MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I'm in need of a copy of my marriage certificate.
My wife and I were married in 1994 in Kikampala, Kenya. In typical travellers fashion - we've lived in three other countries outside the EU since then- we've lost our only marriage certificate.
Even though it was accepted by the Inland Revenue back in the days when married man's tax allowance required a copy of the cert, neither they nor the General Registry Office in Southport have a record of it.
The Kenya High Commission in London say No. I've emailed the authorities in both Kikampala and Nairobi multiple times without response.
Drastic measures are now being considered including getting married again in a 10 minute, two witness, less than £100 in total UK registry office.
I've called our local council office and the person I spoke to said it would be illegal but I have very little confidence as that person didn't seem to have a clue what she was on about and couldn't get off the phone quick enough.
A strange but very real situation we find ourselves in.
I reckon this thread has potential
Can't say about the UK but my mate who just lost his wife was married to her 3x...
Once in New York State and twice in France.
In France many religious people get married twice anyway as the church wedding isn't legal ... but you can't exactly jump on the Eurostar for a day at the moment ;(
just do it, why not.
I reckon this thread has potential
..end of thread 🙂
I swear that on a 'relationship' thread on here once, someone had married, divorced then remarried the same person?
Don't you feel like mixing it up a bit though?
I’ve called our local council office and the person I spoke to said it would be illegal
Grooming?
I swear that on a ‘relationship’ thread on here once, someone had married, divorced then remarried the same person?
My aunt and uncle did that.
Watching this thread with interest and some trepidation - I've always been paranoid about losing my birth certificate, issued by the High Commission in Nairobi.
I can imagine that the Kenyan authorities have higher priorities right now, but they should be able to track down the cert to get you a copy unless they've lost it. Presumably held at some local authority level over there? Maybe some research to check you've got the right jurisdictional area, and go direct to them - might be possible via social media, a sob story about needing this vital and romantic document might get it noticed?
Tom B - that’s me....And still married to her.
We divorced in 2012 and remarried in 2016 (I think). The second marriage was very cheap, Betws-y-coed pub, marriage was in a registry office in Colwyn Bay (I’m a die hard romantic!!)
My aunt and uncle did that.
...as did my wife's parents. I see plenty of people making the same mistake twice (or more times: different person but basically the same relationship), so may as well make it again with the same person I guess.
My great Auntie Mavis Married uncle David, divorced Uncle David, re-married Uncle David, Split up from Uncle David, got back together with uncle David.
Its more common than you think...
Thank you so far
Condolences to the poor man who's wife has died.
Just do it? We would but both of us would really like to stay out of prison, if possible.
I'd opt for the Divorce - Remarry option but I'm not confident she'd agree to the 2nd part.
I have absolutely no desire to 'mix it up'. I hope she's of the same opinion.
Sorry. I don't get the 'grooming' joke.
All with a smiley face.
I recall that the person conducting the 'service' was Mrs Karaoke. You'd think with a surname like that, it'd be easy to find but Hujambo! Harabi. Polepole is still very much as far as I'm getting.
Daft question but what do you need it *for*?
I know two couples married outside of the UK (South Africa and Mauritius), who discovered that their marriage wasn't legally recognised in the UK for some purposes but was for others.
The advice they were given in both cases was to get married in the UK, that is just a recognition/changing of legal status anyhow so given it wasn't legally recognised in the UK there was no issue with them marrying again in the UK (quite the opposite in fact).
INAL and I'm well aware situations will differ and may genuinely change the legality.
If you can't prove you are already married they (who ever 'they' is) can't prove you were. I expect day 2.0 will go much smoother if you don't feel compelled to mention wedding 1.0 at any point to anyone with a clipboard.
Would be ironic if you got done for historic tax evasion of married person allowance!
I'm not sure it would be illegal. It wouldn't satisfy the definition of Bigamy (a criminal offence), given that the person you are marrying is not a 3rd party ('any other person'). It may well be considered void under s11(b) of Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 on the basis that you are already lawfully married, (noting that there is no requirement for a 3rd party under that legislative provision). Question is, if you cannot produce the necessary documentation, can it be said that your are lawfully married?
I am surprised there is not some process for such an eventuality, perhaps requiring both parties to to make sworn statements, although it is conceivable that 2 people could believe themselves to be married despite not having gone through the necessary formalities.
1. How can marrying the SAME person more than once (even if already married) be "illegal".
2. If no one has any records of your marriage, then how can anyone object.
3. Apart from the person at the local council office who you have now tipped off 😉
There's a brilliant line from Steve Earle on 'Together at the Bluebird' when he's lining up to do Valentine's Day, written for Lou-Anne Gill: "This is our second anniversary this time we've been married... Our divorce did not work out."
I swear that on a ‘relationship’ thread on here once, someone had married, divorced then remarried the same person?
