The main documents to provide before getting married

A source of joy and happiness, marriage is a precious moment in the life of any person. But before you can say yes to your partner, the law requires you to provide certain documents so that your union is legal and recognized by the state. It is therefore essential for the future spouses to present their birth certificate, their proof of address and their identity document. Certain documents must also be presented by the couple’s witnesses.

Birth certificate is required

The birth certificate is the first document to provide before getting married. It is an official document that indicates your identity, date and place of birth, as well as your parentage. He is essential for getting marriedbecause it allows you to verify that you are of marriageable age and that you are not already in a union.

In reality, the birth certificate includes several entries that are useful for administration in the context of a marriage. For example, it may mention the mention of a divorce or widowhood, which will help the administration to verify that you are indeed free to marry. Similarly, if you have been adopted, the birth certificate mentions your adoption to prove your filiation.

For the birth certificate to be accepted by the civil status office, it must be in the form of a full copy or an extract with parentage. He must be less than three months old before the wedding date and must be issued by the town hall of your place of birth. All the procedures can be made online. You can send your birth certificate request to your town hall by completing a dedicated form. There birth certificate request can also be done through a third-party site to make it easier for you to complete the required procedures. It is thus possible to quickly obtain a birth certificate by filling in the information requested on the site.

A Frenchman born abroad must send your request to the Nantes central civil status service to obtain his birth certificate. You must indicate your surnames, first names, date and place of birth to enable the service to identify your certificate in the civil status register.

Proof of residence will be requested

Before formalizing a marital union, the administration also requires proof of residence. These documents are used to prove that you do indeed reside at the address you provided. It is essential to provide these documents to get married, because they allow the administration to know all the married people who are actually domiciled on French territory. It could be :

• a water, electricity, gas or landline telephone bill,
• a rent receipt,
• a notice of taxation or non-taxation,
• a bank account statement.

It is important that these documents are less than three months old for the administration to accept them. They must be issued in the name of the person who is getting married. If you are staying with a third party, you must provide a certificate of accommodation issued by the person hosting you, as well as their own proof of address.

You must provide ID

Indispensable to get married, the identity document is an official document which certifies your identity, and which must be valid at the time of the celebration of the marriage. It can consist of a national identity card, a passport or a driving license.

If you are a foreigner, you will need to provide a valid residence permit or a resident card. In addition, if you have changed your name following a previous marriage, or for any other reason, you must provide official documents justifying this change of name. It can be, for example, a marriage certificate or a change of name certificate.

Do the witnesses also have documents to provide?

The answer is yes. THE witnesses of a marriage also have documents to provide. The law specifies that each future spouse must choose at least two, and at most four, witnesses who will attend the marriage ceremony. They will be responsible for signing the marriage certificate to certify the effectiveness of the union. To be accepted, witnesses to a marriage must be adults and enjoy their civil rights. They can be part of your family, or be friends or acquaintances.

Each of them must provide their first and last names as well as their date and place of birth. They must also give clear information about their profession and place of residence. They are also required to present a copy of their valid identity document (identity card, passport or driving licence). It is important to note that the witnesses must provide these documents during the formalities prior to the wedding day.