Marriage Registration in Slovenia

Updated on Wednesday 07th September 2022

Rate this article

based on 5 reviews.

Couples who want to make their relationship official and who choose to get married in Slovenia need to register the marriage at the Slovenian Marriage Registry Office. Only the civil ceremony is legally binding in Slovenia, but couples can hold a religious ceremony afterwards. The right to getting married here is also available for those who will opt for immigration to Slovenia.

Local and foreign persons can request assistance on the documents that have to be submitted in this case from our team of lawyers in Slovenia specialized in Family Law. Our attorneys in Slovenia can assist with advice on the marriage procedures that have to be concluded and may also provide legal advice on how to relocate in this country and apply for the Slovenian citizenship in the case of foreigners who want to get married here and move in this country.

What are the main conditions for getting married in Slovenia?

One of the main legal requirements for being able to get married in Slovenia is to have an age of at least 18 years old (applicable for both partners). In the situation in which a person has an age below 18 years old, the parental consent will be required; couples getting married in this country can’t be related by blood or adoption.

According to the Slovenian legislation, foreigners can easily get married with a Slovenian national, but it is important to know that a couple can get married here even in the situation in which none of the parties is a Slovenian citizen. In order to have a valid marriage in Slovenia, the couple must have two witnesses; our law firm in Slovenia can provide more details regarding other conditions compulsory for a civil marriage ceremony in this country.

What is the marriage registration procedure in Slovenia?

If you decide to get married in Slovenia, the first step is to register the marriage at a Marriage Registry Office. In this case, it is necessary for both of the partners to register in the administrative unit in which the marriage will take place. Persons who want to get married in Slovenia can file for the marriage procedure in advance, in a period of six months to two weeks prior to the date in which the wedding ceremony is established. For foreigners, or for couples comprised of a Slovenian national and a foreigner, our immigration lawyers in Slovenia remain at your service.

Usually, marriage records contain basic information about the bride and the groom and also data concerning the witnesses: the date and place of the marriage, the groom’s and bride’s names, ages, places of birth, parent’s names and religion. A marriage certificate is issued after a civil marriage in Slovenia. Our team of Slovenian lawyers can help you throughout the entire marriage registration procedure.

Where does the wedding ceremony take place in Slovenia?

As a general rule, most of the Slovenian civil marriages take place in the locations that are established under the local legislation, namely the administrative units. However, the civil marriage ceremony can also take place outside the administrative units, in the case in which the couple provides a solid reason for this – one of them being a serious illness of one of the partners.

It is important to know that the wedding ceremony can also be carried out outside the administrative units without having a serios reason like the one mentioned above, but the persons getting married will need to bear the costs involved in this case.

What are the documents necessary for marriage registration in Slovenia?

When signing the registration, couples declare that they observe the necessary conditions for a valid marriage and that they make the decision according to their own free will. Persons filing for marriage in Slovenia will need to provide a set of documents, such as: birth certificates, a certificate that proves the persons are currently single and able to marry, documents attesting a previous divorce or the death of a previous husband/wife (in the case of persons who were married before) and their passports (in the case of foreign citizens). In the case of foreigners, the following will apply:

• provide a Free to Marry Certificate, that can be issued by the Embassy in which the foreign applicant is a resident;
• the Free to Marry Certificate is also known as the No Legal Impediments Certificate;
• in the case of foreign nationals who were married before and who ended the marriage by divorce, it is compulsory to provide a divorce document or an annulment decree;
• if the latter applies, the divorce documents will need to be presented in front of a Slovene court (the district court in this case), which will certify that the document is valid on the Slovenian territory.

In the situation in which the foreign citizen applying for marriage can’t be present in the country at the moment in which all these documents have to be presented to the local authorities, the procedures can be completed through the power of attorney; after signing this document, our team of Slovenian lawyers can easily represent any foreign national. The right to representation through the power of attorney can apply in other situations related to immigration to Slovenia.

Does Slovenia recognize same-sex marriages?

Yes, Slovenia has recently recognized same-sex marriages, registered as civil partnerships. Same-sex persons can get married in Slovenia by entering a civil partnership starting with February 2017. The procedures of registering a civil partnership are given by the Civil Partnership Registration Act, which prescribes similar registration requirements as it is in the case of the conventional marriage registration.

However, there are several differences prescribed under this rule of law; for example, Article 3 of the Civil Partnership Registration Act stipulates that a civil partnership can be registered here only in the situation in which one of the persons is a Slovenian citizen. A relevant difference is given by the deadline to apply for registration, which, in this situation, is of minimum 30 days prior to the event (Article 6). Our immigration lawyers in Slovenia can offer more details.

It also important to find out that the civil partnership in Slovenia can grant similar rights to the married persons with the ones available for a traditional couple. Following the recognition of the civil partnership, the parties will be able to jointly own a property, the right to inheritance and other relevant rights (Article 8).

However, even though the civil partnership grants a wide range of rights, same-sex persons who have married in Slovenia are not allowed to adopt. An exemption in this case is available only in the situation in which one of the partners had children from a previous relationship/marriage.

Foreign couples must provide all of the necessary documentation translated into Slovene by a certified translator. It is important to know that traditional civil marriages concluded in Slovenia are valid in other countries. For more information related to the marriage procedure, please contact our law firm in Slovenia.