Marriage declaration

By making a declaration of marriage you and your partner declare before the registrar of births, deaths, and marriages that you wish to get married.

Conditions

If you are Belgian, you must be of age.
If you are not Belgian, the legislation of your country applies.
You must prove that you are not still married. If you have been married before, your previous marriage(s) must be annulled or dissolved (e.g. by divorce).

Procedure

You must declare the marriage to the register office of the municipality in which one of the future spouses lives or is registered in the population, foreign nationals, or waiting register.

If both partners live abroad, you can declare this at

your or your partner’s last place of residence
at the place of residence of one of your or your partner’s blood relatives up to the second degree (i.e. grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren)
or at your or your partner’s place of birth

You can declare this at the earliest six months and at the latest fourteen days before the planned wedding date.

The declaration must be made by both partners together or by one of them with a power of attorney.

Requisites

Prospective spouses who are registered in the population or foreign nationals register must bring the following documents:

a copy of the birth certificates of both partners. For persons born in Belgium or whose birth certificate has been transcribed in Belgium, the registrar of births, deaths, and marriages will request the copy themselves
an identity document
a document that proves you’re not married (never married or previous marriage(s) dissolved or annulled), if the proof is not available in the population or foreign nationals register
if one of the spouses makes the declaration: a written document proving the consent of the other spouse to the declaration.

Prospective spouses who are not registered in the population or foreign nationals register must bring the following additional documents:

a certificate of nationality
a certificate of unmarried status or of the dissolution or annulment of a previous marriage, an
a certificate of main residence.

These documents must be provided with the necessary authentication and, if necessary, be accompanied by a translation done by a sworn translator from the court in Belgium.

If there is a marriage contract, you no longer need to present a certificate from the notary. The notary will register the certificate in the Central Register of Marriage Contracts.