Getting married in Belgium
Getting married in Belgium as a Dutch citizen
As a Dutch citizen you can marry in Belgium if one of you is Belgian, lives in Belgium, or has had their habitual residence here for more than three months. Two Dutch nationals who both live in the Netherlands cannot legally marry here. For those who can, the paperwork is simpler than for most foreigners: no apostille within the EU, and the registrar speaks Dutch. The two things that make the difference are the matrimonial property regime and what you have to register in the Netherlands afterwards. The general rules for non-Belgians are in the guide on marrying in Belgium as a foreigner. This page covers what is specific to Dutch citizens.
Elian Van Cutsem, founder of Ringske
Who can marry in Belgium as a Dutch citizen?
The Belgian rule is in Article 44 of the Belgian Code of Private International Law : a marriage can be performed in Belgium if, at the time of the ceremony, one of the future spouses is Belgian, has their domicile in Belgium, or has had their habitual residence here for more than three months. One of you is enough.
The Dutch government says the same in other words. According to NederlandWereldwijd , as a Dutch citizen you can marry in Belgium if you are registered here, live here, or marry a Belgian partner. Two men or two women can marry in Belgium. You cannot marry at the Dutch embassy.
If you both live in the Netherlands and neither of you is Belgian, the legal wedding takes place at a Dutch town hall. A party, a symbolic ceremony or a church wedding in Belgium can still follow. In law, the marriage that counts is then the one in the Netherlands.
Belgium assesses whether you may marry under the law of your own nationality. For a Dutch citizen, NederlandWereldwijd lists these conditions: you are both at least 18, neither of you is already married or in a registered partnership, and parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and brothers and sisters may not marry each other. If you are under guardianship (curatele), you need consent from the guardian or the cantonal judge. How this works for a partner of another nationality is in the guide on marrying in Belgium as a foreigner.
The Belgian declaration, not the Dutch notice
In Belgium it starts with the marriage declaration at the civil registry of the town where one of you lives. That is also where you marry. By law it can be made no earlier than six months and no later than fourteen days before the wedding, says Vlaanderen.be . If you both live abroad and one of you is Belgian, it can be made in the town of the last Belgian residence of one of you, of the residence of a blood relative up to the second degree, or of the Belgian place of birth.
Many towns want the file earlier. Ghent asks for the declaration at least six weeks before the wedding. In Hasselt the civil registry checks the foreign documents first, and only then do you sign the declaration. If extra checks are needed, the file goes to the public prosecutor. Hasselt writes that such an investigation takes five months on average. What each city asks is in getting married by town.
In the Netherlands the counterpart is the notice of intended marriage (melding voorgenomen huwelijk), formerly called "going into ondertrouw". You give it to the municipality at least two weeks before the wedding, and you name two to four witnesses, writes the Dutch government . That is the procedure for a wedding at a Dutch municipality. The list from NederlandWereldwijd for a wedding in Belgium includes no notice to a Dutch municipality. There, you make the Belgian declaration.
Witnesses work differently too. In the Netherlands there are two to four. In Belgium you choose none to four, for the two of you together, and they must be adults, writes Ghent . How to choose them is covered under witnesses.
Which documents a Dutch citizen needs
The Belgian town sets the list, not the Dutch government. Knokke-Heist spells it out. If you are registered in the population or foreigners' register, you bring an identity document, a copy of your birth certificate and, if it is not already in the register, proof that you are not married. The town only requests the birth certificate itself for people born in Belgium or whose certificate has been transcribed here. If you were born in the Netherlands, you bring it yourself.
If you are not registered in Belgium, for example the Dutch partner who lives in the Netherlands, you also bring proof of nationality, proof of unmarried status and a certificate of main residence. That is how Vlaanderen.be and Knokke-Heist put it. Bruges and Hasselt first see you by appointment to say, per nationality, which documents are needed. Do that before you order anything in the Netherlands.
You request a birth certificate from the Dutch municipality that drew it up, even if you no longer live there, writes the Dutch government .
If you are a Dutch citizen living in Belgium, NederlandWereldwijd says you do not need a certificate of capacity to marry (verklaring van huwelijksbevoegdheid). If your marital status is not known in the Belgian National Register, the town asks for a statement of marital status. According to NederlandWereldwijd , you request it from the Belgian town where you live, as an extract from the population register showing your marital status, or from the Dutch municipality if you are still in the BRP. The embassy in Brussels does not issue it. If your marital status in Belgium shows as "undetermined", you can give the town proof so it can be corrected.
If you live in the Netherlands or have ever lived there, you request a certificate of capacity to marry from your (last) Dutch municipality, writes NederlandWereldwijd . A certificate of unmarried status goes through the civil registry of your last place of residence, according to the Dutch government . Ask the Belgian town which of the two it wants.
Some Belgian towns ask for a certificate of customary law, also called a declaration of law or certificat de coutume. The Dutch embassy has not issued one since 1 October 2017, because Dutch law does not provide for it. Instead there is a note from the embassy . You print it and send it to the town where you are marrying.
No apostille, but ask for the multilingual form
Since 16 February 2019 a regulation on public documents has applied in every EU country, explains the European e-Justice Portal . A Dutch document on birth, marriage, capacity to marry, marital status or nationality must be accepted in Belgium without an apostille. The general page on Vlaanderen.be talks about legalisation. For documents from another member state, the regulation takes precedence.
