Section 52 of Marriage Act CAP 150: Licensing ministers of faith
(1) A minister of faith may apply to the Registrar to be appointed as a marriage officer for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The Registrar may appoint a minister of faith who makes an application under subsection (1) as a marriage officer.
(3) The Registrar shall issue a person appointed as a marriage officer under this section with a license.
(4) A person appointed as a marriage officer under this section may only officiate at marriages celebrated according to the traditions of the faith in which the minister of faith serves.
(5) The Registrar may cancel a license issued to a person under this section and shall give written reasons for such withdrawal.
(6) A licence granted in respect of marriages under any law in operation before the commencement of this Act shall, if the licence has not been cancelled at the commencement of this Act, be deemed to be a licence granted under this section.
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- Section 53 - Registration of Christian marriages
(1) Where a marriage is celebrated under Part III of this Act, the person officiating at the marriage shall forward a copy of the certificate of marriage to the Registrar within fourteen days of the...
- Section 54 - Registration of civil marriages
(1) Where the Registrar celebrates a marriage under Part IV of this Act, the Registrar shall register the marriage.
(2) Where a marriage officer celebrates a marriage under Part IV, the marriage...
- Section 55 - Registration of Customary marriage
(1) Where the parties to a marriage under Part V have completed the necessary rituals for their union to be recognised as a marriage under the customary law of any of the parties both shall apply to...
- Section 56 - Registration of Hindu marriages
(1) Where a person authorised by the Registrar celebrates a marriage under Part VI, that person shall record the details of the marriage in the prescribed form and deliver the record to the Registrar...
- Section 57 - Registration of Islamic marriages
(1) Where a Kadhi, sheikh, Mukhi or imam authorised by the Registrar celebrates a marriage under Part
VII of this Act, the Kadhi, sheikh, Mukhi or imam shall—
(a) record the details of the...
- Section 58 - Registration of marriages contracted abroad
(1) A Kenyan who celebrates a marriage outside Kenya may apply to the Registrar to have that marriage registered and the Registrar may register such a marriage only when the Registrar is satisfied...
- Section 59 - Evidence of marriage
(1) A marriage may be proven in Kenya by—
(a) a certificate of marriage issued under this Act or any other written law;
(b) a certified copy of a certificate of marriage issued under this Act or any...
- Section 60 - Copies of decrees of annulment and divorce to be sent to Registrar
Where a court grants a decree of the annulment of a marriage or the dissolution of a marriage, it shall deliver a certified copy of the decree to the Registrar and the Registrar shall register the...
- Section 61 - Registration of foreign annulments and divorces
(1) Where a marriage celebrated in Kenya is annulled or dissolved by a decree of a foreign court, any party to the annulled or dissolved marriage may apply to the Registrar to register the...
- Section 62 - Endorsement of marriage registers
(1) The Registrar shall enter the details of the declaration made under section 8 against the relevant entry in the register of marriages.
(2) The Registrar shall enter the details of the decree...
- Section 63 - Correction of errors
(1) A party to a marriage may apply to the Registrar or to a marriage officer or to a person authorised by the Registrar to correct a clerical error or omission in a register of marriage or a...
- Section 64 - Mediation of disputes in Christian marriages
The parties to a marriage celebrated under Part III may seek the services of any reconciliation bodies established for that purpose that may exist in the public place of worship where the marriage was...
- Section 65 - Grounds for dissolution of a Christian marriage
A party to a marriage celebrated under Part III may petition the court for a decree for the dissolution of the marriage on the ground of—
(a) one or more acts of adultery committed by the other...
- Section 66 - Right to petition for separation or divorce
(1) A party to a marriage celebrated under Part IV may not petition the court for the separation of the parties or for the dissolution of the marriage unless three years have elapsed since the...
- Section 67 - Recognition of decree by foreign court in matrimonial proceedings
Where a foreign court has granted a decree in matrimonial proceedings whether arising out of a marriage celebrated in Kenya or elsewhere, that decree shall be recognized in Kenya if—
(a) either party...
- Section 68 - Mediation of disputes in Customary marriages
(1) The parties to a marriage celebrated under Part V may undergo a process of conciliation or customary dispute resolution before the court may determine a petition for the dissolution of the...
- Section 69 - Grounds for divorce of Customary marriages
(1) A Party to a marriage celebrated under Part V may petition the court for the dissolution of the marriage on the ground of—
(a) adultery;
(b) cruelty;
(c) desertion;
(d) exceptional...
- Section 70 - Grounds for divorce of Hindu marriages
A party to a marriage celebrated under Part VI may petition the court for the dissolution of the marriage on the ground that—
(a) the marriage has irretrievably broken down;
(b) the other party has...
- Section 71 - Governing law for Islamic divorce matters
The dissolution of marriage celebrated under Part VII shall be governed by Islamic law.
