Marriage Celebrants E-bulletin February 2006
Welcome to the February 2006 issue of the e-bulletin. It contains important information for marriage celebrants registering marriages with the NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages in Sydney.
Non-compliance with the Marriage Act 1961 and the Marriage Regulations 1963
The Marriage Celebrants Section has been advised by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (NSW BDM) of their intention to contact individual marriage celebrants by letter when papers lodged with the NSW BDM for registration identify non compliance with legislative requirements.
The NSW BDM have advised the Registrar of Marriage Celebrants that recent changes in their procedures have necessitated an increase in contact with marriage celebrants for non-compliance with the Marriage Act 1961 (the Act) and the Marriage Regulations 1963.
NSW BDM advise that the main areas of concern are:
- use of outdated stationery, particularly the Notice of Intended Marriage
- lodgement of documents outside the prescribed timeframe – the Act and the Code of Practice require lodgement within 14 days of the marriage
- Australian passports being sighted for both overseas and Australian born citizens and being used as evidence of date and place of birth instead of birth certificates, overseas passports or statutory declarations
- insufficient recording of previous marriage details. The date of divorce and court location in the case of a divorced person or date of death in the case of a widowed person should be recorded. The year(s) of previous marriage(s) should also be recorded,
- incorrect recording of names of the parties to the marriage. Names used by the parties on the Notice of Intended Marriage should match those on the parties’ birth certificates. If one or both of the parties uses a different name, the celebrant should enter their name as shown on the birth certificate and also write their commonly used name as ‘known as’ (eg Smith known as Jones).
Another major concern of the NSW BDM is corrections needing to be made to registrations where celebrants have incorrectly recorded details on the Form 16 marriage certificate (the one sent to the BDM which has the couple’s declaration on the back).
From January 2006 the NSW BDM will be contacting individual celebrants by either email or post and advising them of amendments made to marriage registrations, to alert them to errors and request future caution regarding these matters.
Several of the matters of concern to NSW BDM are matters that have formed the subject of ongoing professional development in recent years or on which the Marriage Celebrant Section has written to marriage celebrants generally. The Registrar of Marriage Celebrants has requested that the NSW BDM advise the Marriage Celebrants Section of any contact with ‘A’ number Commonwealth registered marriage celebrants on any of these matters.
Deborah Nance
Registrar of Marriage Celebrants
Family Law Branch
Civil Justice Division