The Family Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984

This Order may be cited as the Family Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1984.

Parts I and III and Part IV (except Article 21(1) insofar as it gives effect to Part I of Schedule 2) shall come into operation on the expiration of the period of two months from the day on which the Order is made.

F1Para.(3) rep. by 1998 NI 6

An agreement between two persons to marry one another shall not have effect as a contract giving rise to legal rights and no action shall lie for breach of such an agreement whatever the law applicable to the agreement.

This Article shall have effect in relation to agreements entered into before the commencement of this Article, except that it shall not affect any action begun before that commencement.

Where an agreement to marry is terminated, any rule of law relating to the rights of husbands and wives in relation to property in which either or both has or have a beneficial interest shall apply in relation to any property in which either or both of the parties to the agreement had a beneficial interest while the agreement was in force, as it applies in relation to property in which a husband and wife has a beneficial interest.

Where an agreement to marry is terminated, section 17 of the 1882 c. 75. Married Women's Property Act 1882 and section 3 of the 1964 c. 23 (N.I.). Law Reform (Husband and Wife) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964 (power of judge of the High Court or a county court to settle disputes between husband and wife about property) shall apply, as if the parties were married, to any dispute between them, or to any claim by one of them in relation to property in which either or both had a beneficial interest while the agreement was in force; but an application made by virtue of this Article to the judge under the said section 17, as originally enacted or as extended by the said section 3, shall be made within three years of the termination of the agreement.

A party to an agreement to marry who make a gift of property to the other party to the agreement on the condition (express or implied) that it shall be returned if the agreement is terminated shall not be prevented from recovering the property by reason only of his having terminated the agreement.

The gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift; this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.

A marriage solemnizedF1 between a person and any person mentioned in the list in Part 1 of the following Table, is void:

In that Table—

Subject to paragraph (2B), a marriage solemnized between a person and any person mentioned in the list in Part 2 of that Table, is void.

Any such marriage as is mentioned in paragraph (2A) is not void by reason only of affinity if both the parties to the marriage have attained the age of 21 at the time of the marriage and the younger party has not at any time before attaining the age of 18 been a child of the family in relation to the other party.

F4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this Article “child of the family”, in relation to any person, means a child who has lived in the same household as that person and been treated by that person as a child of his family.

A marriage between person not within the degrees of relationship to which paragraph (1) F7or (2A) applies or a marriage to which paragraph F8(2B) applies is void, if either of those persons is at the time of the marriage domiciled in a country other than Northern Ireland and under the law of that country there cannot be a valid marriage between them because of their relationship to each other.

The repeals in Schedule 3 do not—

Nothing in this Article or in Part III affects the validity of any marriage.

Nothing in this Article or in Part III affects any right, title, estate, interest, will, claim, payment, commutation, composition, discharge, settlement or other thing, or the devolution or distribution of any property which, by virtue of section 2 of the 1907 c. 47. Deceased's Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907, was not affected by the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Acts (Northern Ireland) 1907 to 1949.