Underage bride denied name change on marriage certificate after 19 years

After covertly using her older sister’s identity for marriage registration 19 years ago, a woman known as Kao sought to amend the name on the document to her own. However, her application was denied by the court, and the appeal period has since expired.

Kao and her partner, Aai, were introduced to each other by their families in April 2004. At the time, Kao was underage and legally ineligible to marry. To circumvent this, the family used the personal information of Kao’s older sister to complete the registration process.

For 19 years, no attempts were made to correct the situation. However, earlier this year, Kao, now a mother of two, urgently needed her marriage certificate but was unable to use it due to the false identity.

She approached a government agency to request a change of name on the existing marriage certificate but was informed that this was not possible, despite admitting to using a false identity for the marriage, reported ctwant.

The prosecutor argued that Kao’s application for annulment was due to incorrect information on her marriage certificate, rendering her unable to utilise the document. However, her use of a false identity did not meet the legal grounds for voiding a marriage.

Although the time limit for appealing to the court has elapsed, retaining the false personal information would severely impact Kao and her sister’s lives.

Finally, according to regulations by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of National Security, the prosecutor believed there were errors in the marriage registration and it should be declared void.

Consequently, after the prosecutor issued an order for the case to proceed, Kao and her husband were granted the right to re-register their marriage, putting an end to almost 20 years of fake marriage.