{"id":2146,"date":"2014-05-09T15:37:47","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T15:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2014-05-09T15:38:38","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T15:38:38","slug":"how-to-get-married-in-france-the-legal-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.listenandlearn.org\/blog\/how-to-get-married-in-france-the-legal-process\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Married in France: the Legal Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

France is a country noted for its bureaucracy \u2013 a permit for this; a licence for that; certification for the other and all documents nicely rubber stamped! You need to prove pretty much everything when dealing with the State. Getting married in France is no exception so you need to be well organised with the paperwork.<\/p>\n

1. Initial Requirements<\/h2>\n
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Amarella<\/p><\/div>\n

Whilst both civil and religious marriage ceremonies exist in France, only the civil ceremony is recognised legally. You can have a religious ceremony but that must take place after the civil marriage. In order to ensure that this has been enforced, you must present the certificate of civil marriage to the religious official before your ceremony in your place of worship.<\/p>\n

The civil ceremony will be conducted in French so it is a good idea to brush up and learn words specifically associated with getting married in France. It is possible to have a translator present with prior agreement.<\/p>\n

Some couples visit a solicitor prior to the marriage to prepare a contrat de marriage.<\/i> This concerns how personal goods will be treated and comes with a solicitor's certificate that must be included in the pre-marriage documentation. Without this, the law automatically follows the rule that personal goods from before the wedding remain personal but goods acquired during the marriage are shared.<\/p>\n

2. The Dossier du Marriage<\/i><\/h2>\n

This contains all of the required documents for both partners. There are forms to fill in and officially sanctioned translations and certificates to obtain. You should start to gather these about 6 months in advance, but be careful \u2013 for non-French nationals, some of the documents must have been prepared during the 3 months preceding the wedding. All documents must<\/i> be in French and some require an official seal \u2013 the Certificate of Apostille of the Hague.<\/p>\n

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3. Documentation Needed for the Dossier<\/h2>\n

Both parties need to supply:<\/p>\n