Australia’s Peak Celebrant Body
CoCA thanks celebrants for the 81 responses below and others sent to us as a part of our industry wide survey.
CoCA presented this submission to the Marriage Law and Celebrant Section on 1st December 2014 as the result of your feedback: 2014 Marriage Forms CoCA Submission
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Thursday, 02 October 2014 21:39
On Page four of the NOIM I am not able to type in details - only handwrite them. Makes the page look messy! Prefer to type in what I can and only handwrite the signatures, so changing that would be good. Can't fit in Marriage venue as box very small. Others below have made other suggestions to which I agree. The old forms were good. Please rectify these. I haven't got any other changes of forms so the Marriage Cert and stat dec are still fine. At least you are trying!
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 21:17
Do the churches and other religious places pay for the religious celebrant's registration's fees? The new NOIM is being partially duplicated with asking if related on page four, and another form to be filled out asking the same, but will have to fill both sections in, in the new year, will it be changed again? Do religious celebrants have to do OPD?
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
COCA RESPONSE: No the 23,000 + religious marriage celebrants of Recognised Religions (Subdivision A) and 700+ BDM Registry Office Marriage Officers (Subdivision B) do not pay the Annual Fee, nor are these celebrants required to do any prior Marriage Law training nor are they required to do any specified number of hours of professional development to maintain their marriage appointments.
Thursday, 02 October 2014 20:34
I haven't had the opportunity to use any as yet but with registration fees, OPD fees, Stationery costs etc, will we get reimbursed for unused stationery or forms?
Costs, costs and more costs come with changes. I just purchased some from Canprint as I haven't done a wedding yet but have 2 so far for next year.
Less forms would be great if possible as there is so much duplication.
I am still uncertain as to what has benefited the celebrants with funds from the new fees
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 19:53
I believe the Nomination of Intention to marry form, the formatting generally, particularly names boxes need to be bigger This includes Parents names etc I think also the area for names on the declarations as well may need to be bigger. As celebrants we are marrying people from Asia and over seas where there names generally are longer than the traditional western names??
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 19:48
In my opinion the new Notice of Intent to Marry Form has some positive improvements such as now being able to record drivers licence and passport details. There are however some changes that could be made. The text boxes are now smaller and this makes writing the relevant information in these spaces quite a challenge. I think the layout could be refined to allow for larger text boxes. Thanks for the opportunity to express my opinion.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 18:51
NOIM page 4 Celebrants only section. Date box ridiculous size. Place marriage solemnised woefully inadequate.( way too small) Other forms appear to be acceptable.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 18:35
My concern over the new NOIM form is that the boxes on page two for completion of ID document numbers identification are too small. A passport number does not fit in and this makes it difficult to keep the numbers compact & legible. Page two could be redesigned to allow these numbers to be clearly written. Same with the recognition of divorce certificates. If both parties are divorced the numbers do not fit into the boxes provided making us write over the box or splitting the number. Not a professional or legible finish for the relevant departments to record with their data entry.
Thank you
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 18:16
i have no problem with them, although i'm unclear if i'm still allowed to use my current stock of the (now) outdated forms,
MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 18:06
Re NOIM: more and bigger boxes needed for divorce courts details for both parties also to allow numbers of divorce papers to be entered on there.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 18:00
i think the new forms are great cannot see any problems with them:))
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 17:32
I would like to see a 'table' inserted, with two columns and three lines, to fit in dissolution/death/nullity certificate information. The previous 'NIM' was poorly set out for this part - the new form is worse!!
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 17:25
Overall I'm happy with new new NOIM however, when filling it on on the AGD template, it doesn't allow in the address for a second line. i.e.
123 Brown Street
Lower Plenty Vic. 3333
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 16:53
I am really disappointed with the new forms. They look very unprofessional, are very cramped making it difficult to read well, and there is not enough room for signatures.
Marriage celebrants are a professional body, paying expensive annual fees and I believe they deserve better than the cobbled together, unprofessional New Marriage forms. It is embarrassing to be asking couples to read and sign these forms.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 16:42
I am using a computer program that I bought sometime ago. The change of form will require me to either submit hand written form or buy another program.
If it is not necessary to change the form then why change it. There is hardly much change in the new form anyway.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 15:11
Official Certificate of Marriage top section could do with a review
the rest of the forms are fine
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:46
There is still insufficient space to enter the Court location for dissolution or nullity - especially if both Bride & Groom have been previously married.
I always include the Ref No from the Divorce Cert or Death Cert, although not being a requirement - I believe that it validates the authority. As Drivers Licence No, proof of age / ID no, Have become so important WHY isn't the Dissolution?
The downloaded copy I have puts the BRIDE / GROOM Column under the Place Solemnised.
Place Marriage Solemnised is too small.
The whole layout of Page 4 is very clumsy looking, my 9 year old grandchild could present a more professional looking document.
HOWEVER, 10/10 for finally spelling "solemnised" & "authorised" correctly!
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:37
Im sure you have heard it many times before, the setting out of the back of the NoIM is disgusting!
It is very poorly lined up and to think this has been professionally designed is a disgrace, my 12yr old could have done better.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:34
The space allocated for where the marriage was solemnized is far too small to contain ceremony venue details in full.
The space for the date the marriage took place is disproportionately large considering the paucity of information which needs to be written there.
The same goes for the box in which we write under which Rites/ Marriage Act the marriage has been solemnised - far too much space for little info required.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:19
Notice of Intended Marriage form:
Too much space wasted in the side margins, not enough space allotted to write the required information on front page.
Back page - Insufficient space to record detail of two divorce proceedings.
No space to record Change of Name details
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:18
On the NIM I need four lines for my address and only three are provided. I use an Apple Mac and on the form I cannot use two address lines for the couple a only one is available. Difficult to fit in two separate divorce locations in the space provided
It has never been clarified if both a passport and drivers licence are necessary.
I would like a form I can type on before printing for the Stat Dec and Marriage Certificate. I have an injury that makes handwriting difficult.
COMMONWEALTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT - NAME SUPPLIED & VERIFIED
