legalities of getting married in CR?

[fournier999]

Hi – I’m considering getting married in Costa Rica this Christmas. I’ve come across a number of vacation-type companies on the web that offer to make the plans for you (for a fee) and I also checked the CR embassy info – problem is, the info from all of these sources doesn’t match. What documents are required (birth certificate, criminal record check, declaration of single status?)and do they need to be notarized and then certified by the CR consulate in your home country first?

Please advise…

thanks,
sue

[GringoTico]

Any attorney can perform the ceremony, and the marriage is legally binding, supposedly the world over. If I remember correctly, the only document you need is a certified birth certificate (which you can get through the mail in the U.S.) OR your passport. The attorney will take care of the rest. You’ll then want to attach an “official” translation in English to the document (I did it myself) should you need to present it for something in the U.S. Funny thing is, in 20 years I don’t think I have. As a matter of fact, I wonder where it is???

Hey, if you can’t produce the contract, is there a contract? Sounds like that feminist joke, “If a man yells in the woods, is he still wrong?”, or my favorite bumper sticker, “My wife says I don’t listen to her…or something like that”.

To be certain, check with a CR attorney.

[dsullivan]

In September, while in Costa Rica on business/pleasure, we got married through our atty. No frills, just the paperwork routine. Was going to cost $900 and our jaws dropped. So they brought it down to $750. Still a lot for us, considering we weren’t having a preacher and church ceremony. We went for it though because we had planned to do this while in Costa Rica this time. He said it would take at least a couple of months for the paperwork to go through the ministry. In the meantime, back in the states, we had moved and were having a difficult time trying to open bank accounts, get driver’s licenses, etc. under the new name because we had no “marriage certificate”. We decided to just go to the JP here and get the deed done. So we paid $82 and got married. Again, no frills. Our atty in Costa Rica called us and said there were new forms that he wasn’t aware of that we’d have to fill out, and we were still not married in Costa Rica. He reimbursed us about $650 so we figured he charged us quite a chunk for his services and that the fees for a marriage license are probably about the same as here, give or take a few dollars. He is going to go ahead and fill out the paperwork for us, and send it in again…so we will have a marriage license on file in Costa Rica. We were only required to give him our passports for ID.

We actually found it more expensive and more of a hassle getting married there. We thought it would be less expensive, when in fact it was almost $700 more than the states. The license isn’t good until it goes through the ministry…which can take months. Then, if any changes take place in the ministry…new paperwork may have to be filled out and refiled…taking who knows how many more months of time. We still haven’t found out if our marriage license is valid there or not.

It’s a lot easier to marry in the states, at least from our perspective. You may have better luck than we had though. Just giving you the facts of one story.

Good luck to you!
Diane

[fournier999]

Thanks for the info Gringotico and DSullivan!

I’m still waiting to hear back from my email to the local CR consulate, but I checked with ACRC and Jorge confirmed that to get married you don’t need to have all those documents verified by the CR embassy in Canada – that’s only if you’re planning to apply for residency too (which I won’t be doing until later in the year). So we’re good to go!

pura vida
suzanne

[Author]

Posts