marriage contract in the philippines | Moneymax

Marriage isn't something people do on a whim. Just as you don't marry someone you met merely yesterday, yous don't get hitched without being legally ready.

Getting married won't be an piece of cake ride, what with the many requirements soon-to-weds accept to have care of. There'southward your CENOMAR, marriage license, and after the wedding, the marriage contract in the Philippines.

Only that doesn't mean you shouldn't get married. Of course, you desire your union to go legal and official.

The bespeak is, earlier you lot tie the knot, you take to be set for all the paperwork it entails. Your dream wedding won't become a reality if yous lack even just one requirement.

Here'due south everything Filipino or foreign couples demand to know before getting married, whether in civil or church rites, in the Philippines.

Tabular array of Contents

  • Who Can Go Married in the Philippines?
  • How to Get Married in the Philippines in viii Steps
    • Footstep ane: Get Your PSA Nativity Certificates
    • Step two: Request a CENOMAR
    • Step 3: Become a Cedula
    • Step iv: Utilize for a Marriage License
    • Stride 5: Book an Officiant
    • Footstep half dozen: Invite Your Witnesses
    • Step 7: Get Married
    • Step 8: Go Your Marriage Certificate
  • FAQs on Getting Married in the Philippines
    • i. What is the departure between a marriage license vs marriage certificate?
    • ii. Tin we get married in a different place from where we got our marriage license?
    • 3. Can two foreigners get married in the Philippines?
    • 4. How can a foreigner get married in the Philippines?
    • five. Can you lot get married without a marriage license in the Philippines?
    • half dozen. How many copies of CENOMAR are needed for securing a union license?
    • seven. Can I get copies of the marriage certificate for both my civil and church weddings?
    • 8. How long does information technology have earlier I become the matrimony certificate after our wedding in the Philippines?
  • Concluding Thoughts

Who Can Get Married in the Philippines?

marriage contract in the philippines - Who Can Get Married?

The Family Code of the Philippines[ane] allows the spousal relationship of people who run into the post-obit requirements:

  • A male person and a female
  • At to the lowest degree xviii years erstwhile
  • Notarized parental consent for 18 to 20 years former
  • Notarized parental advice for 21 to 25 years erstwhile
  • Not claret relatives upwardly to the fourth civil caste (i.east., cousins, siblings, etc.)
  • Free of legal impediments such as being previously married to someone else (unless annulled, divorced, or widowed)

These legal requirements mean that people under the age of 18 can't become married even with their parents' consent. Also, same-sexual practice matrimony is non yet legal in the Philippines.

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How to Become Married in the Philippines in 8 Steps

Afterwards making sure you're permitted by law to marry in the Philippines, the side by side crucial thing to do is to comply with the legal requirements for matrimony, specifically a marriage license and a marriage certificate (sometimes called the marriage contract).

Hither are the steps involved in making certain you'll be legally married in the Philippines.

Stride 1: Go Your PSA Birth Certificates

marriage contract in the philippines - get your PSA birth certificate

The first thing that should be on your checklist, even before y'all starting time with the wedding ceremony planning, is to secure your nascency certificate.

Doing it in accelerate will give y'all ample time to verify your name, every bit well every bit that of your partner and parents, and have it corrected if necessary. This prevents any issues later on due to incorrect entries on your birth certificate or inconsistency betwixt the details you provide in your marriage license awarding and those on your nascence certificate.

Ideally, your birth certificate is certified and issued past the Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA (formerly National Statistics Office or NSO). Yous can apply for this document at any PSA Serbilis Center[2] in the Philippines.

Or, for your convenience, get your PSA-certified birth document online via the PSA Serbilis website or PSAHelpline.ph. Bank check this guide on how to get a nascency certificate from the PSA.

Alternatively, yous may get a certified true copy of your nascence certificate from the local civil registrar'southward role in the city hall or municipal hall that has jurisdiction over your birthplace. The certified truthful copy is accepted for the marriage license application.

Footstep ii: Asking a CENOMAR

marriage contract in the philippines - get your CENOMAR

What is CENOMAR?

CENOMAR stands for Certificate of No Marriage Tape. As the name implies, this legal document certifies that a person has never been married.

