Part I – International Conventions and Other Interstate Rules
I got married in Belize. At night, we felt our bed shaking, our building moving violently. We were on the second floor, so building movements were felt quite well. From all the shacking water in a bath tub on the roof spilled as if it was raining heavily. We even thought it was a tropic rain. And of course air conditioning died. In the morning we found out that the night disturbance was caused by an earthquake. We also found out that power lines were ruined, hence there was no electricity and no one could predict when the power would be restored. Fortunately that morning we were leaving to Costa Rica and did not have to suffer from insane heat (it was over 95F during the day). The other couple, who we met in a neighboring hotel, was not as lucky. Their wedding was scheduled for that morning. I guess, when you plan a wedding in a foreign country, you have to be ready for anything. Hence adequate preparation is essential.
Numerous wedding websites contain itemized checklists of things for brides and grooms to consider when planning a destination wedding. Those lists usually notify the couple to check local requirements for a marriage ceremony. They do not discuss if your marriage will be recognized in your country of origin assuming that it would. In many cases it is safe to assume validity of marriages taking into consideration public international laws.
“Public international law” is a general term used to describe legal situation or agreements between countries. As there is no world government or global authority, countries can do want they want. In some instances, all countries either explicitly or implicitly agree to abide to the same rules.
When countries explicitly declare a rule that will govern their decisions in a specific area, they sign or ratify an international agreement or convention on that subject. In our case, there is Hague Convention on Celebration and Recognition of Validity of Marriages, also called Hague Marriage Convention that was concluded on March 14, 1978, and entered into force on May 1, 1991.
The Convention directs countries signatories to recognize as valid marriages validly entered in countries signatories of the Convention. Article 9 states that “a marriage validly entered into under the law of the State of celebration or which subsequently becomes valid under that law shall be considered as such in all Contracting States, subject to provisions of this Chapter.”
To be valid in the State of celebration a marriage should abide the internal laws of that state. Under Article 2, “the formal requirements for marriage shall be governed by the law of the state of celebration.”
Further, “where a marriage certificate has been issued by a competent authority, the marriage shall be presumed to be valid until the contrary is established” (Article 1), meaning that if there is a valid marriage certificate, all other countries signatories to the Convention shall recognize that marriage. There is a closed list of exceptions to this requirement though. The most significant exception is stated in Article 14, which provides “A Contracting State may refuse to recognize the validity of a marriage where such recognition is manifestly incompatible with its public policy”. The public policy exception plays a big role in recognition of same-sex marriages.
Even though the Hague Marriage Convention is a lovely public international law document, it has its limitations. One of them is that for it to govern, it must be signed by countries. Currently only Australia, Luxemburg and the Netherlands have ratified it and Egypt, Finland and Portugal have signed the convention.
Nevertheless, world countries routinely recognize valid marriages entered in other countries. That happens because they observe the principle of comity, or legal reciprocity. Such recognition is implicit. Under the comity principle, jurisdictions will extend certain courtesies to other nations, particularly by recognizing the validity and effect of their executive, legislative and judicial acts, including marriages. Comity is effective only to the extent that foreign laws or judgments do not directly conflict with the foreign country’s public policy. Hence, countries recognize valid civil marriages.
In summary, destination weddings not only produce beautiful pictures but also result in a valid marriage, which will most likely be recognized in your country as long as your follow legal rules for marriage ceremony of the destination country.
Having said that, when considering a marriage ceremony in an exotic country, I would recommend to get an Apostille on a marriage certificate. I will discuss Apostilles in one of my next blog entries.
Finally, in my next blog entry I will also discuss if exotic ceremonies (religious or traditional ceremonies might contain only weird requirements, like dowry, not recognized by more developed countries) could be recognized as valid marriages under the US laws.
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