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Review the What is your marital status page to understand the legal consequences of getting married.

Next, check that you are eligible to marry before you start planning your wedding. Below are the legal requirements you must meet to marry in Alberta.

You are old enough

You must be 18 years or older to get married. If you are 16 or 17 years old, your guardians or the court must consent to you getting married. You cannot marry if you are under 16 years of age.

You are not married to anyone else

It is a criminal offence in Canada to be married to more than one person at a time. If you were previously married, your divorce is not final until 31 days after the date on your divorce judgment from the court.

This applies to marriages anywhere in the world. If you filed for divorce in another country, double check the divorce is final in that other place.

You are not too closely related

You cannot marry someone who you are related to lineally, such as a parent, grandparent or child. You also cannot marry your sibling or half-sibling, whether you are related by blood or adoption.

You have capacity to marry

You must have capacitycapacity The ability to understand information for making a decision and the ability to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of making or not making the decision. Legal capacity is black or white – either a person is capable or is not capable. to marry, meaning you understand the nature of getting married. A person named in a guardianship or trusteeship order or considered incapacitated under another law does not have capacitycapacity The ability to understand information for making a decision and the ability to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of making or not making the decision. Legal capacity is black or white – either a person is capable or is not capable. to get married. A person under the influence of drugs or alcohol also does not have capacitycapacity The ability to understand information for making a decision and the ability to appreciate the reasonably foreseeable consequences of making or not making the decision. Legal capacity is black or white – either a person is capable or is not capable. to marry.

Think about making a prenuptial agreement

A prenuptial agreement is an agreement a couple signs before they get married that clearly says it continues in effect once they get married. It usually says what will happen if you separate, such as how to divide your assets and debts and who, if anyone, will pay spousal support.

You do not have to make a prenuptial agreement. You and your future spouse should discuss whether making one is appropriate for your situation.

The goal of a prenuptial agreement is to set expectations about each person’s roles, obligations, assetsassets Something a person owns that has value. Assets include houses, vehicles, furniture, money and investments. and debtsdebts Money you owe to others, including individuals and companies. Debts include mortgages, credit cards and loans. during the marriage and if you divorce in the future. Often, a prenuptial agreement protects each person’s assetsassets Something a person owns that has value. Assets include houses, vehicles, furniture, money and investments. and debtsdebts Money you owe to others, including individuals and companies. Debts include mortgages, credit cards and loans. if you divorce.

If you and your future spouse decide how you will or will not share your home, belongings and finances, you should make a prenuptial agreement. If you separate and do not have a prenuptial agreement, then a judge may override your decisions and apply the law instead.

If you choose to make one, it is best to start working on the prenuptial agreement well before the wedding date. These agreements take time to prepare and can lead to uncomfortable discussions. It is not a good idea to announce to your future spouse that you want a prenuptial agreement right before the wedding.

Decide what it will say

Think about the following:

• how you will divide your joint assetsassets Something a person owns that has value. Assets include houses, vehicles, furniture, money and investments., including your home, bank accounts, furniture and vehicles
• how you will divide your joint debtsdebts Money you owe to others, including individuals and companies. Debts include mortgages, credit cards and loans., including credit card balances and mortgage
• how you will deal with the family home, such as who will live in it
• property that will not be divided and that one person will keep, such as inheritances or significant assetsassets Something a person owns that has value. Assets include houses, vehicles, furniture, money and investments. they had before the relationship
• whether one person will pay spousal support to the other person
• if you have children, what the parenting arrangements will be
• if you will include each other as beneficiariesbeneficiary A person who receives income or property from a trust. An example of a trust is a deceased person’s estate. in your Wills
• how your financial agreements may change if you have children, one of you becomes ill or other circumstances change

When making your agreement, it is a good idea to learn what the law says about how to divide everything up and spousal support.

Once you both agree on what it should say, put your agreement in writing. You can choose to write it yourself or you can get help from a professional. If you get help, decide who will pay the fees.

