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Bill 157 1997

An Act to amend the Marriage Act

to provide incentives for pre-marriage education

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1. The Marriage Act is amended by adding the following sections:

Waiting period for licence

11.1 If a person applies for a licence on or after January 1, 1999, no person shall issue a licence to the applicant earlier than,

(a) five days following the day on which the applicant makes the application if the applicant provides proof to the issuer in the prescribed form of having completed a pre-marriage education course described in section 11.2; or

(b) 45 days following the day on which the applicant makes the application if the applicant does not provide the proof described in clause (a).

Pre-marriage education course

11.2 (1) A pre-marriage education course shall provide counselling to persons on living harmoniously in marriage and for that purpose shall provide instruction on matters including, but not limited to, conflict management, communication skills and the legal and financial responsibilities of married persons that arise as a result of being married.

Counsellor

(2) A pre-marriage education course shall be conducted by one or more of,

(a) a psychiatrist within the meaning of the Mental Health Act, a member of the College of Psychologists of Ontario or a person certified or registered as a psychologist by another jurisdiction;

(b) a family counsellor or social worker who is working under the supervision of a person described in clause (a);

(c) a person registered under section 20 as a person authorized to solemnize marriage;

(d) a person whom the person described in clause (c) designates in writing and who is working under the supervision of that person; or

(e) a person belonging to a prescribed class of persons.

Excluded matters

(3) If the person conducting a pre-marriage education course is a person described in clause (2) (c) or (d), the course is not required to include instruction on any matter that violates a tenet of the religious body to which the person belongs.

Duration

(4) A pre-marriage education course shall include at least eight hours of instruction.

2. Section 34 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

Fees

(2) The fee that an applicant for a licence who has completed a pre-marriage education course described in section 11.2 is required to pay may be lower than the fee that the applicant who has not completed such a course is required to pay.

Commencement

3. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

4. The short title of this Act is the Marriage Amendment Act, 1997.