Legge 2001, n.1226

Legge n. 929/1929: “Marriage Act” (Amendments up to 1226/2001 included)

The date of entry into force of Act 1226/2001 is 1 March 2002

(omissis)

Chapter 2 — Impediments to marriage (411/1987)

Section 4 (411/1987)

(1) A person under 18 years of age shall not marry.
(2) The Ministry of Justice may, however, for special reasons grant a person under 18 years of age a dispensation to marry. Before the matter is decided, the custodian of the applicant shall be reserved an opportunity to be heard if his or her whereabouts can be determined with reasonable measures.

Section 5 has been repealed.

Section 6 (1226/2001)

No person shall marry if his or her prior marriage is still in force. Likewise, no person shall marry if his or her registered partnership is in force.

Section 7 (411/1987)

(1) No person shall marry her father, his mother, his or her grandparent or other direct ascendant, nor his or her child, grandchild or other direct descendant.
(2) Siblings or half-siblings shall not intermarry.

Section 8 (411/1987)

An adoptive parent and an adopted child shall not intermarry. The Ministry of Justice may, however, for especially weighty reasons grant them a dispensation to marry.

Section 9 (411/1987)

Two persons, one of whom is a descendant of the other’s brother or sister, shall not intermarry, unless the Ministry of Justice, for special reasons, grants them a dispensation to marry.

Chapter 3 — Examination of impediments to marriage (411/1987)

Section 10 (618/1998)

It shall be for the Register Office to examine that there are no statutory impediments to marriage (examination of impediments to marriage).
The examination of impediments to marriage may also be carried out by a parish of the Evangelical Lutheran Church or the Greek Orthodox Church, if the engaged persons belong, or one of them belongs, to the parish.

Section 11 (411/1987)

(1) The engaged persons shall together request an examination of impediments to marriage from the examiner referred to in section 10. (618/1998)
(2) If a dispensation from the Ministry of Justice is required for the marriage, the dispensation shall at the same time be handed in to the examiner. (448/1999)

(3) If an engaged person has no more than four months earlier been issued a certificate of an examination of impediments to marriage, this certificate shall also be handed in to the examiner in the original.

(omissis)

Chapter 4 — Marriage ceremony (411/1987)

Section 14 (411/1987)

(1) A marriage ceremony shall be performed in the presence of relatives or other witnesses either as a religious or a civil ceremony.
(2) A religious ceremony may be performed in an Evangelical Lutheran church or in a Greek Orthodox church or in another religious community to which the Ministry of Education has granted a license to perform marriage ceremonies.
(3) Provisions on the registration of licenses to perform marriage ceremonies shall be issued by Decree. (417/1993)

Section 15 (411/1987)

The engaged persons shall be simultaneously present at the marriage ceremony. After both engaged persons have given the officiator of the ceremony an affirmative answer to the question whether he or she wants to marry the other, the officiator shall pronounce them husband and wife.

Section 16 (411/1987)

(1) In addition to the provisions in section 15, the other conditions and forms of a religious marriage ceremony shall be laid down by the religious community in question.
(2) Provisions on a civil marriage ceremony shall be issued by Decree.

Section 17 (411/1987)

(1) A religious marriage ceremony may be performed by: (1) in the Evangelical Lutheran church by a priest; (2) in the Greek Orthodox church by a priest; and (3) in another religious community by a person who, under the rules of the community, has the right to perform marriage ceremonies.
(2) A civil marriage ceremony shall be performed by: (1) the Chief Judge of a District Court, a District Judge, and (2) a District Registrar. (1428/1992)

Section 18 (411/1987)

(1) A marriage ceremony shall not be performed if the officiator is aware of a fact that forms an impediment to the marriage or if the officiator deems that an engaged person is evidently unable to understand the significance of marriage due to his or her disturbed state of mind. (2) Before performing the marriage ceremony, the officiator shall make sure that the examination of impediments to marriage has been carried out in accordance with the provisions in sections 11—13. If the certificate referred to in section 13 has been issued more than four months before, the marriage ceremony shall not be performed on the basis thereof.

Section 19 (411/1987)

(1) A marriage ceremony shall be void if it has not been performed in accordance with the provisions of section 15 or if the ceremony has been performed by a person without the right to perform marriage ceremonies.
(2) The President of the Republic may, however, for especially weighty reasons decide that a marriage ceremony void under paragraph (1) shall be deemed valid. A petition to this effect may be filed by either of the persons married or, if one of them is dead, by his or her heirs.

(omissis)

Part V — RULES OF PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW (1226/2001)

Chapter 1 — Conclusion of marriage (1226/2001)

Right to marry

(omissis)

Right of diplomatic representatives and certain clergy to perform marriage ceremonies

Section 112 (1226/2001)

(1) The Ministry for Foreign Affairs may grant a public official serving in a Finnish diplomatic mission abroad the right to perform marriage ceremonies where at least one of the engaged persons is a Finnish citizen.
(2) The Ministry of Education may, upon request and after having obtained an opinion from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, grant a person who is competent to perform a marriage ceremony in a Finnish religious community the right to perform marriage ceremonies in a foreign state, where at least one of the engaged persons is a Finnish citizen. The right may be connected to a given office, position or commission, or granted to the person in question in his or her own right.
(3) The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education may set restrictions or conditions to the right to perform marriage ceremonies, as is necessary on the basis of the legislation of the foreign state in question or the circumstances affecting the need for a right to perform marriage ceremonies.

Section 113 (1226/2001)

(1) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs may, upon request, grant a diplomatic or consular representative of a foreign state in Finland a license to perform marriage ceremonies in Finland in accordance with the formal requirements of that state, where the engaged persons are foreigners and at least one of them is a citizen of the state which the performing official represents.
(2) The Ministry of Education may, upon request and after having obtained an opinion from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, grant a member of the clergy of a foreign religious community operating in Finland a license to perform marriage ceremonies in accordance with the formal requirements of the foreign state in question, where at least one of the persons to be married is a citizen of that state. The license to perform marriage ceremonies may be connected to a given office, position or commission of the clergy, or granted to the said member of the clergy in his or her own right.
(3) A marriage ceremony referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not be performed, if the performing authority is aware of a circumstance constituting an impediment to marriage under section 6 or 7. Celebration of marriage

(omissis)

Chapter 2 — Recognition of a foreign marriage (1226/2001)

Prerequisites for recognition

Section 115 (1226/2001)

(1) A marriage concluded by a woman and a man in a foreign state before an authority of that state shall be valid in Finland, if it is valid in the state where it was concluded or in a state whose citizen either spouse was or where either spouse was habitually resident at the conclusion of the marriage.
(2) A marriage performed in another foreign state or, under a license referred to in section 113, in Finland, by the diplomatic or consular representative of a foreign state, a member of the clergy of a religious community of a foreign state or another person entitled by a foreign state to perform marriage ceremonies in another state, shall be valid in Finland, if it is valid in the state which the performing authority represents or in state whose citizen either spouse was or where either spouse was habitually resident at the conclusion of the marriage.

Section 116 (1226/2001)

(1) A marriage that has been concluded in a foreign state after the death of one engaged person or without one engaged person being present in person at the conclusion of the marriage, or that has been concluded merely by practice and without a ceremony or other formality, shall be valid in Finland only if: (1) it is valid in a state referred to in section 115(1); and (2) there is a special reason why the marriage should be deemed valid in Finland.
(2) In the assessment of whether a marriage referred to in paragraph (1) is to be deemed valid, special attention shall be given to the links of the engaged persons to the state where the marriage was concluded and to the duration of the cohabitation of the spouses.

(omissis)