Conditions governing a marriage

Those wishing to marry have to meet the following stringent conditions:

Minimum age : 18 years old (in the case of foreign nationals they have to be adult according to their national law or, according to their nationality seek the consent of the parents). The juvenile court is entitled to grant age exemptions for serious reasons (such as pregnancy);
consent of both spouses;
no kinship: there is a complete ban on a marriage in the event of a lineal kinship, i.e. between ascendants (parent, grandparent) and descendants (child, grandchild) and in the event of filiation by adoption. Marriage is also prohibited between relatives of the second degree (brothers, sisters, between brother and sister) and between relatives of the third degree (between uncle and niece or nephew, between aunt and niece or nephew). The Code nonetheless allows the possibility for the King to agree to lift this third degree prohibition in the light of serious grounds. The prohibition also applies for any children of the same adopter but an exemption may be obtained in this case. The prohibition of bigamy means that anyone wishing to marry has to be single, a widower/widower or divorced. The prohibition also apples to foreign nationals marrying in Belgium even if polygamy is allowed under their national law.
Legal references: Civil Code (articles 144, 146 and 147, articles 161 to 163)
 

Documents required
 

Birth, divorce, widowhood and domicile certificates are provided free of charge on request from the municipality where the marriage took place. This does not apply to certificates executed abroad, which have to be sought from the foreign administrations that issued these certificates.
Marriage contract papers (must be provided 10 days prior to the date of the marriage)
In the case of foreign nationals : the translated extract from the birth certificate, the residence and celibacy certificates must feature the following depending on the case and if there is no treaty with Belgium :

• The Hague Apostille
• Authentication by the Belgian Embassy in the country of origin and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgium

Procedure
 

The couple should report to the marital status office so as to declare the marriage and do so between 6 months and 15 days prior to the planned date (the earlier the better so the service can be organised) with all the aforementioned documents. Should one of the future spouses be unable to attend a proxy may be used to allow the papers to be drawn up in the future spouse's absence.