Bride dies immediately after wedding

Recently a friend of mine got married in church in a very large and expensive wedding. Tragically, immediately after the marriage ceremony, while they were still in church, the bride suddenly became unwell, collapsed and died. Everyone was devastated. The groom had spent a fortune on the wedding venue, catering, decorations and other arrangements. He also has an ex-girlfriend who, despite their breakup, has always remained in love with him. Someone jokingly suggested that since marriage is ‘until death do us part’, death has unfortunately already parted him from his wife and he could marry the ex-girlfriend immediately. The groom is now asking whether this is legally possible. Could a person whose spouse dies immediately after the wedding marry someone else on the same day?

PK, Dar es Salaam

This is a tragic scenario, and certainly one where the law and common sense may give slightly different answers. Legally, if the marriage ceremony had been properly completed before the bride died, the fact that the marriage lasted only a few minutes does not make it any less of a marriage. Section 12 of the Law of Marriage Act (the Act) provides that a marriage subsists until it is determined by, amongst other things, the death of either party. Therefore, sadly, the bride’s death would determine the marriage and the groom would become a widower. There is no minimum number of days, months or years that spouses must have lived together before death can determine their marriage.

The words ‘until death do us part’ may, therefore, have become literally true much sooner than anyone could possibly have imagined. However, this does not mean that the ex-girlfriend can simply put on the late bride’s wedding dress, walk into the church and continue with the programme. A marriage to the ex-girlfriend would be an entirely new marriage involving different parties and must independently comply with the requirements of the Act, including 21 days’ notice of the intention to marry between giving the notice and contracting the marriage. However, an interesting exception exists. The Act allows the ordinary notice requirement to be dispensed with in appropriate circumstances, and the Registrar General has a procedure through which parties may apply for such dispensation where sufficient reasons exist.