Sixty new answers on court marriage, Arya Samaj marriage, registration and NRI marriage

Couples planning to marry in Delhi ask us the same questions again and again. We have now answered sixty of them in writing, ten on each of our main marriage pages.

What was added

• Court marriage — whether parents are informed, which district the notice can be given in, how long the notice is valid, and what happens if either partner is under age.
• Arya Samaj marriage — who can marry this way, which rituals complete the marriage in law, and why the temple certificate is not the same as the government certificate.
• Marriage registration — whether registration is compulsory in Delhi, whether an unregistered marriage is valid, and how to register a marriage that took place years ago.
• NRI marriage — marrying at an Indian embassy, recognition of an Indian marriage abroad, and OCI for a foreign spouse.
• Special Marriage Act — succession and family property, divorce, adoption and maintenance.
• Tatkaal marriage — what tatkaal actually speeds up, and how to recognise a certificate that is not genuine.

A correction

While adding these answers we corrected one of our own older statements. Our Arya Samaj page said that an Arya Samaj marriage needs registration for legal validity. That was not accurate. Under the Hindu Marriage Act, a marriage performed with the proper rites is valid even if it is not registered. Registration still matters, because the registrar’s certificate is what passport offices, embassies and banks ask for, and because registration is compulsory in Delhi. The page now says exactly that.