Complete Guide to Marriage Certificate 2022

Marriage certificate, how long is it valid for? What is it for? Can I request it through an online service?

This post was born with the aim of analyzing the meaning of marriage certificate , explaining not only its usefulness but also focusing on the information that this document provides to the interested party.

In this guide I will try to answer different types of questions, such as: What is a marriage certificate? How long does it last? What information does it contain? Who can request it? How and where to request a marriage certificate? And if I can apply online?

If you are interested and want to know the answers to the previous questions, you just have to continue reading this post.

What is a marriage certificate?

Let's start by clarifying the first point or rather our starting point: what is a marriage certificate? Here is the answer: the marriage certificate is a document containing information about your marriage, therefore, data regarding the civil marriage that took place between the spouses. Therefore, when you find yourself holding a marriage certificate in your hands, you will already know that it serves to certify the celebration of the civil union of the parties, reporting the personal data, place and date of the marriage.

The marriage certificate It has unlimited value throughout the national territory.

Marriage Certificate: Who Can Request It?

The marriage certificate, the marriage extract and the multilingual marriage extract can be requested by any interested party provided that the personal data of the spouses or the data of at least one of them are known and the marriage is registered in an Italian municipality.

The full copy of the marriage certificate, however, can only be issued to the interested party, or to a relative, or in any case to a person who has a legally relevant interest.

The wedding

Marriage, therefore, in addition to being an important event from the sentimental point of view of each person, also represents an important act relevant from the legal point of view and from which precise determinations derive.

The various types of marriage

The engaged couple will be able to choose between three types of marriage. The civil marriage, which will be celebrated before the Civil Status Officer and for this case the marital union will produce its effects only for the State and not for the Church. Next, the canonical marriage, celebrated before the Catholic minister of worship and its effects will be valid only for the Church.

Another type of marriage concerns the concordat marriage by which the spouses will celebrate their marriage in front of the priest by going to Church, but not only! In this case, the marriage will also produce its effects from a legal point of view. It will be regularly transcribed in the Civil Registry and the minister of worship will also provide for the reading of the articles of the civil code, regulating the reciprocal rights and duties of the spouses (articles 143, 144, 147 of the civil code). Therefore, in the event that the interested parties decide to celebrate the concordat marriage, effects will be produced from both a legal and religious point of view.

Marriage Certificate: What information does it contain?

With this document each individual can demonstrate their marital status, the personal details of their spouse, and when and by whom the marriage was celebrated.

In particular, the certificate attests: the personal details of the spouses, the date and place where the marriage took place, the registrar or minister of worship who celebrated the wedding.

Additional information on the marriage certificate

In addition to the above information, the marriage certificate may also include some additional information, such as: residence, the spouses' choice regarding separation or community of property, citizenship, any separation, divorce or annulment.

Marriage Certificate: How Long Does It Last?

The marriage certificate is valid for 6 months from the date of receipt.

If six months have passed since the date of issue of the certificate and the information contained therein remains unchanged, the interested parties may independently declare under their own responsibility, at the bottom of the certificate itself, that the information reported has not been subject to any type of variation and/or modification over time.

Who should I contact to obtain birth certificates?

The body concerned and to which you should contact to request your marriage certificate is the Municipality of residence. Each Municipality may provide different request methods. In any case, the application must be submitted to the demographic services counter of the municipality where the wedding was celebrated.

In the event of a change of residence, the request must be forwarded to the same offices of the municipality where the spouses had their residence at the time of marriage. If the request for the certificate is forwarded to a municipality other than the one where the spouses had their residence, the institution will be able to issue only a certificate of registry results but not the marriage certificate.

How to apply for a marriage certificate?

The methods for requesting the certificate are: go in person directly to the registry office of the municipality where the marriage was celebrated or to the municipality where the spouses had their residence when they married.

If you cannot go to the municipality in person or do not have the time to do so, you can use online channels that will provide you with a reliable service and fast (click here to request your marriage certificate in just a few clicks) .

I advise you to consider the fast and reliable service of Fast view to get the document in just a few clicks.

Practical advice

If you are wondering can I use the birth certificate issued by an Italian municipality abroad? For this case it will be necessary to request a multilingual extract.

The multilingual marriage extract (click here to request your multilingual marriage certificate) makes the document usable abroad without the need for translation, valid and recognized in all countries that have adhered to the Vienna Convention of '76, namely: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Germany, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.

If you need one legal advice online even for reasons other than the topic discussed, our team of lawyers will be at your complete disposal.