Recognition of marital status for couple living together before 1987 without marriage registration in Vietnam

Thank you for your question. Lawnet shall answer as follows:

Clause 1, Article 131 of Vietnam's Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates:

"Marriage and family relations established before this Law takes effect shall be settled in accordance with the law on marriage and family applicable at the time of establishment."

Your parents' case, who have lived together as husband and wife since before January 3, 1987, without marriage registration, will be governed by Resolution 35/2000/NQ-QH10 and Circular No. 01/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BTP guiding the implementation of Resolution 35/2000/NQ-QH10.

Resolution 35/2000/NQ-QH10 stipulates:

Where the husband and wife relations had been established before January 3, 1987, the date when the Law on Marriage and Family 1986 came into force, but the couples have not yet registered their marriage, they are encouraged to register their marriage; in cases where such a couple apply for divorce the Court shall process and settle the case in accordance with the divorce provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family 2000.

The above provisions are specifically guided in Section 1 of the Joint Circular 01/2001/TTLT-TANDTC-VKSNDTC-BTP as follows:

"According to the provisions of Point a, Clause 3, of Resolution No. 35 of the National Assembly, in case the husband and wife relationship was established before January 3, 1987 (the effective date of the 1986 Marriage and Family Law) without marriage registration, if one or both parties have a request for divorce, the Court shall accept the case and apply the divorce provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family 2000 to settle the divorce case according to the provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family. It should be noted that in the case that only after the husband and wife relationship has been established and registered, the husband and wife relationship will still be recognized from the date of establishment (the date they started living together as husband and wife), rather than being recognized only from the date of marriage registration. "

Thus, if his parents have lived together as husband and wife since 1985 and have not yet registered their marriage, they will still be recognized as husband and wife by law, so they can apply for recognition of their actual marital status.

Procedures to fill in marital status certificates and marital status certificate issuance registers is prescribed in Article 33 of Circular 04/2020/TT-BTP as follows:

 The Marital status field shall contain the applicant’s current marital status, which must be written in an honest manner. To be specific:

- If the applicant has never married, specify that the applicant is currently not married to anyone.

- If the applicant is married, specify that the applicant is currently married to Mrs./Mr. … (Marriage Certificate No. … issued by [name of issue] on [date of issuance]).

- If the applicant cohabited with another before January 03, 1987 and has not divorced or the spouse is not deceased or declared deceased, specify that the applicant is currently married to Mrs./Mr. …

- If the applicant had a marriage registered or cohabited with another before January 03, 1987 but has divorced and has not remarried, specify that the applicant had a marriage registered or was married but has divorced per Judgment/Decision No. … dated [date of issuance] by the People’s Court of …; and is currently not registering a marriage with anyone.

- If the applicant had a marriage registered or cohabited with another before January 03, 1987 but the spouse is deceased and has not remarried, specify that the applicant had a marriage registered or was married but the spouse is deceased (Death Certificate/Death Certificate Extract/Judgment No. … issued by [name of issuer] dated [date of issuance]); and is currently not registering a marriage with anyone.

- If a married applicant wishes to have the marital status prior to marriage registration certified, specify that from [date] to [date], the applicant was not married to anyone; and is currently married to Mrs./Mr. … (Marriage Certificate No. … issued by [name of issuer] on [date]).

Best regards!

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