The celebration of marriage, from a legal point of view, has three phases:
him marriage record, which is intended to prove that those who want to get married have the necessary legal requirements.
b.- The consent marriagehe or celebration of the marriage itself.
c.- The registration in the Civil Registrythe, which is necessary to prove the existence of the marriage before any person other than the spouses themselves, although the effects occur from the time of its celebration.
1.- The marriage file.
According to article 58 LRC the celebration of marriage will require the prior processing or instruction of a record or file at the request of the contracting parties to prove compliance with the capacity requirements and the absence of impediments or their dispensation, or any other obstacle, in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code.
This file may be processed either before a Notary in the place of residence of either of the contracting parties, or before the Court Clerk or Civil Registry Officer in the place of residence of one of the contracting parties.
Those who wish to process a marriage file before a notary must request the notarial association corresponding to the domicile of either of them, the prior designation of a notary for its processing.. This application can be submitted in person at the school or by email. It must indicate the identity of the future spouses and must be accompanied by a copy of their identity documents and a certificate of registration.
The notarial association will designate in turn the notary who is to process the file and will communicate said designation to the notary and to the future spouses, indicating the name of the designated notary, the address of his notary's office and other contact information.
2.- Who can get married before a Notary?
Anyone who can marry. That is, there is no limitation on celebrating a marriage before a Notary.
The capacity to marry has been modified indirectly by Law 15/2015, by removing the possibility of dispensation from marriage from the age of 14. Therefore, currently, to marry, it is necessary to be over 16 years old.
3.- Before which Notary can I get married?
The only limitation is that he/she must be competent to act in the place where the marriage is celebrated and that he/she has been designated in the marriage record. As you can imagine, I cannot ask a Notary from Madrid to marry me in Barcelona, or vice versa.
4.- What should I bring to the Notary to get married?
The document proving the approval of the marriage file, the identity documents of the spouses and the witnesses must be provided.
5.- How does the wedding take place before a Notary?
Notarially, the wedding consists of the signing of a marriage deed, in which, in addition to the contracting parties, the witnesses of legal age must sign. The Notary will read articles 66, 67 and 68, will ask each of the contracting parties if they consent to marry the other and if they actually do so in said act and, if both respond affirmatively, will declare that they are united in marriage.
The document must reflect, in addition to the day and place, the time of the celebration.
6.- Can I get married by proxy?
Yes, but it must be a specific power to enter into marriage.
7.- ¿ Who is responsible for registering the marriage?
The notary will do this once the marriage has been celebrated, as he will give a copy to each spouse and send a third to the Civil Registry, initially by electronic means, although the application is not yet available so it will be necessary to resort to regular mail.
8.- How much does it cost? a wedding before a notary?
The cost of the deed may depend on the length of the marriage file that must be attached to it. However, an approximate price may be 150-200 euros, not including any extras.
9.- Why the wedding before a Notary and not before other authorized persons?
Legally, marriage is a contract, and the person most familiar with contracts is a Notary. Folklore, the party or celebration is something foreign to the actual marriage celebration document, and may be subsequent to the contract.
The Notary can provide a more legal perspective on marriage, recommend drawing up marriage agreements to plan for the different aspects of marriage, not just economic ones, and link the marriage to the inheritance system.
