IN THE NOIM OF LOVE!
The excitement of planning your wedding can be palpable! What location have you chosen to say ‘I do?’. ‘What are you going to wear? Its so much fun and rightly so, you should be excited, you’re about to spend the rest of your living days with the love of your life!
But, before all the planning can get going, you need to ensure that all the legal side is taken care of.
One of the most important steps towards getting married is completing the Notice of Intended Marriage, this form is the most important piece of paperwork you will complete to begin your process of tying the knot.
What is a Notice Of Intended Marriage?
This is the most important step in beginning the process of getting married. People usually complete this with their celebrant and they will be the witness, or you can download it from The Attorney General website and get a justice of the peace, lawyer, Barrister, a legally qualified medical practitioner, a member of the AFP or the police force of the state or territory if you are not able to have your celebrant sign the form.
If you’re outside of Australia, but need to get the form signed, the Notice of Intended Marriage must be signed by an Australian Consular Officer, an Australian Diplomatic Officer, a notary public, an employee of the Commonwealth authorised under paragraph 3(c) of the Consular Fees Act 1955, or an employee of the Australian Trade Commission authorised under paragraph 3(d) of the Consular Fees Act 1955.
You should then forward the completed form on to your celebrant, who will lodge your paper work.
When should I fill in the Notice Of Intended Marriage?
The ‘NOIM’ should be filled out no earlier than 18 months prior to your wedding day and no later than one month before you intend to say, ’I do’.
What is the purpose of the Notice Of Intended Marriage?
The ‘NOIM’ serves as the legal proof of a marriage between two people. Registering your marriage and then receiving your marriage certificate is vital for couples who are married, so they can benefit from different services in the country.
Your celebrant will be the one who will take care of the legal side of getting your marriage under way, this is usually included in their fees. They handle all the legal paperwork to ensure you have a stress free lead up to your wedding.
What supporting documents do I need for the NOIM?
Proof of I.D.
In order for your celebrant to solemnise your marriage, they must be certain that you are who you say you are. Your celebrant will require you to provide the following:
A Passport
A Drivers Licence
Birth Certificate/or extract of an official entry in an official register. This can be Australian or international.
Proof of age/photo card
An Australian Citizen certificate, with photographic evidence to support.
If it is not possible to obtain a certificate of proof of your birth place and date, you can provide a statutory declaration made by either yourself, or your parent stated in the declaration, that is is not practical to obtain this document and state to the
*Please note if you’re using your birth certificate as proof of identification, your celebrant will also need to sight photo identification.
If you don’t have a copy of your birth certificate, you can apply for a copy from Births,Deaths and marriages office, of the state that you were born.
If you have been previously married you need to provide evidence that you are no longer legally married to another party. Your celebrant will ask you to provide evidence of death, nullity or divorce certificates. It’s better to provide all the evidence at the same time as when the NOIM is lodged, however, some individuals might still be waiting on their decree absolute. Your NOIM can still be lodged, as long as your celebrant has sighted all documents before the marriage goes ahead.
If you do not have a copy of these documents you can obtain them through family courts, or through the relevant state of births, deaths and marriages.
Lodging a Notice Of Intended Marriage under one month before you wed.
In some special circumstances you can marry less than one month after lodging the NOIM, to do this you will need to apply for a shortening of time form. They cost $55, which is non refundable, even if the decision doesn’t go in your favour.
You can apply for one of these through Births, Deaths and Marriages or registrars and deputy registrars at state and territory courts.
To apply to Births, deaths and marriages you must:
Have already lodged a NOIM with your celebrant (or are lodging it with the Victorian Marriage Registry).
Prepared your original signed NOIM and other documents, as sighted by your celebrant.
Complete the shortening of time document with explanation of why you are applying, this is done by filling out a statuary declaration.
Provide supporting documents as evidence.
Provide a letter from your celebrant stating they are able and willing to officiate your marriage of the date you require if the shortening is granted.
Meet one of the below exceptional circumstances:
To be considered for a shortening of time, you need to provide substantial evidence of the reason why you need to marry in such a short time period. Often people who have a terminal illness or serious medical condition, or if a parent or close family member are terminally ill or have a serious medial condition might apply. If parties are restricted through travel from another country, or there are legal reasons why they have to marry in a period of time are all reasons that might be considered in shortening the time period. To meet requirements for the authority to take circumstances like these into consideration, supporting evidence needs to be provided outlining why a marriage needs to be solemnised.
Evidence of why notice could not be given sooner
Evidence of why the wedding cannot be postponed.
Evidence of hardship that would be caused to the parties if the marriage was not solemnised as proposed.
Letters and evidence from medical practitioners, if the application refers to medical reasons.
Documents relating to travel such as receipts or tickets, if the application refers to travel restrictions.
Documents from a party’s solicitor explaining court dates and proceedings.
Any other information that the prescribed authority considers relevant.
How long is the Notice Of Intended Marriage valid for?
The ‘NOIM’ is valid for 18 months.
Other
There are sections in the NOIM that you may not know the answer. Some of you may not know the names of your parents for example. If this is the case, then write, ‘unknown’.
You both need to be over the age of eighteen, and not directly related, this means, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister.
When the NOIM is completed it’s time to concentrate on organising the other things, like the dress, flowers and whether or not, Aunty Agnes doesn’t want to sit next to her cousin Betty. Whatever is thrown your way, remember the day is about you and your partner and the love you share for one another!
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