Urgent marriages and civil partnerships

There are 2 options available for a couple to take if they need to get married or form a civil partnership quickly due to a serious illness.

The 2 options are:

1. Registrar Generals Licence
2. Waiver of 28/70 Day Notice Period

If you are unsure of which option is best for you please call us on 020 8489 1775, 020 8489 2605 or send an email to registrars@haringey.gov.uk

You may also wish to consider:

• Marriage by Church of England special licence

Registrar Generals Licence

• How to arrange a Registrar Generals Licence
• Template Letters when applying for a Registrar Generals Licence

For those that are seriously ill and not likely to recover, a wedding or civil partnership, civil or religious, can take place any time, anywhere including your home or hospital 24 hours a day using a Registrar Generals Licence (RGL). The RGL is obtained from the borough where the ceremony is to take place. The fee for obtaining a Registrar Generals Licence is £15 and medical evidence that the person is not likely to recover is required, usually in the form of a letter from the doctor treating the unwell partner.

Two template letters that doctors can use if a letter needs to be written are available below.

How to arrange a Registrar Generals Licence

1. Obtain a letter from the doctor treating the unwell partner which outlines the following, see the templates section below:

• The doctor is in medical attendance of the person concerned
• The person is seriously ill and not expected to recover
• The person cannot be moved to a place registered for marriages
• He / she understands the nature and purport of the marriage ceremony

2. One of the parties wishing to get married/form a civil partnership must give notice (normally the person that is well). Please contact 020 8489 2605 / 1775 / 2601 to arrange this during office hours. Staff are currently working from home, any visit to our office must be prearranged. We are open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm and Saturdays until around 3pm. Our address is George Meehan House, 294 High Road, Wood Green, London, N22 8YX. The office closes from 1pm on the first Thursday of each month. If you need help on the first Thursday please call Switchboard on 020 8489 1000 to be put through to us. Outside of office hours please contact the Out of Hours Service on 020 8489 0000 who will arrange for the Superintendent Registrar or a Deputy to contact you. The notice can be taken at any location although it is normally taken at the Register Office.

3. After taking the notice, the Superintendent Registrar will forward the medical letter to the General Register Office so that the application for a Registrar Generals Licence can be considered.

4. If a Registrar Generals licence is granted the ceremony can then take place. For a civil ceremony a Registrar and a Superintendent Registrar will attend. For a religious ceremony only a Registrar will attend. You will need to arrange for any religious person to attend.

The General Register Office can be contacted out of hours to the Custodians Office by calling 0151 471 4223.

Template Letters when applying for a Registrar Generals Licence

Please ask the Consultant responsible for the care of the patient to use the templates below to prepare their letter. The letter should be on headed paper. Please note that there are 2 templates so take care to use the correct one:

• Marriage template (Word, 24KB) 
• Civil Partnerships Template (Word, 24KB) 

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Waiver of 28/70 Day Notice Period

Under normal circumstances a couple must give Notice of Marriage and then wait 28 and sometimes 70 days before they can get married or form a civil partnership.

If illness of one of the partners or somebody important to the wedding means that the 28/70 day period poses a problem, it is possible to apply for a waiver to get the notice period reduced.

There is no guarantee that a waiver will be granted and evidence to support the application will be needed.

Waiver forms can be obtained at the time Notice of Marriage / Civil Partnership is given and a fee applies.

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Marriage by Church of England special licence

If a couple wish to be married in an emergency in a Church of England church, a special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury is required.

In this situation please call 020 7222 5381. The address is Faculty Office, 1 The Sanctuary, London, SW1P 3JT. You can also visit the The Faculty Office website (external link).

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Opening hours

We are open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 4.30pm.