The current law is not well-known, and causes problems such as ours. When someone marries, the current rule totally ignores their previously stated wishes. Changes to a Will should be explicitly made by the person concerned.

The law already considers that it is an offence to marry someone who does not have the mental capacity to agree. But the offence is currently "Forced Marriage": which we have seen causes even professionals to misunderstand when an offence has occurred.

The purpose of the Notices/Banns is to publish an intention to marry. The best way to do this is on the Internet. At present Notices are published only physically within the Register Office and Banns in the church.

Registrars are currently given inadequate training or help in assessing whether a person is fit to marry.

Registrars will stop a marriage if they think there is some problem. There need to be clear national procedures on when this must be done.

There are currently just two reasons allowed in law: the marriage was bigamous; or the marriage was incestuous.

Unbelievably, and unlike any other agreement or contract, marriage does not require valid consent of the people involved.

Where a person has given someone Power of Attorney to look after their affairs, the pre-marriage checks should ensure that the person concerned is aware of the marriage before it takes place, so they can take whatever action they deem appropriate.

There is currently no evidence kept at either the pre-marriage interview nor the ceremony. This makes it impossible to prove fraud. It would be trivial and cheap to record both and keep the recordings for a suitable length of time.