Marriage Registration & Special Marriage Act Assistance

The route most couples in Maharashtra actually use: the marriage has already been solemnised and the parties want it recorded and a certificate issued. Where the marriage was solemnised according to Hindu rites, Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides for registration in accordance with rules made by the State Government; Maharashtra additionally operates its own framework under the Maharashtra Regulation of Marriage Bureaus and Registration of Marriages Act, 1998. Under Section 6 of the 1998 Act a memorandum is presented before the Registrar, with the parties and three witnesses appearing in person to sign it. There is no public notice period on this route — the parties are recording a marriage that has already taken place, not applying for permission to marry. We establish that this is the applicable route, prepare the memorandum and the supporting documentation, coordinate the appointment and attendance before the Registrar, and assist with issuance of the certified Marriage Certificate.

The civil route to marriage, available whatever the religion of the parties, and commonly used by couples marrying across faiths or wanting a civil marriage. The couple is not yet married and is marrying under this Act. Sections 5 to 8 set out the machinery: notice of the intended marriage is given to the Marriage Officer, the notice is published, a period is allowed during which objections may be made, and objections received are dealt with before the marriage is solemnised. This is where the well-known thirty-day period comes from. We prepare and file the Notice of Intended Marriage with the Marriage Officer, coordinate the statutory notice and objection process, prepare the documentation for solemnisation and registration, and assist with issuance of the certified Marriage Certificate.

Sections 15 to 18 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 allow a marriage already celebrated in another form to be registered under that Act. Section 15 sets the conditions the parties must satisfy, and Section 16 prescribes the procedure — public notice by the Marriage Officer, a period for objections, and, if the conditions are met, a certificate entered in the Marriage Certificate Book and signed by the parties and three witnesses. This route carries its own notice and objection procedure, so a notice period is not confined to Route B. We assess whether the Section 15 conditions are met before applying, explain the Section 18 consequence of registering under this Act, prepare and file the application and the supporting documentation, and coordinate the notice period, the objection stage and attendance.

Notarised affidavits of date of birth, marital status and nationality, prepared by our Notary Public under the Notaries Act, 1952, where the applicable route or the office concerned calls for them. We also review existing marriage documents for legal, succession or property purposes, and assist where an entry in the register carries an error — a name spelt as in one identity document but not another, a transposed date of birth, an address taken from an old document. These surface later, when the certificate is produced and does not match the other papers; correction requires an application supported by evidence of the correct particular.