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Albert ..............

There are a number of hurdles to overcome.  The posting of the Banns would probably be required by the Mairie one month prior to the wedding date (although your 10 days may well be entirely accurate - you'd have to check with them locally).

However, as part of the dossier, you'll need (amongst a number of other documents) a Certificat de Coutume, obtainable from the British Embassy in Paris. Turnround on this is pretty quick (10 days recently), but you can't proceed with the dossier without one for each of the 2 parties (€84 each).

Remember too, that in theory, the couple are supposed to have resided in the Commune for a period of one month during the 3 months prior to the intended date of marriage. Our Maire ignored this and put our son and dil's address down as ours, but they could insist if they wanted to. You'd have to check.

The long and short of it is that I reckon you should allow a minimum of 2 months from settling on a date.

I can provide 'chapter & verse' by pm if you need it.

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Thanks, Ian.

I'll look up Certificat de Coutume. Presumably only I shall need one as my betrothed is French. Similarly, the residence is not a problem because I've been staying in her flat in the commune where we intend to marry for a couple of months now -- she's been living here a year.

I'm off to the Mairie on Monday, so I can check on the actual timings there.

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Albert ...........

That all sounds good.

Go to www.britishembassy.gov.uk  for details of the British Embassy's requirements.  Ring them if in doubt - they're very helpful and it's not a Call Centre!!!

When you go to the Mairie on Monday, make sure that you get a copy of the booklet 'Guide des Futurs Epoux'.  A5 size, bluey front cover, details all the requirements (but a bit vague about 'foreigners') and encloses all the forms.  Be aware that you will need a copy of your birth certificate translated by a certified translator (traducteur assermente), so you might want to start checking the Pages Jaunes for one (I know one if you need her). You will also need a copy of it certified by a lawyer in the UK or France prior to it's translation.

This is probably starting to sound horrible - it isn't. Just a question of getting half a dozen docs sorted out and sending them off in the right order. 

Contact me if you get stuck.

 

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Ian,

Thanks for the support. Unlike some around here.... They know who they are![:P]

Went to the Mairie when the nice young lady started very confident and at one stage screamed quietly. No chance of getting married before the end of August, apparently I need an audition (do they provide the pianist?) and the ajoint will be on holiday anyway. There are also various complications to do with my betrothed having her utility bills in her married name, but they need proof of address in her maiden name and sundry others that I should not mention here.

Looks like the wedding will be in late September at this rate.

Edit: When I asked about the "Guide des futurs epoux" I got a blank look but was offered a fat paperback sized book full of ads for florists and wedding photographers. Maybe it's a departemental thing?

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[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]

Looks like the wedding will be in late September at this rate.

[/quote]

I think that you'd be wise to think in those terms, and maybe even a week or two later bearing in mind August hols and all that.

What you need from the Mairie is a 'drop-dead' date for when they require your dossier in order to post the banns. If they say "one month", then at least you know where you are and you can start to seriously plan.

At the risk of boring everybody else here to tears, you'll need:

  • Birth Certificates: which in your case needs to be translated and sworn by a traducteur assermente.  The British Embassy will require sight of your original (+copy) in order to provide you with the CdeC (see below)
  • Attestation sur l'Honneur: it just says that you're not marrying a close relation, etc.
  • Certificat Medical: done by your local GP, no more than 2 mths prior to your wedding. He / she will prescribe a blood test for both of you, in order that you are aware of any incompatibilities (!!) By the way, if one of you is terminally ill, it's not required for that party.
  • Liste des Temoins: min 1, max 2 for each of you.  Full personal details, incl dob, occupation & copy of passport (though not all that may needed if they're French nationals)
  • Pieces d'Identite: carte d'identite, & (in your case) copy of passport.  Yours has to be authorised by "une autorite publique".  Find a pal who is a UK solicitor and get him / her to stamp a copy of your picture page and sign it.  Failing that, drop in to your local Notaire.
  • Certificat de Coutume: see the website as previously advised, but it boils down to the completed form, original birth cert + a certified copy, copy of your passport, & the fee (€84 by cheque mandat)
  • Certificat de Celibat: you can get a copy off the Br Emb website and it's irrelevent: nobody's interested.
  • Utility Bills: just to prove that you live where you live

Should either of your circumstances be more complicated by previous marriages, then you'll require the obvious (i.e. decree absolutes, death certs) for both the Embassy and the Mairie.

My suggestion would be that you produce a list as above and present it to the Secretary at the Mairie. Ask her to confirm within the next couple of days that there's nothing else that she requires in order for your marriage to take place.  Even better, get her to put a date required against the docs (it'll be the same for all of them).

Re the Guide, it's probably not departmental, just whether they're 'on the case'.  As said, you can get it off the web, but if you're struggling, pm me your address and I'll drop by our Mairie & see if they've got a spare.

Bon courage!

Ian

 

 

 

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I did this about 10 years ago. It took about 3 months from the UK, I doubt it would be much quicker doing it from France. This was with a GP who'd spent 3 years working in Tunisia, so understood the French systems, a MiL who was the mayor, and who desperately wanted to marry at least one of her daugthers herself. I can understand why lots of French people simply co-habit.

Blood tests for Blood Group, AIDS, Toxoplasmosis and Rubella (why!). Chest x-ray (why!).

Now we have a Livre de Famille, with space for 10 children to be added.

Bon courage!

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[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]

Having looked at the (minimal) requirements for marrying in England we might go that route instead.

[/quote]

Hi Albert,

After reading through this thread I was just about to suggest the same thing! [:)]

Good luck!

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[quote user="Gardian"]

Certificat Medical: done by your local GP, no more than 2 mths prior to your wedding. He / she will prescribe a blood test for both of you, in order that you are aware of any incompatibilities (!!) By the way, if one of you is terminally ill, it's not required for that party.

 

[/quote]

The certificat prenuptial is no longer needed.  It was done away with by Loi n° 2007-1787 du 20 décembre 2007 relative à la simplification du droit, and published in the JO du 21 décembre 2007.

Le Figaro report

 

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Oh bugger! 

That news from end-2007 still hasn't filtered it's way down to the Midi !

Absolutely bloody typical: the Mairie doesn't know and our GP (who wouldn't stitch us up) didn't know either.  Hey ho, another few euros down the fosse.

Albert - can understand your difficulties, but don't give up if you really want to do it here. It's not quite as bad as it sounds.  

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  • 6 months later...

Just a quick update.

We got married in Jersey last week.

The amount of paperchasing for doing it in France would actually have been even greater than usual because we were actually re-marrying. We originally wed in England so our Livret de Famille was issued by the French Consulate. When we tried to tell the authorities here about the divorce (also in England) they said to write to the London consulate. When we did that we got hit with the 'must be translated into French' line (I'm sure the first time round we didn't have to provide certified translations of the various certificates).

To marry in England, officially you have to be resident in the registration district for at least a week before applying for a licence. Then you have to wait at least three weeks for the banns. This involved too much too-ing & froing, so we settled for Jersey. All the paperwork can be done by post. They accept French documentation without translation because French is one of their official languages. Finally you need to be there for four days to finalise the papers and satisfy residence requirements. We went into the office on Monday and married on Thursday. Everybody was really friendly and helpful.

Now our only problem is that the French don't officially know about the divorce & re-marriage and we don't know if we really need to tell them, seeing as we are married anyway.

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