■ <B>Legal definition of marriage </B>? Marriage is the union of two persons of different sex who decide to live together and found a family. Any person above 18 years old has the right to get married. The law also states that those aged between 16 and 18 years old have the right to marry but only with their parents? consent.

■ <B>Conditions for a civil marriage</B> ? To get married, the two future spouses should be free (not married or divorced); there must be free consent and no objection should be made by other parties within the ten days of publication.

■ <B> Types of marriage</B> ? Religious marriage has no legal stand on its own. Civil marriage should be either celebrated by a civil status officer or by a priest authorized to celebrate civil marriages or still by a priest in the presence of a civil status officer; in which case it is called a religious marriage having civil effect. The marriage can be celebrated at the civil status office or at home. In the latter case, the officer does it after office hours and additional fees must be paid.

■ <B> Matrimonial regimes</B> ? The regime lays down the rules for the economic relationship between spouses and the fate of their property when the regime is dissolved. Besides the communauté des biens and séparation des biens regimes, there is another one ? the contractual or conventional regime written by a notary and which states the specific conditions of the marriage. In that specific case, the spouses have to inform the civil status officer of the name of the notary. The communauté des biens under patrimoine propre implies that goods and property obtained before the marriage by one of the spouses ? through donation, succession or legacy or payment of an insurance policy for instance ? remains his/her property. But goods acquired during the marriage belong to both spouses and none can sell them without the other?s consent. Under the ?séparation des biens?, all goods acquired before or during the marriage remain the property of the one purchasing them. The couple may choose to change the regime after five years of marriage.

■ <B> Procedures for a civil marriage</B> ? Both spouses must go to the civil status office with their identity cards and birth certificates dating less than three months. The officer will then publish the banns on the notice board to make sure that there is no objection to the marriage. After ten days, the couple can get married within the next three months. If they wait longer, they will have to start the whole process again.

■ <B>Duties and responsibilities of spouses</B> ? They first have the duty of living together and choosing their house together. They also have the duty of faithfulness, help and support. Finally, they need to ensure the management and moral direction of the family involving the education of children.

■ <B> Unauthorised marriages</B> ? There are specific cases where marriage is not allowed by the law. It is the case of a grandfather and his granddaughter, for instance. It is also normally the case for an aunt and her nephew unless specific and serious conditions lead the judge to lift the interdiction ? in case of pregnancy, for instance.

■ <B>Difference between cancellation and dissolution </B>? There is dissolution of a marriage in case of death of one of the spouses, divorce, cancellation or if one of the spouses has been absent from the conjugal home for more than ten years. For a marriage to be dissolve, the plaintiff has to prove that he/she has been forced to get married ? by violent behaviour for instance ? or that there was an error on the person. Cancellation can only be obtained through an order of the Supreme Court.

■ <B> Delay before re-marrying after divorce</B> ? There is no such delay for men. However, a woman is requested to wait for 300 days after her divorce was obtained to make sure she is not pregnant. She can produce a medical certificate to guarantee she is not pregnant if she does not want to wait those 300 days.