What is a legal wedding in Australia?

Legal Marriage Australia

I often get asked what makes a marriage legal when you are getting married in Australia? Some people are curious about who you can legally marry eg can you marry your second cousin? Below are the legal requirements for marriage.

To be legally married in Australia, a person must:

• not be married to someone else

• not be marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild or sibling

• be at least eighteen years old, unless a court has approved a marriage where one party is aged between sixteen and eighteen years old

• understand what marriage means and freely consent to marrying

• use specific words during the ceremony

• give written notice of their intention to marry to their celebrant, within the required time frame. Parties to the marriage should contact a celebrant directly to make arrangements for their proposed marriage.

It is an offence to cause another person to enter into a forced marriage or to be a party to a forced marriage (this offence does not apply to the victim of forced marriage) and a Marriage Celebrant may request to meet with you and ask a variety of questions to ensure this is not the case.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Trudy the Celebrant x