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Family & successionUpdated 2 min read

Registering a marriage in Kenya: the five legal systems

The Marriage Act 2014 recognises Christian, civil, customary, Hindu and Islamic marriages. How each is registered, and what an unregistered union means.

By Wakili Link Editorial

The Marriage Act, 2014 brought every form of marriage in Kenya under one statute. It recognises five systems: Christian, civil, customary, Hindu and Islamic marriages. All of them carry equal legal status, and all of them must be registered.

Who can marry

Both parties must be at least 18, must consent freely and must not be within the prohibited degrees of relationship. A person already in a monogamous marriage cannot contract another marriage while the first subsists.

How registration works

  • Civil marriages are celebrated before the Registrar of Marriages after a notice of intention is published for at least 21 days.
  • Christian, Hindu and Islamic marriages are celebrated by a licensed officiant, who registers the marriage and issues the certificate.
  • Customary marriages must be registered within six months of the ceremony. Both parties apply to the Registrar with evidence that the customary steps were completed.

Why the certificate matters

A marriage certificate is the simplest proof of marriage when you need to:

  1. apply for a spouse's visa or passport change,
  2. claim as a spouse in a succession cause,
  3. assert a claim to matrimonial property, or
  4. add a spouse to medical cover.

Without it, a spouse may have to prove the marriage through witnesses and evidence of the customary process, which is slower and less certain.

Cohabitation is not marriage

Kenyan courts have, in some cases, presumed a marriage from long cohabitation. That presumption is the exception, decided on facts, not a substitute for registration. If you consider yourselves married, register.

This article is general information, not legal advice on your situation.

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    Registering a marriage in Kenya: the five legal systems