Marriage

To marry in Ireland, one has to wait 3 months after filing with the Marriage Registration Office. Yes, once I was engaged to marry and, in our case, we had to go for the option of requesting an exemption in order to marry earlier. So, this is the proceedure:

Since my erstwhile partner is a widow and South African, she had to provide a marriage cerificate as well as the death certificate. The S. African embassy had her marriage certificate as it was stapled to her ID. They wouldn't relinquish the marriage certificate unless she let them hold her driver's license. Luckily, a certified, stamped copy from the embassy is okay.

Our first appointment was at the Circuit Court to fill out forms for the 2 day exemption we needed in order to marry just a bit earlier to make a flight the next day. We must bring photo identification and a letter from the Registar confirming the date of our marriage. Then, we would have had an appointment to ask for the 2 day exemption from the judge at the Circuit Court - bring photo ID. Then, we would have had an appointment with the Registrar to ‘serve notice’ - we bring the original application for marrying, along with the death & marriage certificates, and photo ID. Then, they let you do what, according to the statistics, is a 50/50 chance of making a huge mistake. I moved on; so I haven't yet made that leap of faith.

Prenuptual agreements can be written up in Ireland; however, at the end of the day it's up to the judge who decides who gets what, rendering prenuptuals ineffective.