How-to · Bihar · Marriage Registration

How to Register a Marriage Online in Bihar

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

In Bihar, as in the rest of India, there is a difference between getting married and registering a marriage. If you are already married in a religious ceremony, you register that marriage, most commonly under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. If you want a civil marriage, or the two of you are of different religions, you marry and register under the Special Marriage Act 1954, which needs a 30-day public notice before the marriage. In Bihar the service request is handled through the state Right to Public Services (RTPS) portal and the office of the Marriage Officer or Sub-Registrar of the area. This page explains which law applies to you, the documents and witnesses you need, how the Bihar process and portal work, the fees and timelines, and what to do if a marriage or its registration becomes a dispute. Portal addresses and the exact online flow in Bihar can change, so confirm the current link before you start. Last verified October 2026.

01Register an existing marriage or marry civilly

Pick the route that matches your situation:

A Muslim, Christian or Parsi marriage is registered under the law that governs that community, or under the Special Marriage Act if the couple chooses a civil marriage. Registration gives you a certificate that is proof of marriage for passports, visas, banks and other official needs.

02Documents and witnesses

Keep these ready as self-attested copies, with originals for verification:

• Proof of age for both (matric certificate, birth certificate or passport). The bride must be 18 and the groom 21.
• Proof of identity and address (Aadhaar, voter ID, PAN, passport; a ration card is often accepted as address proof).
• Passport-size photographs of both, and a marriage photograph for registration of an existing marriage.
• Proof of the ceremony for Hindu Marriage Act registration (invitation card or a priest/temple certificate, as asked).
• Witnesses: usually two or three, with their identity and address proof.
• A declaration that neither party has a subsisting spouse, and, if applicable, proof of divorce or a death certificate of a former spouse.

03The Bihar process step by step

The Bihar flow combines the online service request with an appearance before the Marriage Officer or Sub-Registrar.

• Start the request. Use the Bihar RTPS/ServicePlus portal at serviceonline.bihar.gov.in to find the marriage registration service, or apply at the office of the Sub-Registrar or the Registrar of Marriages for your area.
• Fill the application with the couple's details, the date and place of marriage, and witness details, and upload the documents.
• Book or attend the appointment. Both parties and the witnesses appear before the Marriage Officer or Sub-Registrar on the given date to sign the register.
• Collect the certificate. After verification, the marriage is entered in the register and a marriage certificate is issued.

04Special Marriage Act: the 30-day notice

If you marry under the Special Marriage Act 1954, the process is different and slower:

• Give written notice of the intended marriage to the Marriage Officer of the district where at least one of you has lived for the required period.
• The notice is published for 30 days, during which objections can be filed. If there is no valid objection, the marriage is solemnised and registered.
• Three witnesses are needed at the solemnisation.

This route is used for civil and inter-faith marriages and gives a certificate under the Special Marriage Act.

05Fees, timeline and the certificate

Fees in Bihar are modest and set by the state. Timelines depend on the route: registering an existing Hindu marriage is usually quick once both parties appear, while a Special Marriage Act marriage takes at least the 30-day notice period. The certificate issued is the legal proof of marriage. Keep multiple attested copies, because you will need it for name changes, joint bank accounts, passports and visas.

06When registration or the marriage is disputed

Registration is administrative, but the marriage itself can become a legal dispute, and that is a different forum:

• Refusal or delay in registration. If the Marriage Officer wrongly refuses, you can escalate to the senior registration authority, and ultimately challenge the refusal before the court.
• Matrimonial disputes. Divorce, maintenance, restitution of conjugal rights, custody and related matters are decided by the Family Court (or the district court where there is no family court). Maintenance can also be claimed under BNSS section 144 (the provision that replaced the old section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure); the numbering is new, so confirm against the bare Act.
• Proof of marriage is often the first thing a court looks for, which is why registration matters so much.

For how matrimonial matters are run and tracked, see matrimonial case management.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Registering the marriage is a one-time administrative task. A matrimonial dispute is a case that runs for months or years. If a marriage leads to divorce, maintenance, custody or a challenge to the registration, that becomes a matter before the Family Court, the district court or the High Court, with hearings and orders to follow. You can create a FREE Claw account to track that matter across the court that hears it. Claw covers 9,102 courts, benches and forums, including family and district courts across Bihar, so there is a real tracking home for a matrimonial case; its judgment search spans 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, so you can read how similar divorce, maintenance and registration disputes were decided. Results return in under 5 seconds, and Claw does not train its AI models on your documents. This is general information, not legal advice on your marriage or any dispute.

08Sources and further reading

• Bihar RTPS / ServicePlus (state service requests): serviceonline.bihar.gov.in
• Government of Bihar (department directory): state.bihar.gov.in
• eCourts (family and district court case status): ecourts.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This page is general information for an Indian audience, not legal advice. Confirm the current Bihar portal link, documents and fees on the official state portal before applying.

09Frequently asked questions