Individually, you and your partner must secure a CENOMAR from the PSA. But if one or both of you are widowed, you lot demand to go a death certificate of the deceased spouse (also from the PSA) instead of a CENOMAR.

What are the CENOMAR Requirements?

No documents are required to apply for a CENOMAR. Simply get it via the PSA Serbilis website or PSAHelpline.ph as yous would when getting a birth certificate.

When requesting a CENOMAR online, you'll exist asked to provide the post-obit information:

  • Your total name, birth date, birthplace, and address
  • Father'southward full name
  • Mother'south full maiden proper noun
  • Number of copies requested
  • Purpose of the certification i.due east., marriage

How Much is the CENOMAR Fee?

The amount you'll have to pay depends on where you'll get a CENOMAR from. Getting this document online is more expensive because you'll exist paying for convenience.

  • PSA Serbilis Centre – PHP 210
  • PSA Serbilis website – PHP 430
  • PSAHelpline.ph – PHP 465

What'southward the CENOMAR Validity?

A CENOMAR is valid for vi months from the engagement of issue. Thus, secure this document within six months or less earlier your wedding engagement.

Step three: Get a Cedula

Go to the barangay hall, city hall, or municipal hall in the place where you lot or your fiancé lives to get a cedula.

A cedula, too called residence document or community tax certificate, is one of the union license requirements to get married in the Philippines. It proves that the bride, groom, or both are resident/due south of the metropolis or boondocks. Getting a cedula is just quick and easy with a minimal fee.

Step 4: Utilize for a Spousal relationship License

What is a Marriage License?

A marriage license is a legal certificate verifying that a couple is eligible to marry. It's an important requirement for either a civil or church wedding in the Philippines.

What are the Requirements for Marriage License?

Set the original copy and photocopy of the following documents from each of the couple:

  • Original or certified true copy of birth certificate/baptismal certificate
  • CENOMAR
  • Community tax certificate (cedula)
  • Contempo i x 1 ID photo of both applicants
  • Achieved marriage license application form

For special cases, the couple must submit an additional requirement:

  • Helpmate and/or groom aged 18 to twenty: Affidavit of parental consent
  • Bride and/or groom aged 21 to 25: Affidavit of parental advice
  • Widowed: Decease document of the deceased spouse (instead of the birth/baptismal certificate)
  • Annulled previous wedlock: Court decision and decree of absolute finality (instead of the birth/baptismal certificate)
  • Divorced: Final prescript of absolute divorce (instead of the birth/baptismal certificate)
  • Foreigners: Valid passport and Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Union or whatever equivalent document issued by a foreign diplomatic mission in the Philippines (instead of the nativity/baptismal certificate and CENOMAR)

How to Apply for a Marriage License in the Philippines

When you lot've secured all the requirements, you and your partner should personally apply for the wedlock license together.

  1. Visit the local civil registrar (LCR) office in the urban center or municipality where you or your partner reside.
  2. Submit the union license requirements. The designated officer will bank check and evaluate the documents.
  3. Pay the marriage license fee to the treasury or treasurer's function. Present the official receipt to the LCR officer.
  4. Fill up out 4 copies of the marriage license awarding grade provided by the LCR office. Make sure to attain the bride'due south and groom'southward information sections correctly and completely.
  5. Nourish the required pre-marriage counseling and family planning seminars. This can be held on the same day equally your marriage license application within the city or municipal hall complex.
  6. Go your Certificate of Omnipresence and submit it to the LCR office.
  7. Later 10 days, return to the LCR role and claim your marriage license. 2 copies will be issued—ane for your personal copy and another one that you'll give to your solemnizing officeholder.

How Much is the Marriage License Fee?

The cost of a marriage license varies per urban center or municipal hall, but it ranges from PHP 280 to PHP 352.

Enquire virtually any additional fees also. For instance, in Quezon City, couples must pay PHP 50 for the awarding grade and PHP 100 filing fee in addition to the wedlock license fee of PHP 100.[3]

What is the Matrimony License Validity?

A matrimony license is valid anywhere in the Philippines for 120 days from the date of issue. If you don't utilize it within that period, the expired marriage license is considered canceled.

