Copies of the documents listed here should be emailed to us as soon as possible, preferably several months before the wedding, as the vital statistics office does not determine the date of registration of the marriage without these documents. You can choose your wedding day, but the time of your wedding is determined by the judges and cannot be changed. The government official who arranges the civil marriage is authorized at the time of the ceremony to waive any of the above requirements. This waiver must be made in writing and set out the basis for the waiver. Marriages into religious denominations other than Roman Catholicism are completely legal and permissible. However, only the Roman Catholic Church has the ability to register marriages on behalf of the couple. At wedding ceremonies in other faiths, both members of the couple must report to the government registry office in order to legalize the marriage. Details of this procedure follow below in the “Civil Marriages” section. With its romantic landscape of uninterrupted white sand beaches and an abundance of resort offerings on several coasts, the Dominican Republic is a popular choice for weddings.
Hotels excel at providing wedding packages and services – including helping with marriage certificates, hiring event planners and photographers, booking spa treatments, a personalized wedding cake, catering, music, and floral arrangements, among others, so the bride and groom can focus on the journey. The marriage certificate contains the full names of the spouses, proof of their written consent, a declaration of marriage and the date of celebration and the signatures of the official, spouses and witnesses. After the celebration, the marriage is registered in the appropriate civil registry offices. Dominican law assumes that the parties to a marriage enjoy common property rights. However, if the parties choose to enter into another type of agreement, this is permitted. Dominican law describes a number of systems from which the parties can choose. The spouses may also modify one of these systems or create their own, provided that the final agreement respects Dominican legal principles. If the parties opt for a system other than communal ownership (e.g. separate ownership, which is described from page 4 below), they must submit it in writing and have it approved by a representative of the Dominican government. With regard to point 1, it should be noted that “common goods” are subdivided into “ordinary goods” and “reserved goods”.
Ordinary property passes into marriage, since it belongs to one or the other spouse, but becomes the property of both parties by reason of the marriage. Reserved property, on the other hand, is the wealth that results from the woman`s personal labor or the savings that have arisen from that labor. After marriage, reserved property is usually still managed by the woman, but legally, it is a joint property of both parties. Civil marriage is dissolved by the death of one of the spouses or by divorce. The husband, on the other hand, is responsible for his debts incurred before or during the marriage, as well as debts incurred by the wife when she acts as a representative of the marriage. Once you have married and received your marriage certificate (using the apostille of the Foreign Office of the Dominican Republic if possible), you will need to translate it into English and send a copy to the legalization department of the UK Foreign Office so that they can keep it. Please note that the translation fee is separate from the cost of legalizing the original documents for the wedding. Translations will be processed within seven (7) business days. “Civil” marriages are those in which the parties themselves register the marriage with the Dominican government. The person officiating at the wedding ceremony is a government official, usually a notary.
It is up to the couple to decide whether or not to hold a separate religious ceremony. In addition, Dominican law stipulates that the announcement of the proposed marriage must be published before the ceremony. In addition, foreigners who wish to marry in the Dominican Republic must meet the following requirements and present the following documents: Marriage at the civil registry office “Oficialia Civil”: price of the official registration of the marriage in the Dominican Republic – 1050 USD (Saona Island 1150 USD). It includes: judge fees, marriage tax, legalization of marriage certificate and postal service. The celebration of the marriage is paid for separately. Note: Spouses may reject one of the common matrimonial property regimes described above and choose their own system instead. However, it is important to note that this does not automatically give the woman the right to manage her property or receive her income. Property that the wife brought to the marriage is deemed to have been allocated to the husband to cover the costs of the marriage. However, spouses may include in their property contract a clause authorizing the wife to receive a portion of her annual income for her personal expenses and needs. However, as explained in the introductory section above, there is a difference in procedure, since in a canonical marriage, the priest is responsible for transmitting registration documents to the competent Dominican government bodies. Even if a civil marriage took place before the canonical ceremony, the officiating priest must always send a copy of the marriage certificate to the state registry.
The following information is ONLY intended to guide U.S. civilian citizens planning to marry in the Dominican Republic. U.S. diplomats and consular officials do NOT have the legal authority to enter into marriages. Marriages can NOT be contracted within the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the Dominican Republic. “Canonical” marriages are those contracted by a Roman Catholic priest.