VOID MARRIAGES IN THE PHILIPPINES: A void marriage is one which is NOT valid from its inception. A marriage that is void ab initio is considered as having never to have taken place and cannot be the source of rights (Niñal vs. Bayadog [2000]). The following marriages are void from the beginning: Those contracted by any party below 18 years of 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 had the legal authority to do so; Those solemnized WITHOUT a Marriage License, EXCEPT marriages exempt from license requirement; Those bigamous or polygamous marriages, NOT allowed under special laws such as the Muslim Code or NOT contracted by a person whose spouse has been absent for 4 consecutive years, said person having a well-founded belief that the absent spouse was already dead and the latter is declared presumptively dead in a summary proceeding Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other; Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53 of the Family Code of the Philippines when either of the former spouses marries again WITHOUT complying with the requirements of Article 52, supra, requiring the judgment of annulment or judgment 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 be recorded in the appropriate civil registry and registries of property; Those contracted by any party who, at the time of the celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage EVEN IF such incapacity becomes manifest only after its solemnization; Those between ascendants and descendants of any degree; Those between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood; Those between collateral blood relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the 4th civil degree (i.e. between first cousins); Those between step-parents and step-children; Those between parents-in-law and children-in-law; Those between the adopting parent and the adopted child; Those between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the adopted child; Those between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the adopter; Those between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter; Those between adopted children of the same adopter; and Those between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed the other person’s spouse or his or her own spouse (Articles 35, 36, 37, and 38, Family Code of the Philippines)
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:38:23 +0000