Court marriage In India: Pros and cons

Court marriage In India: Pros and cons : From the last hundred many years, marriage is a ritual that is followed by almost every religion in the world. When two people decide to spend their life together, they have to follow some rituals to stay together and called ‘married’. Every religion has its own customs to be followed by the men and women who are part of it. Earlier, getting engaged according to the respective cultures was enough to be called married.

However, in recent times, one should go for court marriage process despite being married according to their respective rituals as it comes with many legal benefits. However, everything has its own set of particularities and so does the court marriages. To make this clearer, let us learn some of the main pros and cons of court marriage.

Economic effects

People spend lots of money on their marriages and all ceremonies related to it. The one who is financially strong is not worried about the monetary needs of marriage as he/she can spend as much as needed according to their needs. But for those who are not financially strong or want a simple wedding, court marriage is the most financially feasible way to get married legally. All they need is to fill an application form and get three witnesses, which comprises the major part of the entire process.

Legal effects

There are several legal consequences of court marriage in almost every corner of the world. These can be understood with the help of advantages and disadvantages. Some legal advantages and disadvantages of court marriage are as follows:

Legal Pros of court marriage

Tax benefits

Being legally married, you can enjoy several tax benefits in many ways. The major one is getting benefits in marital tax deduction. In this case, an individual can transfer as much property and assets to his or her partner and these are completely tax-free. On the other hand, if you are not married legally then you have to go through some legal processes.

The next key benefit is filing tax jointly. For example, if your partner has no income or he/she chooses to stay at home so as to do household works and raising children, you can pay tax jointly by showing half of your income in your spouse’s name.

Social benefits

There are countless social benefits you can have post being married legally.

If you are a working employee, then you can have advantages of the IRA retirement account, which is an account where an employed spouse can contribute to an unemployed spouse’s retirement.
You can get a passport or visa of your spouse’s name easily with the reference of your passport. However, for that, you should have your marriage registered. Otherwise, you have to go through a long process in order to avail a passport. If your partner is working overseas and has citizenship of that particular country, then you can easily get a visa with the help of your marriage certificate.
With the court marriage certificate, women can feel secure financially and legally in society. Our Indian government gives them full legal assistance whenever they need, whether she is suffering from domestic violence or need a divorce if her marriage is not working with alimony. Being legally married, you can have a claim in your husband’s properties and money while being married and even after divorce as well.
You can also claim for the insurance money in your partner’s name by showing your marriage certificate.

Cons of court marriage in India

There are certain but limited cons of court marriage in India.

Procedure

Since court marriage is legal and compulsory, you have to go through a long process, which can often be stressful. This includes the collection of various documents and submitting them where it has been said to you. According to the procedure also, you have to wait for the publication of the notice. And if your application is not approved then you have to go through the entire process from the beginning.

Verification

Verification is the most important and delicate procedure of court marriage. In any certain situation, if your documents fail to prove as verified documents, then you can face legal consequences. In this case, your application also will be disapproved.

Witness

Problems with the witness also can arise, because maybe you will find difficulty in getting those three witnesses who can come with you with their identity proves. These hurdles mostly come in inter-caste marriages and runaway marriages.

There are certain cons of court marriage in India, but it is also true that court marriage is compulsory in India, and comes with more advantages than disadvantages.

Author:

Samuel D’mello has been practicing and handling cases independently with a result-oriented approach, both professionally and ethically and has now acquired over 4+ years of professional experience in providing legal consultancy and advisory services. Samuel graduated from J.N. Petit School & Symbiosis Law School.