SPAIN'S government has increased the minimum legal age for marriage from 14 to 16, and will allow notaries and court secretaries to carry out weddings and uncontested divorces where there are no underage children involved.
A reform of the Civil Code means marriage rites in accordance with Orthodox, Buddhist, Jehovah's Witness and Mormon tradition will now be recognised in terms of their legal content.
Until now, only Catholic, Jewish and Muslim ceremonies were legally recognised as a marriage, since these are faiths of long-standing tradition in Spain.
Changes to the Criminal Code two years ago meant the minimum legal age for consenting sexual relations went up from 13 to 16, and minimum marriage age has risen in line with this.
It also means that for a minor, under 18, to be considered an 'adult' in all legal senses of the word through having married, this will not apply until age 16.
Previously, a 14-year-old who legally married would no longer be considered a 'minor' at law.
Court secretaries, notaries, Civil Registry managers, justice of the peace, mayors or elected councillors can now perform marriage ceremonies and attend to fostering and adoption matters.
The aim is to free up judges to clear their backlog of court cases by giving legal matters which do not involve disputes to other representatives of judicial bodies
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com