Can people with intellectual disability get married in Vietnam?

Can people with intellectual disability get married in Vietnam?

May I ask if people with intellectual disabilities have right to get married? In addition, can act of establishing a husband and wife relationship authorize another person to perform it? Please advise. Sincere thanks!

Reply:

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, conditions for getting married are as follows:

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

a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;

b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;

c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;

d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

2. The State shall not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex.

Clause 2, Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates the following prohibited acts:

2. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;

b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;

c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;

d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;

dd/ Demanding property in marriage;

e/ Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;

g/ Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;

h/ Domestic violence;

i/ Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.

Pursuant to Article 22 of the 2015 Civil Code explains lack of legal capacity as follows:

1. A court shall, based on the opinion of forensic-psychiatric examination by any authorized organization and at the request of a person with related rights or interests or a relevant agency or organization, issue a decision to declare a legally incapacitated person who as a result of his/her mental or other illnesses cannot realize or conduct his/her actions.

Where the basis on which a person has been declared incapacitated no longer exists, the court shall, at the request of such person or any person with related rights or interests, issue a decision to revoke the decision declaring the incapacitated person.

2. All civil transactions of a legally incapacitated person shall be established and performed by his/her legal representative.

According to the above regulations in Vietnam, people with intellectual disabilities who have not lost their civil act capacity can still get married in accordance with the law.

Pursuant to Article 2 of Circular 04/2020/TT-BTP stipulating authorization of civil registration as follows:

1. An applicant for issuance of a copy of a civil status extract, issuance of a marital status certificate or registration of a vital event listed in Article 3 of the Law on Civil Status (hereinafter collectively referred to as “civil registration application”) may authorize another person to carry out such application; excluding marriage registration, marriage re-registration and recognition of parent-child relationship, which may not be authorized  but one party may submit an application to the competent civil registration authority without a written authorization from the other party.

Authorization must be granted in writing and certified as per the law. Such certification is not required if the authorized person is a biological sibling, grandparent, parent, child or spouse of the authorizing person.

2. In case the applicant for registration of the birth of a child is the a grandparent or another relative of the child according to regulations in Clause 1 Article 15 of the Law on Civil Status, the authorization letter from the child’s parent(s) is not required but the child’s parent(s) must agree on the contents of the birth certificate.

As such, the marriage registration is not authorized for another person. Both men and women who must directly establish a marriage relationship must register their marriage by themselves in Vietnam.

What is instruction of procedure for applying for copies of marriage registration certificate in Vietnam?

My husband and I are no longer as emotional as before, my husband drinks, so I only one who have to worry about economic problems, although my husband has promised to change many times but still suffers from all kinds of problems. So I decided to file for divorce, because my husband hid the original marriage certificate, so I heard from a friend that I could ask for a copy of the marriage registration certificate, but I don't know what are procedures? So I hope you can help.

Reply:

Legal basis: Law on Marriage and Family 2014; Decree 23/2015/ND-CP; Decree 126/2014/ND-CP; Decree 123/2015/ND-CP.

1. Dossier (01 set) includes:

- Relevant documents proving the marriage registration;

- ID cards.

2. Authority to grant: Commune People's Committee where marriage is registered

3. Time limit for settlement: 01 working day upon receipt of complete and valid documents; If the request is received after 3pm, it will be processed the next day.

4. Application form: Directly at the Commune People's Committee or by post

5. Order of execution:

Step 1: The individual prepares all documents as prescribed by law;

Step 2: Individuals submit dossiers at the receiving and result-returning department under the single window mechanism under the commune-level People's Committee.

Step 3: The civil servant receives and checks the legality and content of the dossier:

- If the application is valid, it will be accepted;

- If the application is not valid, personal instructions will be completed in accordance with regulations

Step 4: The civil servant transfers the dossier to the person competent to handle and return the results

Step 5: Individuals receive results at the reception and result return department under the single window mechanism under the Commune People's Committee

Here is the content of the consultation. Hope the information shared here will help you.

Can people with disabilities get married in Vietnam?

Please ask, can a person who is disabled and currently receiving a monthly allowance be able to register his marriage? Look forward to receiving your feedback.

Reply:

In Article 8 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, the conditions for marriage are as follows:

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

a /The man is full 20 years or older, the woman is full 18 years or older;

b/ The marriage is voluntarily decided by the man and woman;

c/ The man and woman do not lose the civil act capacity;

d/ The marriage does not fall into one of the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 2, Article 5 of this Law.

Clause 2, Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 stipulates the following prohibited acts:

2. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;

b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;

c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;

d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;

According to the above provisions in Vietnam, if the disability is in the form of mental illness, does not control behavior, loses the capacity for civil acts, then he or she will not be able to get married. But if the disability is a physical defect, that person can still get married like a normal person.

Best regards!