The following must be submitted to contract a marriage:
- personally coming in, a joint written application to marry. If the vital statistics data of both future spouses are entered into the Population Register and they have lived in Estonia at least 6 months before submission of the application, the application to the local government of county center may be submitted in the e-population register;
- identity documents of both prospective spouses;
- birth certificates of both prospective spouses;
- in the case of individuals who have been married before, a document proving that the previous marriage has ended or been annulled;
- a certificate of legal capacity to contract the marriage if a prospective spouse’s place of residence is in a foreign state or if he/she has lived in Estonia less than six months;
- a document certifying the legal stay in Estonia of an alien if he/she or his/her family member is not a citizen of the European Union.
Additional information
The documents submitted to a vital statistics office must be in Estonian, Russian or English. If the documents are translated, the translation must be prepared by a sworn translator. A foreign document as the basis of the registration of a marriage must be legalized or apostilled unless otherwise specified by an international treaty.
A marriage can be contracted within one to six months after submitting an application to marry. With good reason, a vital statistics official may reduce this period.
Upon contraction of the marriage, either spouse can choose to take his or her spouse’s surname or add the surname of the spouse (linked by a hyphen) to his or her surname as used prior to the marriage. Such a new surname may not consist of more than two names linked by a hyphen and only one of the spouses may use such a surname.
When registering the birth of a child, the surname consisting of two surnames may not be given to the child.
To register a marriage, a state fee of 70 EUR must be paid. The state fee has to be paid before submitting the application to the vital statistics office, which will certify the contraction of the marriage. The state fee is not required if the marriage is registered by a notary, but then the notary fee must be paid. On request, a marriage certificate may be issued to certify the marriage.
If an alien wishes to contract a marriage in Estonia, he or she has to certify that he or she is staying in Estonia on a legal basis stipulated by the Aliens Act. In addition, a citizen of a foreign state must submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract a marriage, which certifies that he or she has no hindrances to the contraction of the marriage according to the law of his or her country of residence. The certificate must also be valid on the day of the contraction of the marriage. If an alien cannot submit a certificate of legal capacity to contract the marriage with good reason, he or she may turn to the county court, in whose area of work the marriage is to be contracted, to obtain a permit for the contraction of the marriage without this certificate.
- age – marriage can only occur between adults;
- blood relation – relatives in direct ascending and descending lines cannot be married, and neither can brothers or sisters, half-brothers or half-sisters;
- adoptive relation – individuals whose blood relation mentioned in the previous point is based on adoption or has ended with adoption cannot be married;
- an existing valid marriage;
- a cohabitation agreement – unless it is desired to contract a marriage with the same person with whom one is a registered partner.
In their application to be married, the spouses choose their property relationship (jointness of property, assets to be set-off incrementally or separateness of property). The details on the assets to be set-off incrementally or separateness of property are entered in the marital property register.
If registered partners decide to marry, the property relationship chosen at the time of signing the cohabitation agreement remains valid for them.
Related
Application for the submission of a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage (PDF) Annex to the regulation by the Minister of Regional Affairs
Last updated: 18.02.2025
