Before you push for court marriage, know it’s true advantages and disadvantages and be sure of your decision.
First, there is nothing like court marriage in Nigeria. What you are calling court marriage is actually called “statutory marriage” or “Marriage at the registry” or “Marriage under the Act”
🚨🚨The advantages of statutory marriage are:
📍It only recognise one husband and one wife. It is a monogamous marriage.
📍It is easy to have and not expensive. With less than ₦70,000 you can have a valid statutory marriage.
📍It does not require parental consents for adults above 21 years.
📍Only two adult witnesses are required for the marriage to be valid and these witnesses do not need to be family members.
📍If a spouse contract another marriage with someone else without first divorcing the legal spouse, the legal spouse can sue the other for bigamy.
Bigamy is the 0ffence of marrying a second wife/husband and it comes with 7 years imprisonment.
📍The legal spouse can sue whom their spouse married and that will land the person 5 years imprisonment for marrying someone who had a statutory marriage and is not divorced.
📍Adultery is a ground for divorce and you can claim compensation against the spouse who committed adultery and the person they committed adultery with.
📍In the case of d£ath of one spouse, the living spouse have the legal rights to take control of what the late spouse acquired.
📍Even if the other spouse has side chicks and side cocks, or had traditional marriage with someone else, the legal spouse is the only one that will have a say and be recognized.
📍The marriage certificate, which has Nigerian Coat of Arms, and FORM E written on it is the only marriage certificate that is recognized all over the world. Any other marriage certificate is invalid.
The disadvantages of a statutory marriage (it can be advantages to some people depending on a particular case) are:
🚨It does not give children of the marriage special privilege against children born by the parents outside wedlock. All children of the couple, have equal rights.
For example, if your husband gets a woman pregnant and bears children outside, those children have right to inheritance alongside your children.
🚨There is nothing like 50/50 sharing of property during divorce. You can only get a share of what was acquired after the marriage and you must prove you contributed to acquiring them. Evidence comes into play!
🚨The divorce process is only done in any High Court in Nigeria.
🚨 Return of bride price does not end the marriage. You must go to court.
🚨You MUST use the services of a lawyer for the divorce case.
🚨The divorce case can last 2-5 years before it is concluded in the High Court.
🚨You MUST have money for the divorce case. For start to finish, budget between ₦700,000 – ₦1.5million for lawyer’s fee, appearance fee, filing and service of court papers.
Stop forcing your partner to go for statutory marriage if the benefits you seek are different from these.
