Hopefully all registered celebrants received an email from the Attorney General’s Department on 27 September 2018, inviting feedback on a new version of the Notice of Intended Marriage.
Anyone who’s listened to me talk at OPD or been following the podcast for a while will know that the MLCS has been working on the current review of the marriage forms since January 2015. I remember responding to a request for feedback way back then, and then we heard nothing. In April 2017 MLCS released a new version of all the marriage forms to the Associations for comment, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to give my feedback on those through one of my association contacts. Then again, nothing. We hoped they were biding their time until marriage equality became a thing, and that they would release the new forms at the same time as the update for marriage equality, but December 2017 came and went, and still nothing.
When I was at the AFCC Conference in July 2018, the Registrar of Marriages spoke to us and said that they were about to release a new version, but they’d been arguing with the BDMs for some time about how much information actually needed to be collected by the forms, so that was the current hold-up. She said the MLCS’s view was that any information not specifically required by the Marriage Act should NOT be included on the marriage documentation. That meant anything about the parties’ occupations and address, how long they’d been in Australia, their parents’ names and countries of birth, and details of their previous marriages (apart from information about the termination of the most recent marriage) would not be included if MLCS had their way.
Naturally the BDMs were arguing the toss about this. They view marriage paperwork as an important addition to family history and genealogy. That was the sticking point, and the argument had allegedly been going on for 18 months.
Suddenly, on 27 September, out came this new version of the NOIM, and it appears that MLCS won the argument! All extraneous information has been completely removed from the form, and we believe this will filter on to the DONLIM and the Certificates of Marriage; any information not required by the NOIM will no longer be required by the other marriage documentation either. So let’s have a look at exactly what information is required by the current NOIM, and what will be required if the draft NOIM is accepted.
Current NOIM | New draft NOIM |
Page 3 | Page 1 |
Name and address of celebrant | |
For celebrant use | For celebrant use |
Time | Name of parties |
Day of week | Time |
Date | Date (day, month, year) |
Location | Location |
Page 3 | |
Parties’ information | Parties’ information |
Description of party (Groom, Bride, Partner) | |
Surname | Surname |
Given names | Given names |
Sex (Male, Female, X) | Gender (Male, Female, Non-Binary) – optional |
Usual occupation | |
Usual place of residence | |
Conjugal status (never validly married, widowed, divorced) | Conjugal status (tick boxes for never validly married, surviving spouse, divorced, divorce pending) |
Birthplace | Birthplace |
Date of birth | Date of birth |
Total period of residence in Australia | |
Father’s name | |
Mother’s maiden name | |
Father’s country of birth | |
Mother’s country of birth | |
Previous marriage information | |
Number of previous marriages | |
Year of each previous marriage ceremony | |
Number of children of the previous marriage/s | |
Year of birth of each of those children | |
How LAST marriage terminated (death, divorce, nullity) | |
Date last marriage terminated | Date last marriage ended (moved to p4) |
Are the parties related to each other? | Are the parties related? |
Statement: “I have read this form’s privacy notice and instructions for completion and hereby give notice of my intended marriage” | |
Signature of parties | Signature of parties |
Full name of witness | |
Signature of witness | Qualification |
Qualification | Signature of witness |
Date | Date |
Page 4 | Page 4 |
Date notice received by celebrant | Date notice received |
Rites used | Rites used (moved to bottom of p4, in a post-ceremony completion section) |
Date marriage solemnised | Marriage solemnised on (moved to bottom of p4) |
Place marriage solemnised | At (moved to bottom of p4) |
Birth certificate(s) produced | Evidence of date and place of birth (tick boxes for birth certificate, Aus passport, overseas passport, stat dec) |
Birth certificate registration number | Document number (if any) |
Statutory declaration(s) | Identity confirmed |
Passport(s) produced | Type of ID document provided (space to write document type) |
Pasport number | Document number (if any) |
Current drivers licence produced | State/territory/country of issue (to be filled in re identity document, i.e. passport or licence etc) |
Drivers licence number | |
Current proof of age card or evidence of age card produced | |
Proof of age card or evidence of age card number | |
Current identification card displaying cardholder’s photograph produced | |
Type of identification card | |
Number of identification card | |
Evidence of death, nullity or dissolution | Evidence sighted confirming how last marriage ended (tick boxes for death, nullity, divorce, not applicable) |
Death certificate number | |
If dissolution or nullity, insert Court location | Court location (if divorce or nullity) |
For marriage of a party under 18 years (tick boxes for consents received, court approval) | If a party is under 18 years (tick boxes for consents received, court approval) |
Authority for marriage despite late notice (tick box for not applicable) | Authority for marriage despite late notice (tick box for authority given) |
Have you given the document referred to in subsection 42(5A) of the Act to the parties? | Document referred to in subsection 42(5a) of the Act provided to the parties |
Celebrant’s number | Signature of celebrant |
Celebrant’s signature | Celebrant’s authorisation number |
Transfer of Notice of Intended Marriage to another celebrant | |
Name of new celebrant | |
Date of transfer | |
Statement to tick: “I confirm that in receiving this Notice, I am satisfied that the reasons for transfer are in accordance with s42(6) of the Marriage Act 1961” |
See all those blank boxes in the new draft NOIM column? That’s where information that was asked by the previous form is NO LONGER REQUIRED.
The new form is much, much simpler and easier to complete.
It removes a LOT of the angst we get from couples currently about parents’ names: “my father is abusive and I don’t want him listed on my documents; I never knew my mum and my step-mum raised me, so can I list her on my documents instead?”
When these documents were first developed, people probably stayed in one occupation and at one address for most of their lives. That information made up part of their identity. This is no longer the case, so the marriage documentation only provides that information at a single moment in time, therefore not being very useful for family history purposes.
I don’t give much credence to the family history arguments. Any information about parents’ names and places of birth can be found on birth and death certificates. The only information the marriage certificate needs to provide is who got married to whom, when and where. Everything else can be found through other means. If someone has a good argument for me about why this info should be on the marriage certificates when it can be found in other places, I’m all ears!
I’m all for this version of the NOIM, and the versions of the DONLIM and OCM that will likely fall out of them. Here’s hoping that come 1 January 2019 we’ll have new forms to play with 🙂
So detailed! Thanks, Sarah. Love the NOIM too. Bring it on!