Marriage Affidavit in Vadodara | Not a Marriage Itself

e-StampNotary

There is no such legal thing as a “notarised marriage”.

If anyone has offered to marry you on a stamp paper before a notary, walk away. It is not a marriage. It creates no marital status, no right to maintenance, no succession rights, and it will not satisfy a passport office, a visa officer, a bank or an insurer. People have been sold this for years and discovered what it was worth at the worst possible moment.

How a marriage actually comes into being, and is recorded

A Hindu marriage is solemnised by ceremony — section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The ceremony makes the marriage; the paperwork records it.

Recording it is the Registrar's job, not a notary's. Under the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Act, 2006, section 3 provides for the State Government to appoint Registrars of Marriages; section 4 provides that every marriage contracted in the State shall be registered; and section 5 requires a memorandum in duplicate to be sent to the Registrar for the area where the marriage was contracted, within thirty days. A Notary has no role in that process at any stage.

And if you are past thirty days, or were married years ago and never registered: non-registration does not invalidate the marriage. Section 8(5) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 puts it directly — the validity of a marriage is not affected by the omission to make the entry. You are married. You simply lack the certificate, and the route to the certificate is the Registrar.

So what is the affidavit for?

It is a statement on oath, by one or both spouses, that they are married — setting out the date, the place, the ceremony performed, the names and details of both parties, and often that the marriage subsists and that neither had a subsisting spouse at the time. It is real evidence of what the deponents have sworn, made under section 8(1)(e) of the Notaries Act, 1952 with the liability that attaches to a false oath.

It is asked for, and it works, in these situations:

Supporting an application to the Registrar of Marriages, particularly a late registration, where the office asks for a joint declaration alongside the memorandum.
Adding a spouse's name to a service record, an insurance policy, a provident fund nomination or a ration card, where the office accepts an affidavit pending the certificate.
Bank and financial formalities where a relationship has to be evidenced.
Name change after marriage, where the affidavit ties the maiden name and the married name to one person.
Declarations of marital status — unmarried, widowed, or married — for employment, visa and matrimonial purposes.

What it is not accepted for.

A spouse visa or dependent visa file. A passport application where the certificate is specifically listed. A claim to matrimonial property or maintenance. Anything where the other side will test the document. For those, get the registration certificate. The affidavit is a bridge, not a destination.

Common situations, straight answers

“We got married in a temple and want it made legal.” If the ceremony required by section 7 was performed, the marriage is already valid. What you want is registration, from the Registrar of Marriages for the area where the marriage was contracted.

“We want to live together, so make a marriage agreement.” No such instrument creates a marriage. We will not draft a document dressed up to look like one.

“We want to end the marriage by mutual agreement on stamp paper.” There is no valid notary divorce or stamp paper divorce. A marriage is dissolved only by a decree of a Family Court — by mutual consent, under section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 or section 28 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954. Terms about maintenance, custody or property can be recorded in a settlement, but the dissolution itself comes from the Court.

“The certificate has my name spelt wrong.” That is a correction application to the Registrar, usually supported by an affidavit and the underlying identity documents.

What it costs, and the seal

Stamp duty on the affidavit is payable as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958; the Act was amended in 2025, so we confirm the current figure at the counter and issue the e-stamp here as a Government authorised centre. The notarial fee for administering the oath is capped at ₹35 by Rule 10(1). Both deponents attend in person with original identity, and the document carries the Notary's signature and official seal, without which section 8(2) says it is not a notarial act at all. Read notarised vs registered if the distinction still feels blurred.

What to bring

Original photo identity of both spouses — Aadhaar, passport or driving licence
Marriage certificate if you already have one, or the wedding invitation and photographs if you do not
Exact date and place of the marriage, and the ceremony performed
Details of the priest or officiant, where the affidavit will refer to the ceremony
Two witnesses with identity documents, where a joint declaration needs them
The letter or form from the office that asked for the affidavit

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Common questions

Can a notary marry us or give us a marriage certificate?

No. A marriage is solemnised by ceremony — for Hindus, under section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — and registered by a Registrar of Marriages under the Gujarat Registration of Marriages Act, 2006, on a memorandum in duplicate filed within thirty days for the area where the marriage was contracted. A notary has no function at any point in that process, and no document sworn before a notary makes anyone married.

We married ten years ago and never registered. Is our marriage valid?

Yes. Non-registration does not invalidate a marriage, and section 8(5) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 says the validity of a marriage is not affected by the omission to make the entry. What you lack is the certificate, not the marriage. Approach the Registrar of Marriages for the area where the marriage was contracted; an affidavit by both of you, sworn before a notary, is commonly filed in support of a late registration.

Will a notarised marriage affidavit work for a spouse visa?

Almost certainly not, and you should plan on that. Visa authorities and passport offices generally want the marriage registration certificate itself, and an affidavit is a statement by the parties rather than a record kept by the State. The affidavit is useful for adding a spouse to a service record or nomination, or in support of a late registration. For anything the other side will test, get the certificate.

Marriage Affidavits: What a Notary Can and Cannot Do