Registered partnership

You must declare your intention in the municipality where you wish to register your partnership.

• You and your partner must both be 18 years or older.
• You and your partner must both understand the legal consequences of a registered partnership.
• Your registered partnership may never take place under duress.
• You and your partner may not be married or in a registered partnership with someone else. Double registered partnerships are not permitted in the Netherlands.
• Are you under guardianship? You will need the permission of the guardian or the limited jurisdiction judge.
• You may not enter into a registered partnership with your own child, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, grandchild, half brother or half sister.
• You will need at least 2 and no more than 4 witnesses. The witnesses must be 18 years or older. 
• There must be at least 2 weeks between the declaration and the date of partnership registration. You can plan your registration up to one year beforehand.

Dispensation to marry

Do you not meet these requirements? The Minister of Justice and Security can grant a dispensation. For example: if you are brother and sister by adoption. This is known as dispensation to marry. 

In the municipality of Schagen, there are several options for registering a partnership:

• Free of charge. This is possible if at least one of you is a resident of the municipality.
• Budget.
• In the Council Chamber of the Town Hall.
• In a location of your choice in the municipality of Schagen.

Free of charge

Your partnership ceremony can take place free of charge on Mondays at 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM. This is only possible if at least one of you is a resident of the municipality. A free registered partnership ceremony only covers the essential formalities. There will not be a speech. The ceremony will take place in a meeting room. Only the wedding couple and the witnesses may attend. 

Due to the 1.5 metre corona rule, only 2 witnesses are allowed to come to the Town Hall. The persons who are permitted to attend are: 2 partners, 2 witnesses and the wedding registrar.

Budget

You can also have your partnership registered at a lower cost. This is known as a budget registered partnership. Just like the free registered partnership, the ceremony will take place in a meeting room. There will not be a speech. Only the wedding couple and the witnesses may attend. You can choose various dates and times. You may register your partnership on:

• Monday between 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM
• Tuesday through Thursday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM
• Friday between 9:00 AM and 12:00 noon.

Due to the 1.5 metre corona rule, only 2 witnesses are allowed to come to the Town Hall. The persons who are permitted to attend are: 2 partners, 2 witnesses and the wedding registrar.

Registered partnership in the Council Chamber

You may register your partnership in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall. You can book the Council Chamber immediately when you submit your declaration for registered partnership. The date is definite if you have received a confirmation. The Council Chamber has space for 50 people. 

Due to the 1.5 metre corona rule, it is not possible to use the Council Chamber at this time.

Registered partnership in a location of your choice

You may register your partnership in a venue other than the Town Hall. This is subject to a number of conditions. These conditions are mainly related to the safety of the venue. You should first contact the venue where you wish to hold the registration ceremony. 

It is possible to hold your registration ceremony almost anywhere within the municipality of Schagen. There are a number of important conditions:

• There must be public access to the venue. 
• The venue must be accessible. The (special) registrar must be able to park his or her car.
• The venue needs to be safe and there should be no threat to public order. This means that there should be no disturbance of normal daily life.
• Various amenities must be present. For example: toilets, tables, chairs and a changing area.
• The venue must be safe for the (special) registrar.
• The ceremony must proceed in a calm, orderly manner.
• Do you wish to hold your ceremony in the open air? Then there should be the option to move to a covered area or indoors. 
• We will need consent from the venue’s owner or operator. This is also applies to your own home. The owner can give his consent with the formConsent by owner/occupier for wedding/registered partnership venue. 

You may need to request a licence for use of the venue. Or you may need to submit a usage notification. For example: is the location a hotel or restaurant? We assume that the owner already has a licence or that the owner has a fire safety certificate. You should ask about this at the venue, to be on the safe side.

Are you organising a private party in temporary accommodation such as a tent? And is this venue intended to accommodate more than 150 people? Then you must submit a notification of fire-safe occupancy (BGBOP). This department will inform you as soon as possible if your request for a licence satisfies the conditions.
Are you not sure if you need to submit a usage notification? You can also fill in the decision tree to find out if this applies to you.

