five ways to leave your lover - part 4 ...

declaration of nullity of
marriage
couples now utter the words annulment of marriage and psychological incapacity at the slightest
sign of trouble in their married life. little do they know that they are actually referring to
declaration of nullity rather than annulment of marriage.

these two processes work towards the same end, that is, the formalization of the marital divide, but
in reality are entirely of different species.

a petition for annulment of marriage refers to the petition for the dissolution of a voidable
marriage while a petition for the declaration of nullity of marriage prays for the court to
formally declare that a void marriage is indeed, void, invalid, inexistent.

a voidable (or annullable) marriage is one that is considered valid and subsisting until it is set aside
by a competent court. a void marriage on the other hand, is deemed never to have taken place at
all, that's why they use the term void ab initio or void from the beginning.

interestingly, while a void marriage may be considered not to have taken place at all, it can be used
as a basis for the criminal prosecution for bigamy. why? because only the court has the power to
declare a marriage void. the parties cannot be so presumptuous as to assume that their former
marriage is a nullity and therefore they are free to marry again. otherwise, half of the male
population of this country would have already self declared their marriage to be void.

in our jurisdiction the following marriages are void:

1. underage marriage - where any (or both) of the parties is (are) below 18 years of age at the time
of the celebration of the marriage. in this instance, the marriage is void even if there is parental
consent.

2. fake priest marriage - where the person who solemnized the marriage is not legally authorized to
do so. examples are marriages solemnized by barangay captains, congressmen, senators, pseudo
pastors of fake religions and lawyers. yes lawyers are not authorized to solemnize marriages, only
judges, justices, mayors, priests and pastors are. (note: the practice of some mayors to let their
vice mayors or councilors or assistants to solemnize the marriages of their constituents and then just
sign the marriage certificate is illegal. that marriage can be attacked under this ground. if you were
married by your barangay captain, or your councilor, or vice mayor, call me. )

3. unlicensed marriage - where the parties did not secure a marriage license prior to the
celebration of marriage unless the marriage was celebrated in articulo mortis (at the point or near
death) or the parties have been living together as husband and wife for at least five years without
any legal impediment to marry each other. (another note. a fake affidavit of cohabitation in order
to skirt the marriage license requirement may also be invoked as a ground for unlicensed marriage)

4. multiple marriage - bigamous, trigamous, quadrogamous, polygamous in other words a marriage

contracted while one of the parties has a subsisting marriage (unless that party is a muslim, but
that's another story)(who wants to have multiple mother-in-laws anyway)

5. wrong mistake marriage - where there is mistake as to the identity of the other party to the
marriage. example is where the ugly sister deceptively took the place of the prettier one and the
groom unknowingly gave his i do. and when the veil is lifted it was zorayda sanches rather than
korinna sanches.

6. second gloria marriage - where a widow or widower contracted a marriage without distributing
legitimes to the children, the second marriage would be void. so single men/women on the prowl
for rich widow/widower, beware, his/her fortune is not your fortune unless this requirement is met.
(aasa ka sa wala)

7. p.i marriage - the p.i. here does not refer to the popular cusswords used to describe the sexual
proclivity of the mother of one's enemy. this refers to a marriage where one or both parties are
psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. this is the most popular
ground being invoked nowadays but it also entails the most expenses. technically speaking, it is the
hardest to prove because the incapacity should be grave, preexisting and incurable. (an entirely
separate blog should be dedicated into this topic. One of these days….)

8. incestous (kapamilya) marriage - marriages between ascendants and descendants of any degree
and between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood. the scientific reasons for this is
marriages between relatives usually result in inbreeding, with the resultant offsprings in some cases
suffering from some kind of abnormalities. also it offends against common decency, propriety and
societal mores.

9. kakahiya (kapuso) marriage. marriages between relatives up to fourth civil degree (first cousins
beware), step parents and step children, parents in law and children in law, adopter and adopted,
two adopted children of the same adopter, adopted child and legitimate child of the adopter, the
hired gun and the widow or widower. incidentally, the law does not prohibit a marriage between an
adopted child and the illegitimate child of the adopter.

yes virginia, there are grounds for the declaration of nullity of marriage other than psychological
incapacity of one or both of the parties. so don't jump the gun and invoke p.i. like a mantra. make a
self assessment first. you might just find an applicable ground which is easier to prove and less
costly to boot.

jccastrolawoffice@gmail.com

next. last installment. annulment of marriage