There are more and more married couples who choose the civil ceremony as an alternative formula to the classic church wedding for different and personal reasons, what the bride and groom ignored sometimes, however, is that there are very precise articles of the civil code in establishing the place and form of the civil wedding.
Let’s look at them in detail:
Art. 106 Place of celebration
The marriage must be celebrated publicly in the municipal house before the registrar to whom the request for publication was made.
Art. 107 Form of the celebration
On the day indicated by the parties, the registrar, in the presence of two witnesses, including relatives, shall read to the bride and groom Articles 143, 144 and 147; receive from each of the parties personally, one after the other, the declaration that they wish to take each other to be husband and wife respectively, and thereafter declare that they are joined in marriage. The marriage certificate must be completed immediately after the celebration.
Art. 109 Celebration in different municipality
When there is a need or convenience to celebrate the marriage in a municipality other than the one indicated in Art. 106, the registrar, after the time limit established in the first paragraph of Art. 99, requires in writing the official of the place where the marriage is to be performed. The request is mentioned in the act of celebration and included therein. On the day following the celebration of the marriage, the officer before whom the marriage was celebrated shall send a certified copy of the act to the officer from whom the request was made for transcription.
Art. 110 Celebration outside the municipal house
If one of the bride and groom, due to infirmity or other justified impediment at the registrar’s office, is unable to go to the municipal house, the officer shall move with the secretary to the place where the impeded groom is, and there, in the presence of four witnesses, shall proceed to the celebration of the marriage according to Art. 107.
Art. 113 Marriage performed before an apparent registrar
A marriage shall be deemed to have been celebrated before the registrar if it was celebrated before a person who, without having the capacity of registrar, publicly exercised the functions of the registrar, unless both spouses, at the time of the celebration, knew that the said person did not have that capacity.
Patrimonial Regime in the Civil Code
Civil Code articles explain the differences between the community property regime and the separation of property regime.
Communion of Goods
Article 177 Object of communion
They constitute the object of communion:
(a) purchases made by both spouses together or separately during the marriage, excluding purchases of personal property;
(b) the fruits of each spouse’s own property, received and not consumed at the dissolution of community;
(c) the income from the separate business of each of the spouses if, at the dissolution of community, it has not been consumed;
(d) businesses operated by both spouses and established after marriage. In the case of businesses owned by one of the spouses prior to the marriage but managed by both, community concerns only the profits and increments.
Article 178 Assets intended for business operation
Assets intended for the operation of the business of one of the spouses established after the marriage and increases in the business also established earlier are considered to be the subject of the community only if they exist at the time of its dissolution.
Sec. 179 Personal property
They are not objects of community and are personal property of the spouse:
(a) property which, prior to the marriage, the spouse owned or with respect to which he or she had a right in rem to enjoy;
(b) property acquired after marriage by gift or inheritance, when the deed of gift or will does not specify that it is attributed to the community;
(c) property of strictly personal use of each spouse and their accessories;
(d) property used for the practice of the spouse’s profession, except for property used for the operation of a business forming part of the community;
(e) property obtained by way of damages as well as pension pertaining to partial or total loss of working capacity;
(f) property acquired with the price of the transfer of the personal property listed above or the exchange thereof, provided that this is expressly stated at the time of purchase.
The purchase of real estate, or movable property listed in Art. 2683, made after marriage, is excluded from communion, pursuant to subparas. c), (d) and (f) of the preceding paragraph, when such exclusion results from the deed of purchase if the other spouse was also a party to it.
Separation of Assets
The spouses may agree that each shall retain sole ownership of property acquired during the marriage.
Art. 217 Administration and enjoyment of property
Each spouse has the enjoyment and administration of the property of which he or she is the sole owner. If one of the spouses has been given power of attorney to administer the property of the other with the obligation to account for the fruits, he or she is obligated to the other spouse according to the rules of mandate (1710, 1718). If one of the spouses has administered the property of the other by power of attorney without the obligation to account for the fruits, he and his heirs, at the request of the other spouse or at the dissolution or termination of the civil effects of the marriage, are obliged to deliver the existing fruits and are not liable for those consumed. If one of the spouses, despite the opposition of the other, administers the other’s property or otherwise performs acts relating to said property, he or she is liable for damages and for the failure to receive the fruits.
Article 218 Obligations of the spouse enjoying the property of the other spouse
The spouse who enjoys the property of the other spouse is subject to all the obligations of the usufructuary (1001).
Article 219 Proof of ownership of property
A spouse may prove by any means against the other that he or she has sole ownership of property. Property that neither spouse can prove sole ownership of is the undivided equal ownership of both spouses.
Rights and Duties of Spouses in the Civil Code
The articles of the Civil Code explain what the rights and duties of spouses are for the Italian state.
Article 143 Mutual rights and duties of spouses
By marriage, the husband and wife acquire the same rights and assume the same duties. From marriage comes a mutual obligation to fidelity, moral and material assistance, cooperation in the interest of the family, and cohabitation. Both spouses are required, each according to his or her own substance and capacity for professional or household work, to contribute to the needs of the family.
Art. 143a Wife’s surname
The wife adds her husband’s surname to her own surname and retains it during her widowhood until she moves on to a new marriage.
Article 144 Address of family life and family residence
The spouses agree with each other on the direction of family life and set the residence of the family according to the needs of both and the preeminent needs of the family. Each spouse has the power to implement the agreed upon direction.
Art. 145 Judge’s intervention
In case of disagreement, either spouse may request, without formality, the intervention of the judge who, after hearing the views expressed by the spouses and, to the extent appropriate, by the cohabiting children who have reached the age of sixteen, attempts to reach an agreed solution. Where this is not possible and the disagreement concerns the establishment of residence or other essential affairs, the court, if expressly and jointly requested by the spouses, shall, by a non-appealable order, adopt the solution it deems most appropriate to the needs of family unity and life.
Art. 147 Duties to children
Marriage imposes an obligation on both spouses to support, educate and bring up their offspring taking into account the abilities, natural inclination and aspirations of the children.
Article 148 Concurrence in burdens
Spouses shall fulfill the obligation provided for in the preceding article in proportion to their respective substances and according to their capacity for professional or household work. When the parents do not have sufficient means, the other legitimate or natural ascendants, in order of proximity, are obliged to provide the parents with the necessary means so that they can fulfill their duties to the children. In the event of default, the president of the court, upon the application of any person having an interest, after hearing the defaulter and taking information, may order by decree that a share of the obligor’s income, in proportion to the same, be paid directly to the other spouse or to the person bearing the expenses for the maintenance, education and upbringing of the offspring. The decree served on the interested parties and the third party debtor, constitutes an enforcement order (Code Proc. Civ. 474), but the parties and the third party debtor, may file an opposition within twenty days of service. Opposition is governed by the rules regarding opposition to the injunction decree, as applicable. The parties and the third-party debtor may always apply, in the forms of ordinary proceedings, for the modification and revocation of the order.
That said.
I hope you have found what you have reported on this article useful, and before we conclude, we would like to remind you that you can copy/paste these articles should you also want to include them in your wedding booklet.
I am Paolo Furlan founder of the music agencies Wedding Symphony specializing in ceremony music and Wedding Music Fun specializing in wedding music and entertainment. Follow our social channels to stay up to date with the latest news and get helpful tips on how to best plan your wedding!
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