Marriage License Tips to Think

  • Don't apply for a spousal relationship license as well early on or also late so that it'due south however valid on your wedding day.
  • Have a leave of absenteeism from work and arrive early. Government offices are open up only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.chiliad. on weekdays, and the entire process of getting this certificate (including the required seminars) might take a whole twenty-four hours.
  • Refer to your birth certificate to notice your female parent's correct maiden name.
  • Assign an authorized representative to claim the marriage license on your behalf if yous can't pick it upwardly due to a busy schedule. Your representative should present your authorization letter and valid ID to the LCR role.

Stride 5: Book an Officiant

marriage contract in the philippines - book an officiant

In one case you lot secure a marriage license, find a solemnizing officeholder who will officiate your nuptials. Any of the post-obit people are authorized to solemnize weddings in the Philippines:

  • Priests, rabbis, or ministers of whatever registered church or religion in the Philippines
  • Municipal judges, judges of the Courts of First Case, Presiding Justice and the Justices of the Court of Appeals, or Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Courtroom
  • Urban center or municipal mayors

Volume an engagement with your chosen hymeneals officiant. Before your wedding ceremony rites, yous'll have to meet with your officiant and provide him a copy of your marriage license.

Step half-dozen: Invite Your Witnesses

At to the lowest degree two witnesses of legal age (18 years old and in a higher place) are required of anyone who will ally in the Philippines. Exist certain that all your invited witnesses are bachelor on your wedding ceremony date and are informed of the nuptials details.

Tip: Take back-up witnesses but in case the ones y'all initially invited suddenly become unavailable on your wedding day.

Step seven: Get Married

marriage contract in the philippines - get married

Once y'all've completed all the legal requirements for marriage, you tin can already go married!

On your wedding day, show upward, say your "I do," and sign the marriage contract. Your officiant and witnesses volition also have to sign your marriage certificate in the Philippines.

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  • Best Wedding Loans in the Philippines for Your Dream Wedding

Step 8: Get Your Union Certificate

how to get marriage contract in the philippines

Now that y'all've been declared hubby and married woman, the only matter left to do is to obtain your union certificate.

Within 15 days after you lot get married, your solemnizing officeholder submits the four copies of your marriage contract to the LCR role in the city or municipality where your wedding took place.

Where and How to Get Marriage Contract in the Philippines

Y'all may become two kinds of copies of union certificate: a certified true copy from the city or municipal hall and an authenticated re-create from the PSA.

How to Become Spousal relationship Contract from the Local Civil Registry:

  1. Present your valid ID
  2. Fill out a marriage contract application form
  3. Pay a fee (the cost varies per LCR office).

Your certified true copy of marriage certificate may be issued inside the solar day, or a calendar week after if you adopt it in security paper (SECPA).

If you can't personally claim your matrimony certificate, you lot can assign a representative to selection information technology up for yous. The representative must present your dominance letter of the alphabet, your valid ID, and his/her valid ID.

How to Go Spousal relationship Contract from the PSA

You can get your PSA-certified marriage certificate online via the PSA Serbilis website or PSAHelpline.ph. When requesting for this certificate, you lot'll be asked to provide the following details:

  • Hubby'south total name
  • Wife'south full name
  • Date of marriage
  • Place of marriage
  • Requestor's address
  • Number of copies requested
  • Purpose of getting a marriage certificate

Related article: Should You Merge Your Finances Afterward Marriage?

FAQs on Getting Married in the Philippines

one. What is the difference between a wedlock license vs marriage document?

marriage contract in the philippines - marriage license vs marriage certificate

A marriage license is what y'all get before getting married. Having this certificate doesn't mean yous're officially husband and wife. It only authorizes you and your soonhoped-for-spouse to marry anywhere in the Philippines, so it's similar the blessing of your awarding for spousal relationship.

On the other manus, a marriage certificate is what y'all get after getting married. This certificate is proof that your partner is your legal spouse and that your marriage took place legally. It also contains the of import details of your wedding such as the date and place.

In the Philippines, a marriage contract is but another term used when referring to the marriage certificate.

ii. Can we get married in a different identify from where we got our marriage license?

