Marriage act 2015

Enactment Date29 October 2015
Act Number35


Number 35 of 2015


MARRIAGE ACT 2015


CONTENTS

PART 1

Preliminary and General

Section

1. Short title and commencement

2. Definitions

3. Expenses

PART 2

Impediments to Marriage

4. Amendment of section 2(2) of Act of 2004

5. Prohibited degrees of relationship

6. No impediment where subsisting civil partnership with each other

PART 3

Religious Bodies

7. Religious bodies

PART 4

Civil Partnership

8. Repeal of certain provisions of Act of 2004 relating to civil partnership

9. Amendment of section 46(1) of Act of 2004

10. Dissolution and transitional

11. Dissolution of civil partnership on marriage

PART 5

Recognition of Certain Foreign Relationships

12. Recognition of certain foreign marriages

13. Certain registered foreign relationships

PART 6

Consequential Amendments

14. Amendment of section 77(2) of Mental Treatment Act 1945

15. Amendment of Married Women’s Status Act 1957

16. Amendment of Guardianship of Infants Act 1964

17. Amendment of section 85 of Succession Act 1965

18. Amendment of First Schedule to Bankruptcy Act 1988

19. Amendment of section 8(2) of Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989

20. Amendment of section 25 of Criminal Evidence Act 1992

21. Amendment of section 51 of Act of 2004

22. Amendment of section 26 of Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014

23. Amendment of Children and Family Relationships Act 2015

24. Amendment of Gender Recognition Act 2015


Acts Referred to

Bankruptcy Act 1988 (No. 27)

Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (No. 9)

Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24)

Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014 (No. 34)

Civil Registration Act 2004 (No. 3)

Criminal Evidence Act 1992 (No. 12)

Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 (No. 33)

Gender Recognition Act 2015 (No. 25)

Guardianship of Infants Act 1964 (No. 7)

Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989 (No. 6)

Married Women’s Status Act 1957 (No. 5)

Mental Treatment Act 1945 (No. 19)

Succession Act 1965 (No. 27)


Number 35 of 2015


MARRIAGE ACT 2015


An Act to amend the Civil Registration Act 2004 to remove the impediment to marriage of the parties being of the same sex; to repeal certain provisions of Part 7A of that Act relating to registration of civil partnerships; to make provision in relation to religious bodies; to provide for the recognition of marriages under the law of a place other than the State; to amend the Succession Act 1965 , the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 and the Gender Recognition Act 2015 ; to amend other enactments and to provide for matters connected therewith.

[29 th October, 2015]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

PART 1

Preliminary and General

Short title and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Marriage Act 2015.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Social Protection, appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or provisions.

Definitions

2. In this Act—

“Act of 2004” means the Civil Registration Act 2004 ;

“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Expenses

3. The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of monies provided by the Oireachtas.

PART 2

Impediments to Marriage

Amendment of section 2(2) of Act of 2004

4. Section 2(2) of the Act of 2004 is amended by—

(a) the deletion of paragraph (e),

(b) the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (f):

“(f) one of the parties to the marriage is, or, other than where section 2B applies, both are, already party to a subsisting civil partnership, or”,

and

(c) the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (f) :

“(g) the marriage would be void by virtue of section 2A.”.

Prohibited degrees of relationship

5. The Act of 2004 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2:

“2A. (1) For the purposes of this Act, any prohibition in this Act or any other enactment or rule of law on marriage between two persons of the opposite sex arising by virtue of a relationship of consanguinity or affinity between them, shall, subject to any necessary modifications, apply to marriage between two persons of the same sex as it applies to marriage between two persons of the opposite sex.

(2) A marriage purported to be solemnised which contravenes a prohibition referred to in subsection (1) shall be void.”.

No impediment where subsisting civil partnership with each other

6. The Act of 2004 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2A (inserted by section 5 ):

“2B. There is not an impediment to a marriage by virtue of both of the parties to the intended marriage being parties to a subsisting civil partnership with each other.”.

PART 3

Religious Bodies

Religious bodies

7. (1) Nothing in this Act or any other enactment shall be construed as obliging—

(a) a religious body to recognise a particular form of marriage ceremony for the purposes of section 51(3)(c) of the Act of 2004, or

(b) a religious solemniser to solemnise a marriage in accordance with a form of marriage ceremony which is not recognised by the religious body of which the religious solemniser is a member.

(2) In this section—

“form of marriage ceremony” includes that form in so far as it relates to the sex of the parties to the ceremony;

“religious body” has the meaning assigned to it by section 45 of the Act of 2004;

“religious solemniser” means a member of a religious body standing registered in the Register of Solemnisers maintained under section 53 of the Act of 2004.

PART 4

Civil Partnership

Repeal of certain provisions of Act of 2004 relating to civil partnership

8. The following provisions of the Act of 2004 are repealed:

(a) section 2(2A);

(b) section 59B;

(c) section 59C (other than subsection (5));

(d) section 59D (other than subsections (6)(c), (7), (8) and (9));

(e) section 59E;

(f) section 59F;

(g) section 59G;

(h) section 59H;

(i) section 59I.

Amendment of section 46(1) of Act of 2004

9. Section 46(1) of the Act of 2004 is amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

“(a) (i) notify any registrar in writing in a form for the time being standing approved by an tArd-Chláraitheoir of their intention to marry—

(I) not less than 3 months prior to the date on which the marriage is to be solemnised, or

(II) at any time prior to the date on which the marriage is to be solemnised where the parties to the intended marriage are parties to a subsisting civil partnership with each other and have previously either complied with section 59B(1) (a) in respect of that civil partnership or been exempted from such compliance by order of the Circuit Court or the High Court under section 59B(2),

or

(ii) are granted an exemption from the application of subparagraph (i) (I) under section 47 and give a copy of the court order granting the exemption to any registrar before the date aforesaid,”.

Dissolution and transitional

10. The Act of 2004 is amended by the insertion of the following Part before section 60:

“Part 7C

Dissolution and Transitional

Registration of dissolution of civil partnership on marriage

59K. Where a civil partnership which is registered in the register of civil partnerships stands dissolved by virtue of section 109A (inserted by section 11 of the Marriage Act 2015) of the Act of 2010 on the marriage of two persons solemnised under and in accordance with this Act, the registrar shall enter that dissolution as a particular in the entry concerning that civil partnership in that register.

Transitional provisions consequent on Marriage Act 2015

59L. (1) On the commencement of section 8 of the Marriage Act 2015, a notification of an intention to enter into a civil partnership given under section 59B and in force immediately before that commencement, may, if requested by the parties concerned, be taken to be and treated by a registrar as if it were a notification of their intention to marry given under section 46.

(2) Notwithstanding the commencement of section 8 of the Marriage Act 2015,the provisions of this Act referred to in that section shall continue to apply—

(a) where a civil partnership registration form was duly completed under section 59C and that form is valid under subsection (4) of that section immediately before that commencement, or

(b) in relation to a civil partnership registration in respect of which an objection under section 59F is made, whether the objection is made before or after that commencement.”.

Dissolution of civil partnership on marriage

11. The Act of 2010 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 109:

“109A. Notwithstanding any provision of this Part, a civil partnership subsisting between two persons immediately before their marriage to each other shall stand dissolved on and from the date of that marriage.”.

PART 5

Recognition of Certain Foreign Relationships

Recognition of certain foreign marriages

12. (1) A marriage under the law of a place other than the State shall not be precluded from being recognised as a marriage by reason of the sex of the parties to the marriage.

(2) Where a marriage under the law of a place other than the...

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