Estonia is the homeland of digital services. With a computer or smartphone, it is possible to do almost anything: from commerce to public services, everything is just a click away. At the moment there are only two state procedures that are not online (yet): marriage and divorce. But the Riigikogu has recently approved a law that transforms these two services into semi-online: it is still needed to appear in person before the public official, but applications and documentation can be sent online, dematerializing the process and speeding up the procedure.
“In the future there will be no need to go to the Perekonnaseisuamet, the statistical office, to submit applications for marriage and divorce, as it will also be possible to submit them online“, says a document from the Estonian parliament. It will also be possible to submit digitally signed marriage and divorce applications to online notaries. When the changes take effect, the two-step procedure for marriage and divorce will remain in effect. This means that, after the submission of the application, people will still be required to appear in person to contract marriage before a municipal official, a notary, or a minister of religion, and will be required to appear in person at the public office on the day of the divorce.
With these changes, the country’s e-governance takes another step forward. “The creation of the possibility of submitting electronic applications for marriage and divorce is a necessary prerequisite for integrating services related to marriage and divorce as life events into a single proactive government service“, a note from the Riigikogu remarked. “It is planned that the proactive government service will also include the ability to change the name automatically and request new documents related to the name change“.
In Tallinn people can pay all the fees in a few minutes through the appropriate app, opening a business is fast and everything online… Many aspects of daily life have digital management with a consequent saving of time and resources for citizens. Now even for marriages and divorces a step is taken in this direction, without however taking away the emotion of the fateful “yes”, and the wedding ceremony.