Chương II Luật Hôn nhân và Gia đình 2000: Kết hôn

Chapter II

GETTING MARRIED

Article 9.- Conditions for getting married

A man and a woman wishing to marry each other must satisfy the following conditions:

1. The man has reached the age of twenty or over, the woman has reached the age of eighteen or over;

2. The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and the woman; neither partner is allowed to force or deceive the other; nobody is allowed to force or obstruct their marriage;

3. The marriage does not fall into one of the circumstances where marriage is forbidden as prescribed in Article 10 of this Law.

Article 10.- Circumstances where marriage is forbidden

Marriage is forbidden in the following circumstances:

1. Married people;

2. People who have lost their civil act capacity;

3. Between people of the same direct blood line; between relatives within three generations;

4. Between adoptive parents and adopted children; between former adoptive parents and former adopted children; between fathers-in-law and daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law and sons-in-law, stepfathers and stepchildren, stepmothers and stepchildren;

5. Between people of the same sex.

Article 11.- Marriage registration

1. Marriage must be registered with the competent State bodies (hereinafter called marriage registration offices) according to the proceedings prescribed in Article 14 of this Law.

Any marriage proceedings at variance with the provisions in Article 14 of this Law shall not be legally valid.

Man and woman who fail to register their marriage but live together as husband and wife shall not be recognized by law as husband and wife.

Divorced husband and wife wishing to remarry each other must also register their remarriage.

2. The Government shall stipulate the marriage registration in remote and deep-lying areas.

Article 12.- Competence to register marriage

The People’s Committees of communes, wards or townships where either of the marriage partners resides are the marriage registration offices.

The overseas Vietnamese diplomatic missions or consulates are the offices registering marriage between Vietnamese citizens living abroad.

Article 13.- Handling of marriage registration

1. After receiving complete and valid documents according to the civil status legislation, the marriage registration offices check the marriage registration dossiers; if deeming that both the male and female partners to the marriage are eligible for marriage, the marriage registration offices shall organize the marriage registration.

2. Where either or both marriage partners fail to fully meet the marriage conditions, the marriage registration office shall decline to register and clearly explain in writing the reasons therefor; if the people whose application for marriage registration is rejected disagree, they may lodge their complaints according to the provisions of law.

Article 14.- Organization of marriage registration

Marriage registration must be organized in the presence of both male and female partners. A representative of the marriage registration office first asks the two partners about their wish for voluntary marriage, if they agree to marry each other, the representative of the marriage registration office shall hand the marriage certificate to them.

Article 15.- People entitled to request the annulment of illegal marriages

1. The partner who is forced or deceived into marriage has the right, as prescribed by the civil procedure legislation, to request by himself/herself the Court or propose the Procuracy to request the Court to annul the illegal marriage due to violation of the provisions in Clause 2, Article 9 of this Law.

2. The Procuracy has the right, as prescribed by the civil procedure legislation, to request the Court to annul illegal marriages due to violation of the provisions in Clause 1, Article 9 and Article 10 of this Law.

3. The following individuals, agencies and organizations have the right, as prescribed by the civil procedure legislation, to request by themselves the Court or propose the Procuracy to request the Court to annul illegal marriages due to violation of the provisions in Clause 1, Article 9 and Article 10 of this Law:

a/ Spouses, parents or children of the marriage partners;

b/ The child protection and care committees;

c/ The women’s unions.

4. Other individuals, agencies and organizations have the right to propose the Procuracy to consider and request the Court to annul illegal marriages.

Article 16.- Annulment of illegal marriages

At the request of individuals, agencies or organizations prescribed in Article 15 of this Law, the Court shall consider and decide the annulment of illegal marriages and send copies of its decisions to the offices that have made the marriage registration. Basing themselves on the Court’s decisions, the marriage registration offices shall erase the marriage registration in the Marriage Register.

Article 17.- Legal consequences of the annulment of illegal marriages

1. When an illegal marriage is annulled, the two male and female partners must stop their relation as husband and wife.

2. Their children’s interests shall be dealt with as for cases where their parents are divorced.

3. Their property shall be dealt with on the principle that his/her personal property shall still belong to him/her; their common property shall be divided as agreed upon by the two partners; if they fail to reach an agreement thereon, they may request the Court to settle it, taking into account each partner’s contributions and giving priority to protecting the legitimate interests of women and children.