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The following information is for the
guidance ONLY of civilian American citizens contemplating marriage
in the Dominican Republic. American Diplomatic and Consular Officers
DO NOT have the legal authority to perform marriages. Marriages
CANNOT be performed within the Embassy or within an American
Consular Office in the Dominican Republic.
General Requirements for foreigners to marry in the Dominican
Republic
In order to get
married in the Dominican Republic, a man and a woman must be of
a certain minimum age (16 for men, 15 for women), be legally
eligible to marry, and be entering into the marriage contract of
their own free will. Failure to comply with any of these basic
criteria could mean that Dominican authorities will decline to
register the marriage as legal.
Additionally,
foreigners who wish to get married in the Dominican Republic
must comply with the following requirements and present the
following documentation:
-
The original passport and copies of the passport bio-page;
-
Copies of last entries stamps;
-
Proof of Dominican residence (if not a resident of the
Dominican Republic, an additional fee applies and tourist
card must be presented);
-
Sworn declaration before a notary public, of being single
and eligible to marry;
the sworn declaration then needs to be legalized at the
Offices of Procuraduría General de La República. If the
Sworn declaration is done before a U.S. notary, it then
needs to be legalized at the closest Dominican Consulate in
the U.S.
(In the past, the U.S. Embassy allowed American citizens to
swear such an affidavit of eligibility to marry before a
U.S. consular officer. The Embassy discontinued this
practice several years ago, however, because local officials
were interpreting these documents as meaning that the
Embassy had actually verified the content of the citizens’
statements, when in fact the consular officer was merely
attesting to the fact that the individual in question had
made the statement. Americans needing to comply with this
requirement should instead present themselves to a Dominican
notary –as specified above-.)
-
Copy of foreign birth certificate and a legal translation of
the certificate;
-
If divorced, copy of the divorce certificate and legal
translation of the certificate;
-
2 witnesses (not family).
Additionally,
Dominican law requires that notice of the intended marriage must
be published prior to the ceremony.
Fees:
Celebration of marriages at the Civil Registry Office
“Oficialia Civil”:
-
Both the bride and groom are foreigners not residents of the
Dominican Republic - RD $10,000.00
-
One is a foreigner not resident of the Dominican Republic -
RD $5,000.00
-
Both the bride and groom are foreigners residents of the
Dominican Republic - RD $1,000.00
Celebration of marriages outside the Civil Registry
Office (if the Civil Registry Officer goes somewhere else than
the “Oficialia Civil” to celebrate the marriage):
-
Both the bride and groom are foreigners not residents of the
Dominican Republic - RD $15,000.00
-
One is a foreigner not resident of the Dominican Republic -
RD $8,000.00
-
Both the bride and groom are foreigners residents of the
Dominican Republic - RD $3,000.00
**For updated information on the fees, visit the oficial web
page for Junta Central Electoral at
http://www.jce.do/app/do/TasasActosEstadoCivil.aspx
(information available only in Spanish) Types of
Marriages
Marriages in the
Dominican Republic fall generally into one of two categories:
“Civil” marriages
are those in which the parties themselves register the marriage with
the Dominican government. The person officiating at the wedding
ceremony is a government official, usually a Notary Public. It is
the couple’s choice whether or not to hold a separate religious
ceremony.
“Canonical” marriages
are those performed by a Roman Catholic priest. Following the
ceremony, the church takes responsibility for registering the
marriage with the appropriate Dominican government offices.
Marriages in
religious denominations other than Roman Catholicism are fully legal
and permitted. However, only the Roman Catholic Church has the
ability to register marriages on the couple’s behalf. In the case
of wedding ceremonies in other denominations, both members of the
couple must present themselves to the governmental registrar’s
office to legalize the marriage. Details on this procedure follow
below in the section under “Civil Marriages”.
Civil
Marriages
Marriage in the
Dominican Republic is a civil contract between a man and a woman who
have freely agreed to marry and have the capacity to do so. In
order to get married in the Dominican Republic, a man and woman must
meet the following conditions:
a) The parties must express their free will to marry;
b) Men between 16 and 18 years old, or women between 15 and 18 years
old may get married without the consent of their parents. Any
required consent must be in writing and notarized, unless the person
required to give this consent does so while attending the wedding
ceremony; and
c) A man younger than 16 and a woman younger than 15 may not get
married, even with their parents’ consent, although a judge may
grant an exception for significant reasons.
No person may be
married before a prior marriage is dissolved. A divorced woman
cannot get married until 10 months after her divorce has become
final, unless her intended husband is the same person she has
divorced.
The government
official performing the civil ceremony has the authority, at the
time of the ceremony, to waive any of the above requirements. Such
a waiver must be made in writing and outline the basis of the
waiver.
