Text of the provision
Art. 19. The local civil registrar shall require the payment of the fees prescribed by law or regulations before the issuance of the marriage license. No other sum shall be collected in the nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of said license. It shall, however, be issued free of charge to indigent parties, that is those who have no visible means of income or whose income is insufficient for their subsistence a fact established by their affidavit, or by their oath before the local civil registrar.
(65a)
Family Code of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 209, approved July 6, 1987. The Code took effect on August 3, 1988 (Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005). Reproduced in full.
What this article means
The registrar may collect only the fees prescribed by law or regulation before issuing a marriage license — nothing more, in the nature of any fee or tax. Indigent parties, meaning those with no visible income or insufficient income for their subsistence, get the license free of charge, on their own affidavit or oath to that effect before the registrar.
Related provisions
- Article 18 — issuance of the license generally.
- Article 24 — the related documentary-stamp-tax exemption.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on the Article 19 fee rules and indigency exemption will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.