A Dutch court ruled a couple’s marriage was invalid after a civil registrar used ChatGPT to draft a “lighter” ceremony speech–which omitted legally required declarations.
The District Court of Overijssel issued its decision on January 6, invalidating a wedding ceremony on April 19, 2025 in the municipality of Zwolle, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported.
The couple had appointed a friend to officiate as a temporary civil registrar, known in the Netherlands as an eendagsbabs (registrar for one day).
Aiming for a more relaxed and informal tone, the registrar used the generative artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to generate the speech for the ceremony.
However, under Article 1:67 of the Dutch Civil Code, a marriage is only legally formed when the prospective spouses declare, in the presence of the registrar and witnesses, that they accept each other as spouses and will faithfully fulfill all duties attached to the married state by law.
The AI-generated text, however, failed to include this mandatory declaration.
Instead, it posed more romantic and informal questions, such as asking the groom whether he wished to stand by his bride “today, tomorrow, and all the days to come”, and asking the bride if she chose him “today once again”.
“Do you promise that today, tomorrow, and all the days to come, you want to stand by [name of the woman]?” the man was asked during the wedding ceremony. “To laugh together, grow together, and love each other no matter what life brings?”
The woman was asked if she once again chose the man. “To continue supporting each other, teasing each other, holding on to each other, even when life gets tough?”
Afterward, the one-day officiant declared the couple “not only husband and wife, but above all a team, a crazy couple, each other’s love and each other’s home!”
The omission of the mandated parts came to light after the ceremony, when the municipality reviewed the proceedings and notified the public prosecutor’s office in the Oost-Nederland district.
The prosecutor then requested the court to order for the marriage certificate to be removed from the civil registry, arguing that no valid marriage had been transacted.
This request was supported by the Zwolle civil registrar, stating there was not a legal basis for it to do otherwise.
The couple contested the action, maintaining that they believed the ceremony had been properly conducted.
They pointed out that an official registrar from the municipality had been present to supervise, as required for eendagsbabs arrangements, and had not intervened at the time.
They also emphasised the emotional significance of the chosen date and asked the court to at least recognise April 19, 2025, administratively as their wedding date.
The court acknowledged the couple’s disappointment and the personal importance of the date but ruled that it could not override the strict requirements of the law.
“The court understands that the marriage date recorded in the certificate is important to the man and the woman,” the judgment stated, “but cannot disregard what is laid down in the law.”
As a result, the court declared that no marriage had come into existence between the parties.
The marriage certificate was deemed to have been incorrectly entered in the civil registry, and the municipality was ordered to strike it out.