- Section 72 - Registration of divorce under Islamic law
Where a Kadhi, sheikh, imam or person authorised by the Registrar grants a decree for the dissolution of a marriage celebrated under Part VII, the Kadhi, sheikh, imam, Mukhi or authorised person shall...
- Section 73 - Grounds for annulment of marriage
(1) A party to a marriage may petition the court to annul the marriage on the ground that—
(a) the marriage has not been consummated since its celebration;
(b) at the time of the marriage and...
- Section 74 - Party to petition for annulment of marriage
(1) A petition for annulment may be presented only by one of the parties.
(2) Where a petitioner alleges facts of which only one party was ignorant at the date of that marriage, it may be presented...
- Section 75 - Effect of a decree of annulment
The parties to a marriage which has been annulled by decree absolute of the court shall be deemed never to have been married but a decree of annulment shall not—
(a) render lawful anything which was...
- Section 76 - Effect of a promise to marry
Except as provided in this section a promise by a person to marry another person is not binding.
- Section 77 - Grounds for order of maintenance
(1) The court may order a person to pay maintenance to a spouse or a former spouse—
(a) if the person has refused or neglected to provide for the spouse or former spouse as required by this...
- Section 78 - Lapsing of maintenance
Except where an order for maintenance of a spouse is expressed to be for any shorter period or where any such order has revoked and subject to section 79, the order shall lapse—
(a) if the...
- Section 79 - Termination of an order of maintenance
An order of maintenance shall lapse upon the remarriage of the beneficiary of the order.
- Section 80 - Revocation and variation of an order for maintenance
(1) The court may revoke or vary a subsisting order for maintenance of any kind, whether secured or unsecured, if it is satisfied that the order was based or obtained as the result of any...
- Section 81 - Assessment of maintenance
Maintenance payable to a person under an order of the court shall not be assigned or transferred or liable to be attached, sequestrated or levied upon for, or in respect of, any debt or claim.
- Section 82 - Recovery of maintenance arrears
(1) Despite any other period of limitation prescribed by the Limitation of Actions Act (Cap. 22), no instalment of maintenance shall be recoverable in proceedings instituted after a period of three...
- Section 83 - Compounding of maintenance
(1) The court may, if it is satisfied that a disposition of property has been made by the spouse or former spouse of the person by or on whose behalf the application is made, within the preceding...
- Section 84 - Other relief
(1) The court may order a party to refrain from molesting a spouse or former spouse.
(2) No proceedings may be brought to compel one spouse to cohabit with the other, but a spouse who alleges that he...
- Section 85 - Order concerning children
Custody and maintenance of children shall be dealt with in accordance with the Children Act (Cap. 141) and any other written law relating to children.
- Section 86 - False statement in the notice of intention to marry or notice of objection
(1) Any person who, in a notice of intention to marry under section 25 or notice of objection to an intended marriage under section 28, makes a false statement commits an offence and shall on...
- Section 87 - Marriage to a person under minimum age
Any person who marries a person who is below the minimum age commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or a fine not exceeding one...
- Section 88 - Marriage of persons within prohibited marriage relationship
(1) A party to a purported celebration of a marriage where the parties are within a prohibited marriage relationship commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not...
- Section 89 - Coercion, fraud, etc.
A party to a ceremony purporting to be a marriage, who at the time, knows or has reason to believe that the consent of the other party was induced by coercion or fraud or by a mistake as to the nature...
- Section 90 - Ceremony performed by unauthorized person
A person who celebrates a union purporting to be a marriage and who at the time of the ceremony is not authorised to do so commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a...
- Section 91 - Absence of witnesses
A person who celebrates a union purporting to be a marriage at which the required witnesses are not present commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for a term not...
- Section 92 - Offence relating to the celebration or witnessing of a union
(1) A person commits an offence if that person celebrates or witnesses a union purporting to be a marriage where that person knows or should know that— (a) at least one party is below the age of...
- Section 93 - Celebration of other marriages
(1) A marriage recognised under section 6 may be celebrated in accordance to the rules made by the Cabinet Secretary.
(2) The Cabinet Secretary may make rules for the celebration of any marriage.
- Section 94 - Provisions on delegated powers
(1) The Cabinet Secretary may make regulations for the better carrying into effect of this Act.
(2) Despite subsection (1), regulations may provide for—
(a) forms to be used and fees to be paid in...
- Section 95 - Rules
The Rules Committee established under the provisions of the Civil Procedure Act (Cap. 21) may make rules regulating court practice or procedure under this Act.
- Section 96 - Transitional Provisions
(1) A person who, immediately before the date of commencement of this Act, was a Registrar of
Marriages under the Marriage Act (Repealed) or the African Christian Marriage and Divorce...
- Section 98 - Savings
(1) A subsisting marriage which under any written or customary law hitherto in force constituted a valid marriage immediately before the coming to force of this Act is valid for the purposes of this...