Unless a couple married under Mohammadan law can adequately prove why their marriage isn’t registered within a week of the date of marriage, such marriage will be invalid by law, two lawyers have said.
The lawyers, Emmanuel Broni Bediako and Jude Adu Amankwah, both private legal practitioners who appeared as guests on Adom TV’s legal education show, Me Wo Case Anaa, also provided perspectives into why an ordinance marriage performed after a customary marriage is invalid.
According to them, even though customary marriages may be potentially polygamous, marriage under ordinance isn’t and as such, the two can’t be in existence, adding that it is the reason a mandatory 21-day notice is given by a registrar of marriage so that he/she is clear in their minds that there are no such impediments.
“One cannot marry under customary law and later get married to another woman under the ordnance marriage”, Mr. Bediako stressed.
According to him, a man risks bigamy if he married another woman under ordinance when he is already married customarily, adding that any man who wants to marry another woman under ordinance must first dissolve his customary marriage to clear the way for an ordinance one.
However, in the case where by the first marriage is a Muhammadan marriage, one can marry to another through the customary marriage because these two marriage types support polygamy.
Watch the full show in the video above.
VIDEO (Me Wo Case Anaa) A Muhammadan Marriage not registered within a week is invalid
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