MARRIAGE LAWS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Semper Praesumitur Pro Matrimonio

The presumption is always in favor of the validity of marriage
I.
Marriage is a very special contract in that:
a. The parties must be male and female. Actually , the Supreme
Court has already stated that in a marriage contract, there are, in
fact, 3 parties: the man, the woman and the State, considering
that the State provides for the duties, privileges and restrictions
which are deemed written into every marriage contract.
b. Unlike ordinary contracts which may be terminated or rescinded
by the parties upon mutual agreement, the marital bonds can
only be severed by death, or upon a court declaration of nullity
or annulment;
c. The rights and obligation of the parties are not subject to
stipulation by the parties and are fixed by law; and
d. Breach of the marital contract does not give rise to an action for
damages.
Article 1 of the Family Code (the Code) lays down the basic
premise of our laws on marriage
Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a
woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal
and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social
institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law
and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the
property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this
Code.
ESSENTIAL REQUISITES
Legal capacity of the contracting parties who MUST be at least 18
years old, male and female, and not under any impediment to marry.
Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer. (Art. 2,
Family Code)
Examples of void marriages arising from an absence of an essential
requisite:
Absence of legal capacity.
A marriage between an 18 year old boy and a 16 year old girl.
A marriage between 2 girls or between 2 boys. The Family Code has
settled the debate as to whether or not same-sex marriages may be
performed in the Philippines. An interesting legal question has arisen,
however. What about those who have opted to have a sex change
operation?
This question has been answered and settled by the Supreme Court in
the case of Silverio vs. Republic of the Philippines
Republic of the Philippines vs. Cagandahan
Absence of consent

A marriage in jest
A theatrical marriage
Other legal impediments that may affect the legal capacity of a
person to contract marriage:

 Prior subsisting marriages (i.e. bigamous marriages);

Incestuous marriages (i.e., those between ascendants and

descendants/ brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood,
legitimate or illegitimate) (Art. 37, Family Code)
Marriages that are void for reasons of public policy (Art. 38, Family
Code), as follows
Between blood relatives up to the 4th civil degree
Between step-parents and step-children
Between parents-in-law and children-in-law
Between the adopter and the adopted
Between the surviving spouse of the adopter and the adopted
Between the adopted child and the legitimate child of the adopter
Between adopted children of the same adopter
Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other,
killed that other persons spouse or his or her own spouse (Art. 38,
Family Code)
The following marriages are considered valid:
Between brother-in-law and sister-in-law;
Between stepbrother and stepsister;
Between the adopted child and the illegitimate child of the adopter;
Between the adopted child of the husband and adopted child of the
wife.)
Examples of a Defect in any of the Essential Requisites which
Renders the Marriage Voidable.

When either party is between 18 and 21 years of age and the

marriage is performed without parental consent
When consent is vitiated by fraud, violence, intimidation or undue
influence
II.

Under Art. 7 of the Family code, the following are the

persons authorized to solemnize marriages

1. Any incumbent member of the judiciary within the court's jurisdiction;

-members of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals,
Sandigangbayan and Court of Tax Appeals have jurisdiction
to solemnize marriages nationally
-members of the RTC and the MTC have jurisdiction within
their territorial jurisdiction
2. Any priest, rabbi, imam, or minister of any church or religious sect duly
authorized by his church or religious sect and registered with the civil
registrar general, acting within the limits of the written authority
granted by his church or religious sect and provided that at least one
of the contracting parties belongs to the solemnizing officer's church or
religious sect;
3. Any ship captain or airplane chief (only in marriages in articulo mortis
between passengers and/or crew members) in the cases mentioned in
Article 31;

4. Any military commander of a unit to which a chaplain is assigned, in

the absence of the latter, during a military operation (only in marriages
in articulo mortis);
5. Any consul-general, consul or vice-consul (only for marriages abroad
between Filipinos);
6. A mayor (pursuant to the Local Government Code)
Marriage License Requirements:
Under Art. 9 of the Family code, a marriage license shall be issued by
the local civil registrar where either contracting party resides. The
application for the marriage license shall be posted for ten (10)
consecutive days outside the office of the civil registrar. A license
shall be valid in any part of the Philippines for a period of 120 days and
shall be automatically cancelled at the end of said period.
No valid marriage license, no valid marriage.
MARRIAGE CEREMONY
No particular form of the ceremony is required. However, the personal
appearance of the parties before the solemnizing officer shall be necessary
Example of Void Marriages Due to the Absence of a Formal Requisite
Marriages solemnized by the Chief of Police (i.e., total absence of
authority of the solemnizing officer)
A marriage with no valid marriage license because the marriage was
solemnized after the expiry date of said license
A marriage with no valid marriage license as the marriage was
solemnized one year prior to the issuance of the marriage license
Sy vs. Court of Appeals and Sy (G.R. No. 127263, 12 April 2000) Absence of a marriage ceremony
Cacho vs. People of the Philippines (G.R. No. 1452261, 6 Feb.
2004)
A marriage solemnized without a license, as certified by the local civil
registrar.
Republic of the Philippines vs. The Court of Appeals
Carino vs. Carino (G.R. No. 132529, 2 Feb. 2001)
Alcantara vs. Alcantara and the Court of Appeals (G.R. No.
167746, 28 Aug. 2007)
Effect of Irregularity in any Formal Requisites
The marriage shall be valid but the party or parties responsible for the
irregularity shall be civilly, criminally and administratively liable. (Art.
4, Family Code)

Examples of Irregularities in the Formal Requisites of a Marriage.