A private party such as a registration ceremony held on private grounds does not need an events permit. You are required to fill in a notification form if more than 150 people will be present.

We work with freelance wedding registrars. You can also choose to have your own wedding officiant. More information on wedding officiants can be found on the page wedding officiants.

You submit your plan for registering your partnership in the municipality where the registration ceremony will take place. There must be at least 2 weeks between the declaration and the date of partnership registration. You may plan your ceremony up to 12 months in advance. You can submit your plan onlinefor entering a registered partnership. You will need your DigiD code. When you apply online you can see which wedding registrars and venues are available. You can do this before logging in with your DigiD.

You can also make an appointment to pay us a visit. To do this, please call (0224) 210 400.

Online notification

When you make an online application you can fill in your details immediately. These include:

• The date and time of the registration ceremony.
• Names of witnesses and their identification document.
• The venue.
• The wedding registrar.
• The name you intend to use.

If you do not want to have your registration ceremony performed in the Town hall, book your venue before notifying us. Ask the owner of the venue to fill in the form Permission of owner or occupier for use of venue as wedding location. We work exclusively with freelance wedding registrars. Do you want to hold your registered partnership ceremony in a venue of your choice? Or would you prefer the Council Chamber in the Town Hall? You must contact the wedding registrar before filling in your application. If you have opted for a 'free’ or 'budget’ registration ceremony it is not possible to choose your wedding registrar. We will arrange this.

Have you filled in all your details and paid? Then you have officially notified us of your intention to register your partnership.

Free/ budget/ conversion

In the Town Hall

This does not include the cost of the wedding registrar. The wedding registrar will issue his or her own bill.

Venues other than the Town Hall

This does not include the cost of the wedding registrar. The wedding registrar will issue his or her own bill.

Your own wedding officiate

The amounts given below only apply if you choose to have a wedding officiate who is not yet certified by a court and who has never been appointed as a wedding registrar in our municipality. A wedding officiate may charge you extra fees, in addition to the charges given below.

Other information

Registered partnership with a non-Dutch person

If you were born abroad and you do not yet have Dutch nationality, you must register your birth certificate in the Key Register of Persons (BRP) before the partnership ceremony. You may also need to submit a declaration proving that you are not married. In that case, please contact us. Do this between 6 and 12 months before the date of your upcoming wedding or registration ceremony.

If one partner is not a Dutch citizen and that person is not registered in the Key Register of Persons, it is not possible to submit an online notification of intention to register your partnership. You will have to do this in writing or personally in the Town Hall. In any case we will need:

• A birth certificate.
• An excerpt from the population register which shows your address.
• A declaration proving that you are not married.
• A valid passport or identity card.

Are all of these documents in order? Then you can notify us of your intention to register your partnership. For more information, please contact the Civil Affairs department on (0224) 210 400.

Both of you live abroad

If both of you live abroad and at least one of you has Dutch nationality, you must submit your notification to the Municipality of The Hague. The Municipality of The Hague will send this notification to the municipality where you wish to register your partnership. The municipality where you wish to register the partnership will check that there are no impediments. This means that the municipality will check that you and your partner are free to enter into a registered partnership in keeping with Dutch law. It is possible that you will be asked to provide more documents after the notification has been made in The Hague. For example: a copy of a birth certificate, a declaration that you are not married or an excerpt from the population register. Therefore, you need to be sure to notify The Hague in good time.

If both of you live abroad and if both partners are not Dutch citizens, you cannot establish a registered partnership in the Netherlands.

Marital Property Laws

Entering into a registered partnership has consequences for your property and debts. Both currently and in the future. A limited community of property has been in force since 1 January 2018. You can find more information on the Dutch government’s website (Rijksoverheid).

There are several differences between marriage and registered partnership:

• When you get married, you say ‘I do.’ This is not mandatory during a registered partnership ceremony.
• If you do not have juvenile children, it is possible to dissolve a registered partnership without going to court. Married couples are required to go to court to dissolve a marriage.
• Legal separation is not available to couples who are registered partners. It is available to married couples.

Not every country in the world recognises a registered partnership.