Philippine Marriages

Void marriages are marriages that do not have any legal effect from their celebration and therefore cannot be used as the basis for rights and responsibilities under the law. Being void from the very beginning, such marriages are not susceptible to ratification by either party. Furthermore, marriages of such character may be impugned either in a direct or indirect proceeding during or even after the death of the parties.

Under Article 35 of the Family Code of the Philippines, the following marriages shall be null and void from the beginning:

1. Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the consent of parents or guardians;
2. 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 had the legal authority to do so;
3. Those solemnized without license, except those covered the preceding Chapter;
4. Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not failing under Article 41;
5. Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other; and
6. Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53.

The list is not exclusive since there are other articles that also provide for other kinds of void marriages. These provisions are found in articles 36, 37, 38 and 53 of the same code. Article 36 deals with marriages that have been celebrated where either of the parties was suffering from psychological incapacity. Under this article, such a marriage may be subsequently declared null and void. Psychological incapacity has been defined as a mental incapacity that causes a party to be truly incognitive of basic marital covenants that must be assumed and discharged by the parties. Despite this definition, courts are still given wide latitude in defining instances that also fall within the term psychological incapacity as it was the intent of the lawmakers to give judges such discretion. Circumstances that show the presence of psychological incapacity include the constant refusal to procreate with his or her spouse; refusal to dwell in the same house and consequently leaving the other spouse without any justification; unbearable jealousy of either parties; and immaturity or lack of rational judgment.

Article 37 deals with incestuous marriages. These marriages are declared null and void based on gathered scientific evidence where marriage between relatives of a certain degree may produce offsprings that are both genetically inferior and defective. In order to prevent such situations, the law prohibits these persons from marrying each other. Article 37 provides as follows:

Art. 37. Marriages between the following are incestuous and void from the beginning, whether relationship between the parties be legitimate or illegitimate:

1. Between ascendants and descendants of any degree; and
2. Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood.

Article 38 deals with marriages contrary to public policy. Under this provision, the following individuals are prohibited from marrying each other due to the artificial relationship that both the law and society recognizes. In such cases, the law treats such individuals as being related despite their lack of blood relation. Article 38 lists these marriages as follows:

1. Between collateral blood relatives whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree;
2. Between step-parents and step-children;
3. Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
4. Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;
5. Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the adopted child;
6. Between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the adopter;
7. Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter;
8. Between adopted children of the same adopter; and
9. Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed that other person’s spouse, or his or her own spouse.

Article 53 deals with subsequent marriages entered into by either party without fulfilling the requirements laid down by law. The provision contemplates a previous marriage that was annulled or declared void. The former spouses are free to remarry provided they have fulfilled the requirement of recording the judgment of annulment or of absolute nullity of the marriage, the partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses and the delivery of the children’s presumptive legitimes in the appropriate civil registry and registries of property. Failure to do so would result in making any subsequent marriage null and void.