Thai divorce and CNI in UK

[Beanster]

Hi everyone,

Question for you. I am a UK citizen and lived in Thailand for 15 years and was married there. Got an uncontested divorce there and have the divorce certificate (in Thai) with me and have left Thailand. The marriage was never registered in the UK. We never lived there. Now I am about to get married again in Germany and I need to get a Certificate of no Impediment from the UK. Do I need to make reference to the previous marriage for the CNI?

My ex-wife did visit the UK with me once, so through that paperwork the UK authorities might be aware of the marriage.

Cheers,

[Morakot]

This not a straight forward case and (from what I understand) much will depend on the German municipality where you intent to get married.

A potential problem could be giving notice itself at the registrar's office (Standesamt). This will usually involve some sort of pronouncement, if not a formal declaration, about your marital status. German civil law has clear distinctions between single, married, divorced and widowed. I'd be well surprised, if your were not ask to make a statement about your marital status at some point during the procedure.

If you state you are divorced than this will be a different status from what your UK certificate of no impediment states. It is not advisable to falsely your statement, especially if it is a so-called "oath-like statement" (eidesstattlich). You may commit some criminal offence.

From what I understand, German registrars will usually require you to "apply to get married" in person and definitely insist on it, if on party is not a German citizen. It's nothing like in the UK, where you just give notice and will likely be considerably more bureaucratic. Your Thai divorce certificate may possibly need to be legalised (by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and certainly translated into German by a translator who is appointed by a local German court. It is not clear at this point if you can even get married over there. Most municipalities will only marry people who reside in Germany.

Best to speak to the registrar and explain the situation. If you don't like what they tell you got to a different municipality, ideally in some large city. If you have no joy soever, consider getting married in other European countries, such as Denmark, Switzerland, or Gibraltar, where there might be more flexibility.

Edited June 6, 2016 by Morakot