Registration of marriage in the Republic of Lithuania

ECOVIS Miškinis, Kvainauskas ir partneriai advokatų kontora

Procedures for the registration of marriage in the Lithuanian Republic are defined by the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania. Marriages are registered in the Register Office (a branch of the local municipality) of the residence of one of the spouses or their parents as well as in the consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania. In order to register the marriage, future spouses have to file an application of a standard format with the Registration Office of the residence of one of them or, at their own discretion, of that of their parents. In their application future spouses have to confirm that all the conditions for contracting a marriage set forth in Articles 3.12-3.17 of the Civil Code have been complied with; each of them shall indicate the number of their previous marriages and the number of their children.

Articles 3.12-3.17 of the Civil Code define, that 1) Marriage may be contracted only with a person of the opposite gender; 2) Marriage may be contracted by a man and a woman of their own free will. Any threat, coercion, deceit or any other lack of free will shall provide the grounds on which the marriage be declared null and void; 3) Marriage may be contracted by persons who, by or on the date of contracting a marriage, have attained the age of 18; 4) A person who has been declared by a res judicata (court judgement) to be legally incapacitated may not contract a marriage; 5) A married person who has not terminated his or her marital bond in accordance with the procedures laid down by the law may not enter into a second marriage; 6) Marriage between parents and children, adopters and adoptees, grandparents and grandchildren, real or foster-brothers and real or foster-sisters, cousins, uncles and nieces, aunts and nephews is prohibited.

The application for the registration of marriage is cancelled if at least one of the applicants fails to appear to register the marriage at the set time, or withdraws his or her application. Together with their application for the registration of marriage, the future spouses have to present their birth certificate and passport or any other identification document. A divorcee also has to present his or her divorce certificate. The application of foreign nationals for the registration of marriage is accompanied with a document issued by a competent authority of their State confirming that there are no obstacles for the marriage.

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