Legal practitioner, Abdulai Jalaldeen has underscored the importance of marriage registration.
Mr. Jalaldeen said registration of marital unions does not only make them valid but also serves as a proof of the union especially in an event that one of the spouses dies without a will.
He indicated that couples in marriages which are not registered could forfeit their right to deceased spouses’ properties as they will be unable to prove that they were married before the death of their partner.
Apart from this, couples may also need their marriage certificates for travelling purposes and other business transactions thus, should endeavour to register their marriages.
“It is the registration that will prove that you’re married and many of us are not doing it. Apart proving that you are married, in the event that there is a problem, take for instance if one of the parties should die, how is the person’s properties going to be shared? Who are supposed to be beneficiaries? You know when we are going to share properties, the spouse of the deceased is one of the people entitled to the estate of the spouse aside from the children and others that come in,” he stated.
“So if your marriage is not registered, how will people know or how will you be identified as a spouse for you to benefit from the estate of your spouse. So it’s very important for you to register”.
Mr. Jalaldeen, who is the Upper East Regional Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, was speaking on the recent revelation that most Muhammadan marriages are unregistered.
Per the laws of Ghana, Customary and Muhammadan marriages are required to be registered within a week after contraction of the union. Failing to do so renders the union invalid.
However, the Registrar General Department has disclosed that about 80 percent of Muhammadan marriages are invalid due to the refusal of many to have their unions registered.
Mr. Jalaldeen blamed this on lack of understanding of the law and the euphoria that characterised new marriages.
He also dispelled notions that registering a Muhammadan or a Customary marriage converts it into an Ordinance or Christian marriage.
According to him, registering these two types of marriages will not convert them into Ordinance ones.