Get legal advice

Before you sign the agreement, each of you should get independent legal adviceindependent legal advice Advice that each person involved in a legal issue must get from their own lawyer. Usually the advice is about an agreement to resolve issues. Your lawyer will review the agreement with you to make sure you understand it. They will also let you know if the agreement is unfair or does not follow the law. The other person must see a different lawyer than you to get advice.. This means that you each meet with a different lawyer, who will go through the agreement with you.

The lawyer will explain what you are entitled to under the law and whether the agreement is fair for you. They can also help you make sure the agreement is legally binding, which means the court can enforce the agreement if one person is not following it.

If you need to change your agreement down the road, follow this same process to make sure your changes are legally binding.

Before the ceremony

Contrary to what you see on TV, it is not possible to wake up one day and decide you want to get married at the courthouse that afternoon. You must plan ahead!

There are several steps you must take to make sure your marriage is a legal union in Alberta, including registering it with the government.

Symbolic or religious ceremonies that do not include the required legal elements are not legal marriages. You cannot register these ceremonies as the law does not recognize them as a marriage.

Book an officiant

For your marriage to be legally binding, the officiant must be authorized to perform marriages in Alberta.

The following people can perform marriages:

• a civil marriage commissioner appointed by the Government of Alberta
• a religious leader who is registered with the Government of Alberta
• someone you choose to marry you who gets a temporary marriage commissioner appointment for your wedding day only

It is a good idea to book an officiant as far out as you can. Civil marriage commissioners can be hard to find last minute.

Get a marriage licence

If you are getting married in Alberta, you must get an Alberta marriage licence. It is a legal document that sets out the details of your marriage ceremony, including your names, who married you and where the marriage took place.

You must get a marriage licence before you get married. You can get one at most provincial registry offices. There is a fee of at least $40 – the exact fee depends on the service fee the registry charges.

To apply, you must:

• go to the registry together with your future spouse
• bring valid identification, like a driver’s licence or passport
• bring information about your parents, including their full legal names, where they were born and their original last names
• if you were previously married, bring proof your divorce is final, such as the divorce judgment
• be sober, meaning you are not intoxicated by alcohol or drugs, including prescription medications
• be planning to get married within the next three months, as that is how long the marriage licence is valid for

If any of your documents are not in English, you must provide translations. For example, if you have a divorce judgment from another country that is not in English.

Keep the marriage licence in a safe place until your wedding. Do not fold, mark or otherwise damage the document. Before the ceremony, be sure to give your marriage licence to your officiant.

During the marriage ceremony

The law requires you to have witnesses and for each of you to say certain words during your ceremony. Many other elements of a wedding ceremony are tradition only.

You must have two witnesses who are 18 years or older. They must also be sober, credible, fluent in the language being spoken at the wedding and able to read the forms they are signing.

During the ceremony, you and your spouse must say the following phrases to each other:

• “I do solemnly declare that I do not know of any lawful impediment why I [your name] may not be joined in matrimony to [your spouse’s name].”
• “I call on those persons present to witness that I [your name] do take you [your spouse’s name] to be my lawfully wedded wife/husband/spouse.”

Apart from these phrases, you can choose to include any other words or vows.

After the ceremony

Even after the ceremony, there are steps to take to formalize your marriage.

Register the marriage

The officiant must send the completed marriage licence to Alberta’s Vital Statistics office for registration within 48 hours after the ceremony. The government then creates an official record of your marriage.

Order a marriage certificate

Once the officiant has sent in your marriage licence, you can order a marriage certificate as proof of your marriage. You will not automatically get one. You can order one at most provincial registry offices for a fee.

Take a different last name, if you choose

Changing a last name after getting married is a custom only and is not a legal requirement. You may choose to keep your own last name, take your spouse’s last name or use a combination of your last names.

It is also possible to use your spouse’s last name for social purposes while continuing to use your own for legal purposes, such as your passport, bank accounts and driver’s licence. However, you cannot use both names to try to defraud or trick someone.

If one of you decides to take the other’s name, this is not a legal name change. You can assume this name by changing all your personal documents to your new last name and showing proof of marriage. This means contacting any place that uses your last name, such as your bank, insurance company, an Alberta registry to change your driver’s licence and the Government of Canada to change your passport. Ask them to update your last name due to marriage.