Wrong Age On Wedding Certificate

[JOEYGREEN]

Someone I know recently got married and I noticed that on their wedding certificate the grooms age was a year out. I asked the bride why the age was wrong and she said they did his age from date of registering the wedding, not actual age at time of wedding. Is this right, do they do this?

[EDDIE51]

If the wedding was held at an 'unregistered' venue , not a church or other place that is registered as an official wedding venue, then the wedding is not legal until it is registered at the registry of births, marriages and deaths.
Some weddings held abroad have to be registered back in the UK before they are legal here. So this could be correct.
There are quite a few couples who got married overseas and have not realised that they need to register the marriage in the UK for it to be legal. Does not apply to all overseas wedding just certain countries.

[naomi24]

//Some weddings held abroad have to be registered back in the UK before they are legal here. //

Actually, that isn't true. I was married abroad and someone told me that, so I phoned the Foreign Office. No registration whatsoever required - wherever you marry. They will, however, keep documents for anyone who married in a country where the politics are volatile and official records might be lost.

[naomi24]

Joeygreen, that makes no sense. For a marriage in this country to be 'registered', and hence legally recognised, the couple would need to marry before a registrar - in which case the correct age will be registered.

[Mosaic]

My mother entered her age minus five years in the church register. As catholics, the register office papers had been completed the previous week but were never consulted - like many islamic marriages now, the state was deemed 'not to count'. You have to pay extra for a registrar to be present at a non Anglicant wedding and times were tight. As were her waistband, being up the duff.

[EDDIE51]

naomi, in some countries the age of consent is under 16, so it is legal for a 15 year old , for example to be legally married in those places , however the marriage would not be legal in the UK. It is not true to say that just because a marriage was legal according to the law of the place it took place it is legal in the UK. In those cases the marriage must be registered in the uk and it must comply with the law here. Marriage as young as 8 is common and legal in many Muslim countries , it would not be legal here and could not be registered as a marriage.

[EDDIE51]

No minimum legal age for marriage in Saudi for example
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2011/10/02/sharia-law-has-led-to-the-legisli
It is known for female babies to be 'married' as soon as they are born.

[EDDIE51]

Link didn't work
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2011/10/02/sharia-law-has-led-to-the-legislation-of-child-marriage-in-6-countries.html
Try again.

[naomi24]

This from the government website.

//Your marriage or civil partnership should be recognised in the UK if you follow the correct process according to local law.//