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9 Common NOIM mistakes

The NOIM form.

Ready to marry? Then you’re ready to fill in the first form, the Notice Of Intended Marriage (NOIM).

Having been a marriage celebrant on the Queensland Sunshine Coast for years, I have assisted couples with many marriage forms.
After hundreds of weddings, and thus marriage certificates, I have seen a variety of mistakes that a celebrant has to deal with. There are 9 common mistakes in which occur.  And they are all innocent errors. Perhaps this page can help.

The first form a couple wishing to marry must contemplate is called the Notice Of Intended Marriage (NOIM) form.

NOIM form

The Australian Marriage Act “requires that a marriage shall not be solemnised unless a notice in writing of the intended marriage is given to the marriage celebrant.” This is done on the prescribed form, the NOIM.

This form is lodged with (or given to) the celebrant. It is from this form that most of the information for your marriage certificates is taken. So it is important to get it right. That way your marriage certificate will also be correct. And you want it to be correct! Your marriage certificate forms part of your ongoing legal identity. So you want it to match  your other forms of ID too. If it matches, you are less likely to come across issues with your ID papers in the future.

There are several common mistakes that are made on the NOIM. Let’s look at those:

1 Black – the official colour

Preferably use a black pen. Black is an official colour.
Easy to read. Use block letters or printing to fill in the form.
Or better still,      download an interactive pdf version.
This form allows you to fill in the fields on the computer, and save it as your own form.  Once saved, you can print it ready to take to your celebrant.

2 Names

In the Surname section, write your current surname. Make sure it is written as per your birth certificate, or previous marriage certificate if you took a married name. Use a hyphen, accents, apostrophes or capitals and lowercase as necessary.
For example :          MacDougal-Das Gupta    or    Mc Tavish    or    De Cruz    or    de la Cueva    or    O’Sullivan

Given Names section, list all your names except your surname; first and all your middle names. Make sure all the names from your birth certificate are listed on the form. Write them in full. Don’t leave any out.  Ah, there’s one exception … don’t include any names that may have been added as a part of baptism and don’t appear on your birth certificate.
For example :       Patricia Martinella Jane Francesca

 

3 Occupation

Write your occupation as a proper noun, the person doing the job, not the job or the department.
Thus use Administrator rather than administration, or Human resource manager rather than human resources

 

4 Conjugal status

I’m afraid “single” does not cut it in the world of government forms.  You need to be more specific!

There are a few choices in this category. It is important to choose the correct one that reflects your actual legal status.

The most common one is, Never validly married. Don’t forget the little word validly. It is also an important word. I mean that wedding you had in preschool with your little mate, may have been as real as ever when you were 4 years old.  And we don’t wish to discredit the sincerity of that occasion at the time..  But the crucial point here is that it was not valid!!!

Other choices are widower or widow if your previous spouse died. Widow for a woman whose husband died, and Widower for a man whose wife died.

Divorced is the other option if you have legally divorced from a previous spouse. You will need to present evidence of the divorce to your celebrant. This needs to be the original document.

Annulment if your marriage was dissolved through a legal annulment – This is a very rare scenario.

 

5 Birthplace

Check your birth certificate. You may have always believed you were born in “Sydney”, but perhaps your birth certificate lists “Darlinghurst” as your birthplace. You and I know this is kind of the same thing, because – yes Darlinghurst is in Sydney. But official departments in Cambodia, for example, may not know this. If your marriage certificates and forms, closely match your birth certificate, you are less likely to encounter difficulties in the future. Who knows what the future may bring. Let’s not create any potential room for grief.

