Legal Protection for Wives and Children from Unregistered Marriages in Indonesia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_33How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Unregistered Marriage; Children’s Rights; Women’s Rights; Legal Uncertainty; Indonesian Family Law

Abstract

Unregistered marriages present a significant legal challenge within Indonesian family law, creating profound uncertainty for the wives and children involved. This research analyzes the legal protections available for these vulnerable parties, focusing on their economic rights and legal status. The study employs a normative juridical method, examining prevailing laws, regulations, and scholarly interpretations. The findings indicate that while certain rights—such as a child’s right to inheritance under the Civil Code and a wife’s right to protection from domestic violence—theoretically exist, their enforcement is severely hampered by the marriage’s unregistered status. Significant challenges include social stigma, patriarchal cultural norms, and limited access to legal services. The study concludes that the Indonesian government and related institutions must strengthen legal socialization, simplify marriage registration procedures, and provide better access to legal aid. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the legal voids affecting families in unregistered marriages and offers recommendations for systemic improvement to ensure more robust legal protection.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Rita Armelia
AU  - Roswita Sitompul
AU  - Kartina Pakpahan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/01/03
TI  - Legal Protection for Wives and Children from Unregistered Marriages in Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st International Forum on Psychology, Law, and Education (IFPLE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 297
EP  - 301
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_33
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-531-7_33
ID  - Armelia2026
ER  -