Recently, LSX legal firm received a question from our customer: “After 10 years of living together, my husband and I went our separate ways due to many conflicts. We didn’t register our marriage but just lived together. Whether or not the assets that we have accumulated in the past 10 years divided according to the law?”. In this article, LSX legal firm will help you with the question: Can you divide the property if not registering marriage in Vietnam?
Legal ground
- Law on Marriage and Family 2014
How does the law regulates marriage registration?
Pursuant to the provisions of Article 9 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014:
“Article 9. Marriage registration
1. A marriage shall be registered with a competent state agency in accordance with this Law and the law on civil status.
A marriage that is not registered under this Clause is legally invalid.
2. A divorced couple who wishes to re-establish their husband and wife relation shall register their re-marriage.”
Can you divide the property if not registering marriage in Vietnam?
Article 16 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 provides for the settlement of property relations and obligations and contracts between men and women cohabiting as husband and wife without marriage registration as follows:
- Property relations, obligations, and contracts between a man and woman cohabiting as husband and wife without marriage registration shall be settled under the partners’ agreement. In case there is no agreement, they shall be settled in accordance with the Civil Code and other relevant laws.
- The settlement of property relations must ensure the lawful rights and interests of women and children. Housework and other related work to maintain cohabitation shall be regarded as income-generating labor.
Therefore, when a man and a woman live together as husband and wife without registering their marriage but due to objective or subjective reasons, both parties want to go their separate ways. Then, the property relationship, obligations, and contracts settled by agreement between the parties.
In case the two parties do not reach an agreement on how to divide property, obligations, and contracts, the provisions of the Civil Code 2015 and other relevant laws will settle these relations.
If you don not register your marriage, do you need to get a divorce?
Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 provides for the settlement of consequences of men and women living together as husband and wife without marriage registration as follows:
“1. A man and woman eligible for getting married under this Law who cohabit as husband and wife without registering their marriage have no rights and obligations between husband and wife. Rights and obligations toward their children, property, obligations, and contracts between the partners must comply with Articles 15 and 16 of this Law.”
Accordingly, if a man and a woman live together as husband and wife without registering their marriage, the husband and wife relationship will not arise, and they do not need to proceed with the divorce procedure.
Dossiers and procedures for marriage registration
Dossiers for marriage registration
When going to register for marriage, couples need to prepare the following documents:
- Copy of household registration book;
- Copy of ID card;
- Certificate of the marital status of the ward, commune, township of permanent residence;
In case one of the parties has entered into marriage once, that party must obtain a certificate of divorce from the court together with a certificate of local marital status.
Procedures for marriage registration
Firstly, when registering a marriage, both male and female parties must present. The representative of the commune-level People’s Committee requests the parties to indicate their voluntary marriage, if both agree to enter into marriage, the civil status judicial officer record this in the marriage registration book and the marriage certificate.
After the two parties sign the marriage certificate and the marriage registration book, the president of the commune-level People’s Committee signs and issues an original marriage certificate to each spouse, explains to the parties the rights and obligations under the Law on Marriage and Family 2014. A copy of the marriage certificate issued at the request of the couple.
Secondly, for marriage procedures of those who have a permanent address on the household registration book in a province or city but wish to register their marriage in another province, Article 17 of Decree 158/2005/ND-CP stipulates the registration location as follows:
“The commune-level People’s Committee of the place of residence of the male or female party shall carry out the marriage registration.”
The place of residence here defined as a temporary or permanent residence address. Therefore, to carry out the procedures for marriage registration in that province, one of the spouses must have a temporary residence in that province.
Thirdly, for the case of marriage registration in different provinces, the parties can register their marriage in a different province to the husband’s/wife’s hometown but it requires a certificate of marital status issued by the place of permanent residence registration. According to Article 18 of Decree 158/2005/ND-CP on civil status registration and management:
“When a person resides in this commune, ward or township, but registers his marriage in another commune, ward or township, a certification of the commune-level People’s Committee of the place of residence is required of that person marital status.”
Consular legalization of marriage certificate
The consular legalization-a procedure by which the competent authority of a country (Vietnam in particular) examines and authenticates a paper issued by another country by checking the authenticity of the signature on the paper and the status of the person signing the paper. After this process, the paper that you legalized become recognized and effective for use in Vietnam.
According to the state regulations and the experience of those working in the field of consular legalization, the process of consular legalization of a marriage registration certificate includes the following basic steps:
- Firstly, the translation service company receives the documents, including the marriage certificate, from the client and translates those documents.
- Secondly, stamp the translations for judicial authentication in accordance with the state’s regulations on consular legalization of marriage certification.
- Thirdly, get the stamp of legalization for the marriage certificate.
- Then, get stamps from embassies and consulates.
- Lastly, return records and results.
Legal service of LSX Legal Firm
LSX legal firm provides legal services to clients in various legal areas. To make your case convenient, LSX will perform:
- Legal advice related to new regulations;
- Representing in drafting and editing documents;
- We commit the papers to be valid, and legal for use in all cases;
- Represent to submit documents, receive results, and hand them over to customers.
With a team of experienced, reputable, and professional consultants; The firm is always ready to support and work with clients to solve legal difficulties.
Furthermore, using our service, you do not need to do the paperwork yourself; We guarantee to help you prepare documents effectively and legally.
Also, you will not have to waste time preparing the application, submitting application, or receiving results. At those stages, we will help you do it smoothly.
After all, LSX provides the service with the desire that customers can experience it the best way. Additionally, we guarantee the cost to be the most suitable and economical for customers.
Contact LSX
Finally, hope this article useful for you to answer the question about “Can you divide the property if not registering marriage in Vietnam?”. If you need any further information, please contact LSX Law firm: +84846175333 or Email: [email protected]
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Related questions
The current law does not require marriage registration before the wedding and also does not regulate how long after the wedding to register the marriage. Therefore, if you do not carry out marriage registration procedures after getting married, you do not violate the law and also do not have to worry about the sanction.
Rights and obligations between a man and woman cohabiting as husband and wife and their children must comply the Law on Marriage and Family’s provisions on rights and obligations of parents and children.
Persons who request marriage registration shall submit dossiers to commune-level People’s Committees
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