What is this application for?
If there's an error on your marriage certificate, you can apply to have it corrected.
We assess all corrections before making them.
Refer to Evidence required for common changes and the evidence you’ll need to provide.
Who can apply?
Generally, you can only apply to correct your own marriage certificate.
Children can be eligible to correct the marriage certificate of their deceased parents.
To correct someone else's marriage certificate, check BDM's Access Policy first. It sets out who can access another person's certificate.
What you'll need
We'll ask you for the following information during the application process.
Details of the people on the certificate
As a minimum, for each person, we ask for:
- Given name and family name
- Date and place of birth.
The original marriage certificate
We ask you to return the original certificate before we can issue a new, corrected version.
Proof of identity
You can prove your identity two ways:
The easiest way to prove your identity is online.
You can use this proof of identity questionnaire if you're not sure which option is best for you.
Evidence required
The evidence we ask for depends on the correction you want to make.
For documents in a language other than English, provide an English translation by a qualified translator. Learn more about translated documents.
The evidence listed below covers most common correction requests. If you can't provide the evidence listed, send the best evidence you have available.
We will let you know if we need more evidence.
| Correction | Acceptable evidence |
|---|---|
| Any name on the certificate | Provide evidence of correct name. Overseas or interstate born:
|
| Date or place of birth | Evidence of correct date or place of birth:
|
Processing times
When you apply, we email you details of documents you need to provide. Our processing times start when we receive all required documents.
If you didn't receive an email after applying, contact us.
| Type of application | Processing time |
|---|---|
| Correction to a certificate | Up to 28 days (4 weeks) |
Allow extra time for public holidays and postage
Certificate fees and postage
The fees are non-refundable except as set out in our Refunds page. A fee waiver may be available in certain circumstances of financial hardship.
Certificate fees
| Whereabouts of original certificate | Price |
|---|---|
| If you return the original marriage details certificate | $0.00 |
| If you do not return the original marriage details certificate | $55.80 |
Postage fees are additional.
Postage fees
We send legal certificates by express post, for security
| Postage and handling method | Price |
|---|---|
| Express post (within Australia) | $10.20 |
| Express post (International) | $55.50 |
Payment methods
Pay via credit card, Paypal or BPAY.
After you've submitted your application
You'll receive an email after you've submitted your application.
If you didn't receive an email after applying, first check your spam inbox. If you still don't have the email, read about common causes of delay.
Once we have everything we need, we complete your application within processing timeframes and email to let you know when we've posted your certificate.
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