 

6 Father’s name

Even if the family just calls him Bill or Jazza , write your dad’s full legal name, including all his middle names;

If he has passed away add in brackets the word (deceased). So you might need to write the whole thing in two lines. Make sure you leave room for the whole lot!
For example :           Joshua Blake William Forsham-Smythe
                                         (deceased)

7 Mother’s maiden name in full

This is usually the name Mum was born with, her maiden name; her FULL maiden name, which means all her names including the surname on your birth certificate, even if her name has changed since you were born.
For example :             Maria Antoinette Lisette de Vries       (not her married surname – Forsham-Smythe)

 

8 Divorce date

Another common error on NOIM forms is the DATE OF DIVORCE. This is the date the court decrees the divorce to come into effect – “becomes absolute”. It is not the date of application, nor the date of the court hearing.
It is the date near the end of the page.

divorce-paper-sample

…….and lastly

9 signing the form

Don’t sign the form yet. Your signatures need to be witnessed by an appropriate witness. Most often it is your celebrant who will witness your signatures.  But there are other options.
Here’s the list of “appropriate” witnesses as listed on the form:

witnesses

 

There you go…. it’s all in the fine print on the form.

Once your NOIM form is with your celebrant, you can relax. Your celebrant should take care of all the paperwork from here on. A good celebrant will cross check all that you have filled in to make sure it is legal, and fulfils all that is required for your marriage to also be legal.

Choosing a good celebrant is also a good thing!

Contact me if you have any questions… even if you don’t book with me.  I am happy to assist where I can.

And know that once the NOIM is lodged, the hardest part is over!!!! From here on the fun can begin. Let me show you how.

Now you just need to find that perfect dress!

 

wine wedding dressThanks to celebrants Karen Faa and Merlin Coughlan for their input into this article.
Next story to come will be about choosing your correct ID documents.

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Testimonials
  • A massive thank you for being so patient, lovely and caring Kari! Answering all our questions and suppling info to make sure we knew what to expect on the day. Such a calm lady allowing us both to feel at ease for a relaxed wedding we really enjoyed. Thank you Kari for making our day special. read more

    Mr & Mrs Martens
  • We are into life as Husband and wife (yippee!) We wanted to thank you so very much for marrying us on our special day and being part of this special life event.  You were so very helpful, kind, understanding and professional in the lead up to our wedding and on the day.  We would rate your celebrant services as excellent in every way.

    Candice & Trent
  • Kari is super friendly and easy going. She understood exactly what we wanted in a ceremony and delivered it in just one draft. She made our ceremony special and totally about us and our family. Everyone commented on the uniqueness of our ceremony and really enjoyed it. We highly recommend Kari!!

    Anna & Ivan
  • Kari made our day relaxed and helped everything to go smooth (including the nerves). She tailored the wedding and vows to exactly what we wanted. Our kids were made to feel important and special.  Thank you so much Kari for being apart of our special day.

    Jodie & Darren
  • Kari was there for us from day one, we could not have asked for anything more. The thought, time and love that went in to our ceremony was amazing. We have had so many comments from our guests complementing Kari and the amazing ceremony. Thank you so much for making our wedding the best day of our lives.

    Alison & Graham
  • Kari was the perfect choice as our celebrant. The information advice and suggestions she offered as we planned our wedding was invaluable. All our dealings with Kari were professional and personalized. Our ceremony went smoothly and was perfect in every way. Thanks Kari

    Jade & Coby
  • Kari is an exceptional marriage celebrant.  She is very warm, down to earth and has a great sense of humour which made planning our ceremony really enjoyable.  She has lots of unique ideas of creating a personalised ceremony & goes out of her way to make sure every little detail is perfect.  I would highly recommend Kari to any prospective couples.

    Rayner & Jennifer
  • “Dear Kari, Thank you for your huge part in making our wedding day so special.  You were such a pillar of calm and serenity on the day and made us feel totally at ease. We got so many compliments on the ceremony, which people said was perfectly “us.”  So we thank you for everything,”

    Leigh & Paul
  • “Thanks again Kari. We felt the wedding was superb – awesome – such fun and full of meaning. Many not usually emotional, were touched.”

    Daryl & Trish
  • “A wonderful start and end to all the preparations for our big day. We valued Kari’s ability to meet us in person before the event, she provided us with ample ideas for the wording of our vows and had lots of suggestions for making the ceremony happen just as we would dream possible. Kari has a very warm and genuine personality and we highly recommend her services.”

    Tamsyn & Ross
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