Ask for the multilingual standard form with every document. It is a standard translation you get from the authority that issues the document. With that form attached, the receiving authority may only ask for a translation in exceptional cases. There is no standard form for nationality.
How this works at a Dutch counter is shown by the municipality of The Hague . You request the form from the municipality that issued the original document, at the same time as the document. It is available for an extract or copy of a certificate, for a certificate of capacity to marry and for a BRP extract on residence or marital status. The Hague charges the same amount for the form as for the document, and aims to send it within three weeks. Other municipalities set their own fees.
The ceremony: in Dutch
In Flanders the registrar speaks Dutch during the civil ceremony. If one of you does not speak Dutch, you bring an official interpreter and pay for them yourselves, writes Leuven . If you both speak Dutch, no interpreter is needed. For a Dutch citizen, that cost disappears.
If you marry in Brussels or Wallonia, ask the town which language the ceremony is held in and what it expects if one of you does not speak that language.
Which matrimonial regime applies: Belgian or Dutch?
Which law applies to your property is not decided by the country where you marry. The EU regulation on matrimonial property regimes decides it. Belgium and the Netherlands both take part, says the e-Justice Portal . The rules on applicable law cover couples who marry after 29 January 2019.
If you make no choice, the law of the country where you have your first common habitual residence after the wedding applies (Article 26). The recitals of the regulation add: shortly after the marriage. If you have no common residence, your common nationality counts, and failing that the country with which you are jointly most closely connected.
An example. Noor is Dutch, Bram is Belgian, and they marry in Antwerp. If they stay in Antwerp afterwards, their marriage falls under Belgian law unless they choose otherwise. If they move to Breda together straight after the wedding, it falls under Dutch law. The country of the ceremony plays no part. The same goes for two Dutch nationals who live in Ghent and marry there: without a choice, the Belgian regime applies to them.
You can also choose yourselves (Article 22): the law of the country where one of you habitually resides at that moment, or of a country whose nationality one of you holds. That choice is in writing, dated and signed by both of you. If the member state where you both live has additional formal requirements for marriage agreements, those apply too (Article 23). In Belgium a marriage contract always goes through a notary.
How the two regimes differ
If you marry in Belgium without a contract and Belgian law applies, your marriage falls under the statutory community regime. According to notaris.be there are then three estates: a personal estate for each of you and a joint estate. What you owned before the wedding stays your own, as does what you inherit or receive as a gift. Joint are the income earned during the marriage, what you buy together, such as a home, and goods where nobody can prove whose they are.
If Dutch law applies, the default since 1 January 2018 is the limited community of property, writes the Dutch government . What was yours alone before the marriage stays yours, as do inheritances and gifts. What you already owned together and what you acquire during the marriage becomes joint. A business that already existed stays private, but the partner who runs it pays the other a compensation. On divorce you each receive half of what falls within the community.
At first sight the two look alike. They are still two different laws, each with its own details. This is a summary of two official pages, not advice. Book a meeting with a notary before the wedding. Tell them where you will live after the wedding and which nationality each of you holds. What a marriage contract covers and when to make it is in that guide.
After the wedding: registering the marriage in the Netherlands
A marriage concluded in Belgium is recognised in the Netherlands, writes NederlandWereldwijd . What you then have to do depends on where the Dutch partner lives.
If you live in the Netherlands, you are required to register the foreign marriage certificate with your own municipality of residence, as soon as possible after you get home. The municipality then updates your details in the Personal Records Database (BRP). It is free. You bring, among other things, the original marriage certificate and an identity document for you and your partner, writes NederlandWereldwijd . A Belgian marriage certificate does not need to be legalised for use in the Netherlands, according to NederlandWereldwijd . Ask the Belgian town for the multilingual standard form with the certificate, as above.
If you live abroad, including in Belgium, you do not have to register anything. You can have the Belgian certificate converted into a Dutch one by the National Tasks department (Landelijke Taken) of the municipality of The Hague, says the Dutch government . It is not required, but it makes it easier to get an extract later. According to the municipality of The Hague , the conversion is free and you only pay for registered post. It can only be done online, the current waiting time is fifteen months, and a certificate in Dutch, English, French or German does not need a translation.
If, as a Dutch citizen abroad, you are registered in the Non-residents Records Database (RNI), note that a converted certificate is not added to it. You also cannot have your marital status changed in the RNI, The Hague writes on its page about RNI details . For what follows in Belgium, see after the wedding: what is left to arrange.
Your name after the wedding
In Belgium, marriage has no effect on the spouses' surnames. You may use your spouse's name, explains the e-Justice Portal .
In the Netherlands your official name does not change either. You may use your partner's surname in daily life and have that name registered with your municipality in the BRP, without your partner's consent, writes the Dutch government . Organisations such as the Tax Administration then address you that way. Bruges advises the non-Belgian partner to ask their own embassy whether a change of surname after the wedding is possible.
In order
First check that one of you meets Article 44. Then make an appointment with the Belgian town and ask for its list for the Dutch partner. Next, order the Dutch documents, each with the multilingual standard form, from the municipality that issues them. Talk to a notary about the regime before the wedding. Make the declaration within the window your town asks for. After the wedding, request a copy of the marriage certificate with the standard form and register the marriage in the Netherlands if the Dutch partner lives there.
The declaration checklist lists the steps of the declaration. The wedding checklist puts them on your wedding date, with everything else.