Happily Ever Before and After brochure

By Sarah AirdCategories: Marriage Legalities

This entry is part 30 of 31 in the series Marriage Legalities

It probably seems pretty weird to be thinking about things like wills and family counselling at the time of getting married. But that is exactly what the Australian Government asks us celebrants to encourage you to do!

Under section 42(5)(A) of the Marriage Act 1961, celebrants are required to give couples a brochure “outlining the obligations and consequences of marriage and indicating the availability of marriage education and counselling.” That’s literally a quote from the Act. This requirement was introduced in 1976 in an attempt to slow down the divorce rate (spoiler alert: it didn’t work). The idea was that if people had more information about what they were getting into before getting married, they might reconsider their decision to marry at all, and therefore not get divorced later on. I agree, it’s kind of weird.

Anyway, it’s a thing and we have to give it to you, even though I’m pretty sure most of my couples just throw it in the bin.

Let’s take a look at the current Happily Ever Before and After brochure and what’s in it.

The process of getting married in Australia

First of all, the brochure outlines the process of getting married in Australia. If I’ve done my job correctly, you already know all of this. But I guess it’s good to have it in a snazzy little flow chart. That ticks off the “obligations of marriage” bit from the Act.

Important things to know about marriage in Australia

Here’s the “consequences of marriage bit”: this page outlines just some of the legal consequences of getting married in Australia. It talks about:

access to health and welfare benefits
changing your name (if you want to)
citizenship (marriage does not guarantee a visa)
making a will (any old wills are invalidated by your marriage), and
tax.

It’s pretty dry stuff, but it is also super important. As boring as it is, all couples should take some time to discuss this stuff when they’re getting married. If you can’t discuss these things, should you even be getting married?

Strengthening your marriage

Finally, there’s information on what to do if your relationship is in trouble, before, during, and after your marriage. Honestly I can’t see many couples hanging on to this brochure and magically finding it when they need to know about family dispute resolution, but it is what it is. This section covers off the “indicating the availability of marriage education and counselling” from the Act.

So there you go! That’s what’s in the brochure and why we give it to you. It’s due for a refresh and hopefully soon I’ll have a new brochure to write about!