The official
performing the ceremony does so in the presence of the parties and
witnesses. During the ceremony, the official asks the parties and
witnesses whether either of the parties has been married previously,
to each other or to other people. The party who has been married
previously must supply the date of that marriage and the name of the
person who officiated.
The Marriage
Certificate includes the complete names of the spouses, the evidence
of their written consent, a declaration they have been united in
matrimony and the date of the celebration and the signatures of the
Officer, the spouses and the witnesses. After the celebration the
marriage is registered in the appropriate civil registries.
Civil marriage is
dissolved by the death of one of the spouses or by divorce.
Canonical
Marriages
A Canonical
marriage performed by a Roman Catholic priest has the same legal
effect as a civil marriage.
As was stated in
the introductory section above, however, there is a procedural
difference, insofar as the priest in a Canonical marriage is
responsible for transmitting the registration documents to the
appropriate Dominican government office(s). Even if a civil
ceremony has taken place prior to the Canonical ceremony, the
officiating priest must still send a copy of the marriage
certificate to the government registry.
Matrimonial
Property Laws
Dominican law
presumes that the parties in a marriage enjoy Community Property
rights. However, if the parties choose to enter into a different
type of agreement, this is permitted. Dominican law outlines a
number of systems from which the parties may choose. The spouses
may also amend any one of these systems or create one of their own,
provided that the final agreement is in keeping with Dominican legal
principles. When the parties opt for a system other than Community
Property (such as Separate Property, outlined beginning on page 4
below), they must put this in writing and have it approved by a
Dominican government official.
Community
Property Systems
1. Legal Community: This is the most common community
property system in
effect in the Dominican Republic. The following three features are
present and essential:
a) The existence of three types of properties -- common property,
property owned by the wife, and property owned by the husband.
Under legal community systems, all movable property and its
earnings, as well as real estate property acquired during the
marriage, are common property.
b) The power of the husband over the administration/management of the
estate, which cannot be ignored or restrained through any clause or
matrimonial agreement; and
c) The existence of guarantees for the woman against bad management
of the property by the husband. These guarantees may include, among
others, judicial division of the property and/or liens against any
real estate owned by the husband.
With regard to point (a) above, it is worth noting that “common
property” is further sub-divided into “ordinary property” and
“reserved property.” Ordinary property enters the marriage having
belonged to one spouse or the other but, based on the marriage,
becomes the property of both parties. Reserved property, on the
other hand, is property that resulted from the personal work of the
woman or from savings that arose from such work. Following the
marriage, reserved property generally continues to be
administered/managed by the woman, but legally it is the common
property of both parties.
2. Reduced to the Earnings: Under this system, the
composition of the common property varies, based on the respective
debts (both present and future) of the spouses. Additionally, the
value of their respective movable property (both present and future)
is excluded from the common property.
3. Universal Community: All properties, present and future,
are common property. The spouses equally agree under this system
that only their present or future property will be common property.
NOTE:
It is possible for the spouses to reject any of the community
property systems described above and instead choose their own
system. However, it is important to note that doing this will not
automatically grant the wife rights to administer her property or to
receive its earnings. Property the wife brought into the marriage
is considered as awarded to the husband for the purpose of meeting
the expenses of the marriage. The spouses may, however, include in
their property agreement a clause authorizing the wife to receive a
part of her annual earnings for her personal living expenses and
needs.
Separate
Property Systems
Separate Property
systems do not provide for common property, but rather for property
owned by each one of the spouses and over which each one has
administration/management, disposition and enjoyment rights.
Nonetheless, the wife does not have the right to dispose of her
properties without the consent of the husband or a judicial
authorization.
This system
requires the spouses to contribute to the maintenance of their
home. Furthermore, movable goods individually owned by each of the
spouses are intertwined in reality and must be liquidated in the
event the marriage is dissolved.
A wife's property
can be subjected to claims of creditors for her debts arising before
and during her marriage, as well as debts related to the maintenance
of a marital home incurred by either spouse, or in case of the
insolvency of her husband.
The husband, for
his part, is responsible for his debts arising before or during the
marriage and for the debts contracted by the wife when acting as
representative of the marriage.
One variation of
the separation of property system is the dowry system. The dowry
system is a system of separation in which the woman, instead of
contributing some or all of her income to the couple's obligations,
hands over some or all of her property to her husband, who has the
administration and legal enjoyment of it. The wife possesses, in
addition to the dowry property, property that is not affected by the
home-related obligations, also called "paraphernalia." This type of
property is enjoyed by the wife but cannot be disposed of without
the consent of the husband or judicial authorization.
Updated: June/2007 |
