• Although Islamic law considers 16 years as the age at which a Moslem may marry, the constitution provides 18 years as the age at which individuals wishing to marry may marry.
• The parties must not have any close blood relations with each other.
• A man marries up to four wives provided that he can treat them equally in all ways, thus, love, material possession and sexual intercourse.
• The man and woman must freely consent to the marriage.
• The man must give the woman “mahari” which is property of a certain value before she can allow marrying him. The value she sets cannot be bargained upon.
• A man and woman cannot remarry during “eda” that is the three months waiting period after the divorce or death of a spouse.

• Unless the parties have agreed before the marriage, whatever property one owned before the marriage remains his/her property.
• All properties acquired during the marriage are jointly owned.

Marriage is the voluntary union for life of a man and a woman to the exclusion of others.

The constitution of Uganda provides that men and women of the age of 18 years and above have a right to marry and form a family and are entitled to equal rights before, during and after the marriage has been dissolved.

It is important to know that only those who are married have rights to inherit each other’s’ property. Those who do not fall under the categories of marriage recognised by the laws of Uganda do not benefit from the estate of a deceased person as a wife (widow) or husband (widower) unless specially written in a will.