Answer
Based on official Jordanian legal texts
An undocumented marriage — even one that is religiously valid — leaves the wife and children in a fragile legal position, because rights cannot be exercised before official bodies without a registered marriage.
Effects on the wife
- Proving the marriage itself: in any dispute, the wife must first prove the very existence of the marital relationship by evidence, before claiming any other right.
- Dowry and maintenance: claiming the dowry or spousal maintenance requires an officially established marriage or a court ruling confirming it.
- Inheritance: the wife cannot inherit from her husband (nor he from her) unless the marriage is registered or judicially confirmed before the estate is distributed.
- Registering a divorce and its effects: if the relationship ends, registering the divorce and arranging its consequences (the idda and idda maintenance) is difficult when the marriage itself was never recorded.
Effects on the children
- Lineage and official records: a child cannot be registered under the father's name without a documented marriage or a ruling confirming the marriage and establishing lineage — which blocks the birth certificate and identity papers.
- Maintenance and inheritance: the child's financial rights against the father depend in practice on officially established lineage.
- Daily life: schooling, healthcare, and travel are all affected by the missing official record.
The prescribed penalty
The Personal Status Law No. 15 of 2019 requires registration of the marriage contract and punishes contracting without registration with imprisonment from one to six months.
What to do
The remedy is to move promptly: a marriage-confirmation claim before the Sharia court, then establishing the children's lineage and registering them on the strength of the ruling. The earlier this is done, the stronger the evidence and the smoother the process — ideally managed end-to-end by a specialized lawyer.
This is a general answer based on available Jordanian legal sources and does not replace advice from a specialized lawyer in an actual dispute.