I am thrilled to share with you all the changes that will soon occur to the marriage paperwork required to be completed by couples.
Sounds complicated? Naah, it’s actually not.
If you’re wondering what paperwork has to be completed, I’ve written about this several times, throughout my blog.
Today, it is thrilling to announce that changes are occurring to the NOTICE OF INTENDED MARRIAGE and the DECLARATION OF NO LEGAL IMPEDIMENT.
These documents had issues for the longest time. For example, a couple was required to identify their gender or provide details about their Mother and Father. Now, happily, these forms have changed to allow couples the freedom to reflect their personal circumstances more inclusively.
On the previous form, each of the parties getting marriage was required to provide their Father’s name in full and their Mother’s maiden name in full. This has now been changed to Parent 1’s full current name and, if applicable, Parent 2’s full current name. This now recognises same-sex parents, parents who do not identify as male or female, and parties with one legal parent.
Other changes to the paperwork include making the reporting of gender optional, gender X has been renamed to non-binary, and reporting on the number of previous marriages and any children from that marriage is no longer required. All of these are good things.
The explanation of everything that has changed is posted below.
The form looks a lot different, hopefully making it easier to understand and complete. The new forms are to drop late August. Couples that have already completed the Notice of Intended Marriage will not need to re-do it, however if you are yet to complete the form, after September 1st you will need to complete the Notice in the new format.
THE CHANGES TO Notice of intended marriage form
- The Privacy Notice has been updated. When signing the NOIM, parties will now also confirm that they have read the privacy notice on the front of the NOIM. This aims to ensure that parties have access to information about how their personal information would be used.
- Renamed item 4 as ‘Gender’, and provided that the completion of item 4 is optional for marrying couples. The ABS has advised that it can accommodate changes to reporting marriage statistics based on the data provided. The gender option ‘X’ has been renamed ‘Non-binary’ consistent with the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender.
- At item 7, a new option for conjugal status is now included (‘divorce pending’), for use where a party’s divorce has not been finalised at the time the NOIM is lodged. This change will make the NOIM more user-friendly, and remove confusion over whether the NOIM should be updated once a divorce is finalised. Celebrants would still be required to record on the NOIM that they have sighted evidence of the party’s divorce before solemnising the marriage, which would confirm the divorce was finalised prior to the marriage taking place.
- Removed old item 10 ‘If a party born outside Australia, total period of residence in Australia’. This information is not required under the Act.
- Renamed old items 11 (Father’s name in full) and 12 (Mother’s maiden name in full) as ‘Parent 1’s full current name’ and ‘If applicable: Parent 2’s full current name’, and added new items ‘Parent 1’s full birth name’ and ‘If applicable: Parent 2’s full birth name’. This approach is inclusive of same-sex parents, parents who do not identify as male or female, and parties who only have one legal parent.
- Removed old items 15 (Number of previous marriages), 16 (Year of each previous marriage ceremony), 17 (Number of children of the previous marriage or marriages born alive), and 18 (Year of birth of each of those children). This information is not transferred to, or recorded on, the Official Certificate of Marriage. The ABS advised that there are no current statistical requirements regarding the collection of this information.
- The questions an authorised celebrant must answer to confirm that they have satisfied themselves about the parties’ identities have changed. The NOIM instructions continue to encourage celebrants to request photographic ID documents to confirm a party’s identity. There are a wide scope of documents that can be used to prove identity (passport, drivers licence, proof of age card, ImmiCard, Keypass identity card). Rather than listing all options, the form allows celebrants to indicate the type of document that was sighted, record the number on the document (if any) and where the document was issued (if applicable).
- Additional information is now collected where the NOIM is transferred between celebrants. Feedback from celebrants indicated celebrants would like to record transfer details on the NOIM. The new information collected includes the name of the new celebrant and the date of transfer, as well as an endorsement by the new celebrant that the NOIM was transferred for appropriate reasons.
