Can i apply for marriage registration without getting divorce decree

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Dear Querist,

Your first question about divorce decree timeline is extremely vague, however I would attempt to adress some primary concerns shared by you and the information shared by me may or maynot be relevant your case as I am not conversant with the facts peculiar to your case.

At the outset you cannot remarry unless your marriage is duly dissolved by a competent court of law by a decree of divorce. Also note that there is a cooling period i.e waiting period even after securing a divorce decree in your favour. It is an offense to marry during the subsistance of existing marriage. The Marriage Registrar will register your marriage only after satisfying himself/herself of the legal dissolution of your marriage and you and will be required to furnish all the duly certified court papers. Hiding or concealing any material facts about pending or unresolved divorce case would attract criminal charges. In the sate of Maharashtra, marriage certificate does not mention whether it is first or second marriage, it only has your name photograph, address of both parties, marriage venue and registration number. However information relating to your marriage is available with the marriage registrar in his records as you have to disclose it while registering your marriage.

Getting a Divorce decree may not be simple as issues relating to child custody, maintanence, distribution of assets etc are settled legally. More importantly the underlying laws can vary depending on the applicability of personal laws governing your marriage, i.e whether your marriage was solemnized as per Hindu, Muslim, Christian or Parsi rituals. There is also a type of secular marriage governed by the Special Marriage Act where the husband and wife could belong to different religions and be governed by the Special Laws instead of their personal laws. All these issues require judicial determination.

From a laymans perspective there are 2 types of divorce; one which can be taken by mutual consent and other which is contested on the grounds of cruelty, dessertion, adultry etc. It is important you must have marrried for atleast one year before considering divorce though there are exceptions such as annulment or extreme hardship when one can file for divorce within one year.

Divorce by mutual consent has takes 6 months from the date of filing and subject to fulfillment of certain requirements viz., minimum one year completion of marriage, seperation period, mutuality or willingness of both the parties to arrive at a consensus along with well documented terms of settlement of issues.

Please note if your divorce petiton is contested i.e. opposed then it is hard to predict any definate timeline. The average period could be anywhere between 2-3 years and if either party elects to file and appeal in higher court then it could be delayed further.

Advocate Abhiraaj Sanjeev Kulkarni LawRato