Marriage

In Germany, a marriage is a lifelong partnership between two people of the same or different sexes. To marry, you have a civil ceremony at a Standesamt (registry office); a religious ceremony does not replace it.

In short

• Register the marriage, orally or in writing, at a Standesamt in the district where one of you has a Wohnsitz or ordinary residence. If neither of you lives in Germany, register at the Standesamt where the marriage will be performed.
• Bring public documents for civil status, residence, nationality, and any earlier marriage or civil partnership and how it ended.
• If section 1309 applies to you, an Ehefähigkeitszeugnis (certificate of capacity to marry) expires after six months, or earlier if the certificate says so. Ask your Standesamt about its fees.
• After the office says the marriage may proceed, marry within six months. If more than six months pass, you must register again. Report at once any change in the facts that matter to the check.
• A marriage may not be concluded before adulthood. Section 2 says adulthood begins when a person completes the 18th year. Section 1303 states no exception that allows an earlier marriage.
• If either partner was previously married and divorced abroad, recognition of that foreign decision in matrimonial matters (Anerkennung ausländischer Entscheidungen in Ehesachen) under section 107 of the Act on Proceedings in Family Matters may be required before the Standesamt can treat the earlier marriage as ended.
• Where either person is under 18, section 11 forbids a religious or traditional act meant to create a lasting marriage-like bond, as well as a contract that takes the place of marriage.

What you need to know

Section 2 of the Civil Code says adulthood begins when a person completes the 18th year. Section 1303 says a marriage may not be concluded before adulthood. German law states no exception that allows an earlier marriage. Section 1353 says the spouses owe each other a marital partnership and responsibility.

Section 11 of the Civil Status Act makes every German Standesamt competent to perform the marriage. Where either person is under 18, the same section forbids a religious or traditional act meant to create a lasting marriage-like bond, as well as a contract that takes the place of marriage. The ban lists who it binds.

You register the intended marriage orally or in writing. The office is a Standesamt in whose district one of you has a Wohnsitz or ordinary residence. If neither of you has a Wohnsitz or ordinary residence in Germany, the Standesamt before which the marriage will be performed takes the registration.

At registration you prove, with public documents, your civil status, your Wohnsitz or ordinary residence, your nationality, and, if you were married or in a civil partnership before, that last marriage or partnership and how it ended. If that earlier marriage or partnership was not concluded at a German Standesamt, you also prove the end of any further earlier marriages or partnerships, unless a German Standesamt already checked them.

If either partner was previously married and that marriage was divorced abroad, recognition of the foreign decision (Anerkennung ausländischer Entscheidungen in Ehesachen) under section 107 may be required before the Standesamt can clear the new marriage. The Land justice administration, or a Higher Regional Court president authorised by a Land regulation, makes that determination. That separate determination is not required when a court or authority of the state of which both spouses were nationals at the time of the decision issued the divorce.

The Standesamt where you register checks whether there is a legal obstacle to the marriage. It can ask for more documents if those in section 12 are not enough. If it finds no obstacle, it tells you the marriage can go ahead; that notice also binds the Standesamt that performs the ceremony.

Tell the office promptly if any fact relevant to its check changes. If more than six months pass after the notice without a marriage, you must register again and the requirements must be checked again.

A person whose capacity to marry is governed by foreign law, subject to the exception the Civil Code names, should not marry before bringing a certificate from the home authority that no impediment exists under that law. The certificate loses force if the marriage is not concluded within six months of issue, or sooner if the certificate itself states a shorter life.

The president of the Higher Regional Court for the district of the Standesamt can grant an exemption. The exemption is meant for stateless people with ordinary residence abroad and for nationals of states whose authorities do not issue the certificate, and in special cases it may be granted to nationals of other states. It lasts six months.

Section 12(3) says the Standesamt takes the application for that exemption and prepares the decision. Section 12a says section 12(3) is not applied when someone registers a renewed marriage under section 1305(2) of the Civil Code. This page does not describe that special case. A Standesamt fee is local and is not stated here.

What to do

1. Register the marriage, orally or in writing, at a Standesamt in the district where one of you lives. If neither of you lives in Germany, register at the Standesamt where the marriage will be performed.
2. Bring public documents for civil status, residence, nationality, and any earlier marriage or civil partnership and its end. Ask that office which further documents the check still needs.
3. If section 1309 applies to you, bring the Ehefähigkeitszeugnis and read its date. It expires after six months, or earlier if it says so. If your state does not issue one, ask the Standesamt to take the exemption application in section 12(3).
4. If a previous marriage ended in a divorce abroad, ask the Standesamt whether section 107 recognition is required before it can clear the marriage.
5. After the office says the marriage may proceed, marry within six months. Tell the office at once if a fact that matters to the check changes.

Confirm foreign-document costs first

Before ordering certificates, translations or authentication, ask the Standesamt handling your marriage for the requirements for your countries and previous family status. Confirm acceptable translators and whether a multilingual document avoids translation. The documents-and-translations guide explains the distinctions. Ask the office for its own fees and keep any private assistance charge separate; paying an intermediary does not replace the office’s legal check.

Choosing a married name

Ask the Standesamt to establish the applicable name law and any choice of law before preparing the declaration, especially with foreign nationalities or residence. Where German name law applies, section 1355 allows you to choose a common married name, Ehename; if you do not choose one, each spouse keeps the name used at marriage. The options include one spouse’s birth/current surname or a double name formed from both spouses’ names, with or without a hyphen. Restrictions on existing multi-part names prevent unlimited name chains.

Discuss the choice when registering the marriage. A declaration made later must be publicly certified; the wedding itself does not make every possible name change automatic. Ask about proof, certification and fees before ordering new identity documents. After divorce or a spouse’s death, the married name remains unless you use a permitted later declaration. See Name changes for later changes, cross-border records and document updates.

Common mistakes

• Registering at a random Standesamt when neither of you lives in its district and you do not intend to marry there. Section 12 names the office that receives the registration.
• Letting the capacity certificate or the six-month notice expire and arriving for the ceremony anyway.
• Assuming fees are the same in every city. Ask your Standesamt what it charges.