portal where there is one.
• Marriages under other laws (Hindu Marriage Act registration, Christian or Parsi marriage laws) follow their own rules and are not covered.

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