Marriage is a funny thing, lots of people, myself included don't believe in it, I honestly don't see the point, you sign a bit of paper to say you won't marry anyone else, unless you unwind this one first. I know it has some bearing on wills and pensions and stuff, but it's AFAIK minor and can be achieved far easier.
That said, you can't say it doesn't have a almost mysterious effect on people.
As above, I don't really believe in marriage, but my Wife does and I was happy to make the commitment for her so we got married. Some things 'felt' different afterwards. Almost intangible, but everything seemed to come with a tag that said "this is forever".
I've got a friend who married his now GF, went through a very bitter separation when she discovered she was gay and left him for a Women and finally a divorce, only to reconcile 2 years later. They never remarried because his ex-Wife, but current Partner/GF does't want to 'go down that road again'.
I've got another friend who married in the EU, separated the day after, the day after the wedding on the first day on honeymoon.
One couple are happier not being married, another's relationship bizarrely couldn't survive it, they'd been together for a couple of years, but for whatever reason (only they know, and they ain't really saying) once they said "I do" they couldn't wait to say "**** off".
My mate married his wife 3 times.
He works for big oil and has been all around the oil world, UK, Singapore, Norway, etc., and was stationed in Texas, engaged to be married to a young lady in a big country house wedding back in the UK, when he was posted to somewhere in the middle east. She couldn't have gone with him as an unmarried lady without all sorts of approvals, so they nipped into a local attorney in TX and got married literally with a couple of people dragged off the street as witnesses.
They kept this from all and we had a fabulous wedding, one of the best I remember (hic!) at which they both denied knowing of any reason why they couldn't be married.
Late on at the reception he fessed up to a few of his closest mates, and we were sworn to secrecy.
A few years later and we all met up again as couples one New Year. None of us had let on to our wives or girlfriends but someone let something slip that made him and his wife come clean to all, about their fake wedding. But something didn't seem right, almost like there was more to it.
And then the twist. They'd enjoyed the experience so much, they then got married again on a whim during a weekend drinking and gambling in Vegas, by an Elvis impersonator as well!
So I think that's the record so far, married three times to the same person with no divorces between. And other than some kind of weird fraud, I don't even know what laws have been broken; assumption is the TX one's the one that counts, the family one is the one that they consider their anniversary, and the Elvis one.... who knows.
Can you be a bigamist with the same woman?
Pension people want a copy of the marriage certificate. I'm cutting down on my work hours and under the Pension Freedom Act 2015, I can access my pensions early.
Some very good points up there. If we and in turn "they" can't prove we are already married, we surely can't be prosecuted for doing anything illegal, like getting married again...... can they?
Can you be a bigamist with the same woman?
Don't bring Louise into this
Important point of admin, marriage night almost guarantees getting laid. So Worth doing a second time.
If no one seems to be able to agree that you are married, what is stopping you getting married here?
It may be "illegal" but to what extent? is it a recordable offence? would you go to gaol?
I got married in Florida, USA and (AFAIK) no one in the UK knows we are married (official like, our pals and family know)
I'm always suggesting we get married in the UK (as low key as possible) and back up our US wedding, but we don't really care.
Given that Mrs monksie is an eminently sensible woman, I'm going with her, in the back garden with a box of matches... 😉
Crikey. She often refers to "That properly good looking guy who was at the velodrome with you". Please stay away or all of this could be immaterial
There's probably already precedent, I'm sure other couples have emigrated here without being able to access their marriage certificate form country of origin, what would they need to do? My guess is a trip UK registry office to make sure it recognised under UK law at least. You might need to put the question differently to council officer, not 'can I get married again to same person' but 'I can't prove marriage as my certificate was issued in another country what do I do?'
Just out of interest what does your wifes passport show, status, same surname? Could be in danger of rocking up to the registry office and look like you are marrying a sister!
Just do it? We would but both of us would really like to stay out of prison
I would seriously doubt you would end up in prison for that really. You can run over people in your car and get a slap on the wrist so I wouldn't even bat an eyelid at getting married twice. Sometimes systems don't work and you just have to do whatever works. Unless you are planning on living in Kenya long term and pissed off a local official I can't see how anyone would ever care
What if you want to get divorced? That may nullify the second marriage but not the first, so if one of you didn't want the split it could cause problems (not suggesting you're planning this)
Important point of admin, marriage night almost guarantees getting laid. So Worth doing a second time.
Back when pubs were a "thing" some guys I know were chewing the cud, and none of them had done the deed on the night of the wedding. 1/6 had. #humblebrag
Also had a mate whose marriage was annulled - that was a learning experience for us all!
Mrs. 10 and I had to get married twice. The US federal government were fine with a marriage cert from a different country, but the state wouldn't let Mrs.10 update her name on her drivers license without a state marriage cert. So we had to get 'remarried' a couple of months later. Stupid really.
If you can hang on for a few months, New York is quite happy to take your money and marry (an already married couple) again, and it would be a nice outing!