Marriage license obtained in a place other than the residence of either
party
Absence of witnesses
10 days posting requirement of application for marriage license not
complied with

 Non-compliance with the requirements of parental advice, marriage

counseling or family planning services
Failure of the solemnizing officer to execute the affidavit required in
marriages of exceptional character
Sample Administrative Cases of the Supreme Court
Aranes vs. Judge Occiano (A.M . No. MTS-02-1390, 11 April 2002)
Moreno v. Judge Bernabe (A.M. No. MTJ-94-963, 14 July 1995)
Cosca et al. vs. Palaypayon (A.M. No. MTJ-92-721, 30 September 1994)
VOID AND VOIDABLE MARRIAGES/ ANNULMENT VERSUS
DECLARATION OF NULLITY.
VOID MARRIAGES
Under the Family Code, the bases for determining what constitute
void marriages are as follows
Lack of one or more of the essential and formal requisites of marriage
Reasons of public policy and
Special cases and situations
(e.g. psychological incapacity)
Under the Art. 35 of Family Code, the following are marriages that
are void from the beginning:
Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of the age even
with the consent of parents or guardians;
Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform
marriages unless such marriages were contracted with either or both
parties believing in good faith that the solemnizing officer that the
legal authority to do so;
Those solemnized without a license, except marriages of exceptional
character;
Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not falling under Article 41;
Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the
identity of the other;
Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53.
VOIDABLE MARRIAGES
In accordance with Art. 45 of the Family code, the following are the
voidable marriages:
Either party is between 18 to 21 years of age and no parental consent
was obtained, unless the such party freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife after reaching the age of 21.
Either party was of unsound mind unless such party freely cohabited
with the other after coming to reason,
That the consent of either party was obtained through fraud, unless
such party, with full knowledge of the facts constituting fraud, freely
cohabited with the other as husband and wife.
That the consent of either party was obtained through force,
intimidation or undue influence, unless the same having disappeared,
such party freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife.
That either party was incapable of consummating the marriage (i.e.,
impotent) and such incapacity appears to be incurable
That either party was afflicted with a sexually transmissible disease
that is serious and incurable (e.g. AIDS).

The following shall constitute fraud as shall give rise to an action for
annulment
Non-disclosure of a previous conviction by final judgment of
the other party of a crime involving moral turpitude;
Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the
marriage, she was pregnant by a man other than her husband;
Concealment of a sexually-transmissible disease, regardless of
its nature, existing at the time of the marriage; or
Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism,
homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time of the
marriage.
Differences Between Void and Voidable Marriages
As to legal effect, void marriages are inexistent from the beginning
and thus produce no legal effects. They are not capable of ratification
and children born thereof as illegitimate. Upon a declaration of nullity,
the properties of the parties are settled in accordance with the rules on
co-ownership.
Voidable marriages, on the other hand, are valid until annulled and
may be ratified and cleansed of its defects by cohabitation. The
remedy of annulment, however, may be barred by prescription.
Thus, in case of fraud; force, violence, intimidation or undue influence;
impotence; and affliction of a serious, incurable sexually transmitted
disease, the action for annulment must be brought within 5 years by
the injured spouse from discovery of the fraud, or from the cessation
of the force, violence, intimidation or undue influence or from date of
the marriage, in case of impotence and affliction with serious,
incurable STD, as the case may be. Ratification of a voidable
marriage shall bar an action for annulment even if the prescription
period has not yet expired.
ART. 36. DECLARATION OF NULLITY
As some people may have had the chance to comment, the closest
thing to a divorce in the Philippines would be a declaration of nullity
under Art. 36 of the Family Code which is premised on the
psychological incapacity of one of the parties to comply with the
essential marital obligations of marriage, even if such incapacity
becomes manifest only after the marriage. It is referred to as a
declaration of nullity as the law presumes that the marriage is void
from the beginning and thus needs a formal declaration that it is
indeed void.
This concept of psychological incapacity is not new to us as it is based
on canon law. It does not relate to a persons mental capacity or
physical condition, but relates rather to some psychological disorder
that renders the person unable to comply with the essential obligations
if marriage for example, the conjugal act, the community of life and
love, mutual help, procreation, rearing and education of children, and
does not refer to isolated idiosyncrasies
Under the precedentsetting case of Republic of the Philippines vs.
Molina
This incapacity must be, among others:

 Grave enough to bring about an inability to assume the essential

obligations of marriage
Incurable or permanent
Present at the time of the marriage even if its effects became manifest
after the marriage
Medically or clinically identified and proven by experts