Some couples wrongly presume that a union license is valid merely in the urban center or municipality where it was issued. Still, Commodity 20 of the Family Code of the Philippines clearly states that the document is "valid in any part of the Philippines." This ways if y'all got a marriage license in Cebu, y'all can marry in Manila or anywhere in the state, as long every bit information technology's used within the 120-day validity flow.

three. Tin two foreigners become married in the Philippines?

Yep. Another mutual myth about getting married in the Philippines is that one of the presently-to-weds must be a Filipino citizen. The Family Code doesn't prohibit two strange citizens from property their wedding in the Philippines, as long equally they meet the legal requirements for matrimony in the country.

4. How tin a foreigner become married in the Philippines?

marriage contract in the philippines - how foreigners can marry

The general process of getting married in the Philippines is quite the same for Filipinos and foreigners.

The biggest divergence is that foreign citizens are required to submit a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage (instead of a birth certificate and CENOMAR) when they apply for a marriage license. This certificate confirms that there are no legal impediments to the foreigner who will get married.

Foreigners who wish to marry in the Philippines should get this certification from their home country's embassy or consular office.

The awarding procedure and requirements for the Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry vary per country, so information technology'southward best to contact the local embassy to know the specifics. To find the contact information of your home country'south diplomatic mission in the Philippines, bank check the Department of Foreign Affairs website.[4]

For example, instead of the certification, the U.South. and Chinese embassies in the Philippines event an Affidavit in Lieu of a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. Meanwhile, the Australian embassy issues a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage (CNI).

Later on getting married in the Philippines, foreigners are also required to get their marriage registered in their dwelling house land within a prescribed period. To do and so, contact the embassy to ask about how to written report your marriage.

5. Can you lot get married without a marriage license in the Philippines?

Certain kinds of marriages or unions are exempted from providing a marriage license.

Under Article 34 of the Family Code, couples who have been living together as common-constabulary husband and married woman for at least v years (before the wedding date) and without any legal impediment for marriage can get married without the need for a wedlock license.

The police force requires such couples to execute an affirmation stating such facts. Too, the solemnizing officer must execute a sworn statement proving that he has verified the qualifications of the parties and found no legal impediment to your marriage.

Muslims and members of indigenous communities in the Philippines are as well not required to submit a marriage license, as long every bit they get married co-ordinate to their customs.

For the full list of marriage license exemptions, refer to Chapter 2 (Articles 27 to 34) of the Family Code.

6. How many copies of CENOMAR are needed for securing a marriage license?

You take to provide only one original copy and one photocopy of your CENOMAR, too as those of your partner. Contact the LCR office of your city/municipal hall to verify this requirement.

7. Can I go copies of the marriage document for both my civil and church weddings?

marriage contract in the philippines - church wedding

According to the PSA,[5] the beginning registered wedlock is the i considered valid. For example, if you had a civil nuptials first before yous married in a church building, then the PSA will issue the spousal relationship contract that was registered first at the local ceremonious registrar.

On the other hand, if you lot had a church wedding ceremony without a civil wedding beforehand, the marriage is still recognized as legal in the Philippines. The matrimony certificate you'll get from the PSA is the one y'all signed during your church rites.

viii. How long does it take earlier I get the marriage certificate afterwards our nuptials in the Philippines?

Around v to ten working days later on the officiant registered your marriage, yous can go a certified true copy of your marriage document at the LCR function.

A PSA-certified marriage certificate in the Philippines takes longer to process than the LCR-issued certificate. The actual processing time depends on how fast the LCR transmits your marriage contract to the PSA. Look for at least two to three months for your marriage certificate to become available at the PSA.

Final Thoughts

This guide is not a course of practiced legal advice. Information technology's just meant to provide full general guidelines on how to get married, including how to go a marriage contract in the Philippines, and then that you know what to look. You and your partner are primarily responsible for ensuring your compliance with the legal requirements for union in the country.

Run across also: I Love You, Cheerio: The Cost of Annulment in the Philippines

Personal loan application

Sources:

  • [1] Family Lawmaking of the Philippines (Official Gazette)
  • [ii] PSA Serbilis Centers
  • [3] How to Get a Union License (Quezon City Government official website)
  • [4] List of Strange Embassies in the Philippines, DFA website
  • [5] PSA Serbilis FAQs