Court Marriage in Nepal : Easy Guide

This article explains details about the legal procedure for court marriage registration process in Nepal. Nepalese citizens living in Nepal or abroad as well foreign citizens can do court marriage in Nepal.

 

As per the prevailing law of Nepal, marriage registration certificate can be issued based on two grounds mentioned below:

a. Marriage Registration through court (“Court Marriage”) and

b. Receiving the marriage certificate from Local Government i.e., ward office after the marriage is conducted through social and religious rituals.

 

The existing law also provides additional option of the marriage registration through Embassy of Nepal or Consulate Office located at foreign jurisdiction; however, such practice has not been adopted yet.

 

This article covers the details regarding registration of the marriage through court also Known as court marriage or sometime paper marriage.

 

National Civil (Code) Act 2074 ("NCC") is the governing law for court marriage in Nepal.

 

For the registration of court marriage in Nepal certain requirement has to be fulfilled which are as mentioned:

a. Both men and women must not be married or should have a single status at the time of registration.

b. Must have completed the age of 20 years for both couple

c. Both couples should accept each other as Husband and Wife.

 

Following procedure has to be followed to do court marraige in Nepal: 

Step 1:  Receive the single status certificate from the respective ward office by both Spouses.
Step 2: Submission of application before the District Court of Nepal.
Step 3: The court will Examine the documents.
Step 4: Upon fulfilling the legal requirement, the Court shall grant the Court Marriage Certificate.

 

 

*Note:

a. Single Status Certificate means recommendation letter that needs to be received from the ward office (based on their respective Citizenship) stating the person has not been married yet or is currently divorcee. Generally, one needs to apply for court marriage within 30(Thirty) days of receiving such certificate.

b. Court marriage application can be filed within any 77-district located in Nepal based on residence or convenience,

c. Both individuals should present physically at court,

d. Witnesses of both the parties should present physically at the date of receiving the certificate.

 

The following documents are required for the registration of court marriage in Nepal:

 

S.N.	Documents Required
1.	A notarized copy of citizenship of both the man and the woman
2.	The recommendation letter verifying men and women are unmarried or have the single status from local wards office based on the citizenship.
3.	A notarized copy of citizenship of two witnesses.
4.	A temporary residence document is required from the ward office of the district where the couple is intending to submit the application for marriage registration. Note: Not required if the couple is doing court marriage on the district court jurisdiction where their citizenship was issued.
5.	Four copies of passport size photo of both the man and woman each.
6.	If any person is previously married, a divorce decree is required.

 

It takes 2  to 3  working days to complete the court marriage in Nepal.

 

The same above mentioned court marriage registration process applies in case any individual is a foreign citizen. However they need to submit additional documents as well as need to stay at least 15 days and only can apply for court marriage in Nepal.

 

S.N.	Additional Documents
1.	Single status document from respective foreign embassy located in Nepal.
2.	In case Embassy is not located in Nepal: The foreign citizen should submit the document of the single status verifying from government authority of their respective country. Also, the document needs to be in English version and should be notarized as per the law of their country.
3.	After completion of 15 days stay in Nepal, foreign citizen needs to receive the temporary resident document from the ward office of the district from where the foreign citizen wants to apply for marriage registration.
4.	English Translation and Notarization of Marriage Law of their respective country for Nepal.

 

*Note: Foreign Citizen should have to stay for compulsory for 15 days in Nepal. On that ground temporary residence letter is granted.

 

Following time line is applicable if any foreigner wants to do court marriage in Nepal: 

 

*Note: It will take tentative 19 days for the court marriage registration to foreign individual. However, we suggest to allocate 22 to 24 days in Nepal, when you come to decide to do court marriage in Nepal. Sometime Court can request additional documents in case of unclarity on any of the documents.

 

The table explains about tentative government fee for court marriage in Nepal :

 

S.N.	Documents	Fee (NPR)
1.	Single status certificate from the respective ward	Rate depends as per the rate defined by municipality pursuant to annual budget and the rate may change in every fiscal year.
2.	a) Temporary resident certificate for Nepalese Citizen b) Temporary resident certificate for Foreign Citizen	a) 2000/- b) 10,000/-
3.	Registry fee at Court	500/-

 

If the spouse wants to use the court marriage certificate in foreign jurisdiction, then the best way to authenticate the marriage certificate is (i) to notarized the certificate before Department of National Personal Record (Rastriya Kitabkhana) and (ii) after notarization do attestation from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal government.

 

A man or a woman can re-marry in the following conditions:

a. If the matrimonial relationship between husband and wife is terminated or

b. If husband or wife dies or 

c. If husband and wife are separated upon partition in accordance with law.

 

 

Date of Publication: 10 January 2023

Disclaimer: This article  published on website of Bhandari Law and Partners a leading law firm in Nepal  is just for information purpose only. It shall not be taken as the legal advice, advertisement, personal communication, solicitation or inducement. Bhandari Law and Partners or any of the team members of the firm shall not be liable for the consequence arising of the information provided. As the factual situation may be different on your case, thereof if you need further legal advice on the subject matter, please Contact Us.