![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In some countries, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the authorities to relax the requirement for marriages to be celebrated in person. However, for the most part, a marriage or civil partnership equivalent will be recognised in the UK if the right formalities were observed in the country of celebration. There are certain overriding issues that can affect marriage validity on grounds of public policy, regardless of whether the marriage was legally valid in the country in which it took place. Had the marriage taken place in a country where unregistered religious marriages give rise to a legal marriage, the outcome could have been entirely different. This has come up in cases where unregistered religious marriages have been carried out in the UK, leading to a marriage that is neither valid nor even void but is categorised as a “non-qualifying ceremony”. The issue here is that the validity of a marriage turns largely on whether it is legal in the country in which it was celebrated. So that’s online weddings out of the question then? Once again, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Under the law in England and Wales, it is not possible to get married or enter into a civil partnership without the physical presence of both parties in a place approved by law. Turns out, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Most other aspects of life have gone online since the first coronavirus restrictions came into force last March so why should weddings be any different? Last week I was interviewed on ITV’s Granada Reports about virtual weddings. ![]()
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