Religious ceremonies were put behind civil marriages with the French revolution in 1792. Religious traditions were only performed for couples who had already been to a civil wedding. This custom was spread through most of Europe by Napoleon. It holds for some countries like France to date where only civil marriages have legal validity and religious ceremonies even performed before the civil union holds no legal effect. Civil marriages hold many benefits over religious weddings, and we would be talking about some of these benefits in the following article.
The benefits follow the actual mariage civil to which there isa particular procedure that must be followed.
A brief discussion about this process: if you decide to get married to a French or in France you need to remember that there are two different ways that a wedding can take place here. One before the registrar in the City hall of the commune you reside in and the other in the church. The critical thing to remember here is that the latter cannot precede the former. It means that if you want to get married in a church, you first have to get married in the City hall. There is no requirement for you to have a religious marriage, but if you want to be married legally, you have to do it in front of a Mairie. In case you reside in Paris, you will have to go to the Hotel de Ville in the administrative district where you live.
Now let’s talk about the benefits of civil marriage:
- Civil ceremonies that are carried out in France are legally acceptable throughout the world as they have internationalrecognition.
- After the marriage, the regional authorities change your current long-stay visa to a residency card for spouses of a French citizen, if your spouse is a native of France.
- You get some fiscal and social advantages over married couples without the civil marriage certificate.
- There are tax benefits for the family,making you richer.
- You get benefits on health insurance and save a lot of money.
There are many advantages to getting a PACS also, which are listed below.
- Couples opting for PACS can declare joint taxes receiving tax benefits.
- The right of next to kin in hospitalsisthe same as a married couple.
- Social security benefits as well as relief from inheritance tax.
- The ability to obtain parenting rights to partner’s children in cases of misfortune.
- Incase of demise of a partner, the other gets the housing rights, and even a rental contract is transferred automatically to the partner.
The benefits are not just social and fiscal partners also get some of these benefits in their works.
- In cases of deaths, partners are allowed days off from work to grieve.
- Similarly, partners are also given days off from work in cases of births.
- If both individuals are working for the same organization, they have to be allowed holidays on the same dates.
