Family
Code des personnes et de la famille 1989 permitting optional monogamy election
The 1989 Code (Zatu n° AN VII-0013) sets marriage age at 20 for men and 17 for women, recognises only civil marriage, and requires spouses to elect monogamy or polygamy at the ceremony — an election that binds thereafter. Religious and customary marriages have no civil effect unless registered.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Tribunal de grande instance in family matters; only civil marriage produces legal effects.
- Deadline — Birth registration: two months
- Deadline — Election of monogamy or polygamy: made at the civil ceremony and irrevocable
Governing law
- Zatu n° AN VII-0013 du 16 novembre 1989 portant Code des personnes et de la famille
- Loi n° 061-2015 portant prévention et répression des violences faites aux femmes
In practice
Burkina Faso's monogamy election is a distinctive middle path: rather than banning or assuming polygamy, the Code forces an explicit choice at the moment of marriage and records it on the certificate. Because most unions are celebrated customarily and never registered, the Code governs a minority of actual marriages, and succession disputes frequently turn on whether any civil marriage existed at all.