Originally Posted by
ginapeterb
A Discussion about Anulment and Legal Separation and the Philippine Family Code
I have decided to write a short peice about matters of Legal Anulment in the Philippines, during the last 6 months, I have been quite suprised by the amount of personal e mails that have been arriving in my website inbox from all over the Philippines, some of them are from British ex-patriates, who are resident in the Philippines, most of them have wifes, and are now with other companiions, they wish to move on with their life, some are from Filipinos who are wanting to marry British Citizens, it amazes me how sometimes they think I can answer their questions, but I decided to make contact with a laywer freind of my wife's who specializes in Family Law in the Philippines, I wanted to write this peice, so thankfully I have all the information I need now to do this, so here it is at last.
I have also included some questions that I get in E mails, to help those who might have similar cases to ask us about here at FilipinoUK.
Philippine Annulment Law Made Easy
ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE
Annulment is the term given by non-lawyers to all cases of annulment proceedings. But legally speaking, annulment cases are only those petitions with grounds falling under Article 45 of the Family Code. The other process is a Petition to declare absolute nullity of marriage or simply a petition for nullity of marriage which can be found under Article 35 (Absence of Formal and Essential Requisites of Marriage), Article 36 (Psychological Incapacity) Article 37 (Incestuous Marriages) and Article 38 (Void by reason of Public Policy) of the Family Code.
Q. What is Annulment of Marriage?
Annulment of Marriage is a Court process in order to annul the marital union between a husband and wife. Annulment of marriage presupposes that the marriage was valid from the beginning and remains valid until annulled by the Court.
Q. What are the grounds for annulment? Is there a time limit for this?
Marriages can be annulled by the court on the following grounds:
1. Either party was eighteen (18) years of age but below twenty-one (21), and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party. You can only file the Petition within five (5) years after reaching the age of twenty-one. But you cannot anymore file the Petition if you have freely cohabited with each other as husband and wife after you reach the age of twenty-one. Your parent/s or guardian can also file the Petition anytime before you reach the age of twenty-one.
2. Either party was of unsound mind at the time of marriage. You may file the Petition anytime before the death of your husband or wife. But for instance, you freely cohabited with each after he/she came to reason, under this circumstance, you are already precluded by law from filing the Petition.
3. The consent of either party was obtained by fraud. You can file the
Petition within five years after the discovery of the fraud, provided that
you did not freely cohabit with your husband or wife after your full
knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud. Sounds tricky?
4. The consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence or otherwise known as “shotgun marriage”. You can file the Petition within five years from the time the force, intimidation, or undue influence disappeared or ceased. However, you are already barred from filing the Petition if you have freely cohabited with your husband or wife knowing that the force or intimidation had already ceased.
5. Either party was a sexual impotent or physically incapable of engaging in sexual intercourse and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable. You can file the Petition within five (5) years after marriage.
6. Either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable. You can also file the Petition within five (5) years after marriage.
Q. What are the kinds of fraud which constitute the ground for annulment?
The kinds of fraud that will give ground for annulment are as follows:
1. Non-disclosure of a previous conviction by final judgment of the
other party of a crime involving moral turpitude;
2. Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the marriage,
she was pregnant by a man other than her husband;
3. Concealment of sexually transmissible disease, regardless of its
nature, existing at the time of the marriage; or
4. Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism or homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time of the marriage.
Q. My wife fooled me into marrying her. Prior to our marriage, she told me that she is a doctor and no sexual experience After our marriage, I found out the truth that she is not what she claims to be. Can I file a Petition for annulment on the ground of fraud?
We truly understand your feelings but misrepresentation
or deceit as to character, health, rank, fortune or chastity do not constitute fraud as ground for annulment. Perhaps, you can explore the possibility to declare your marriage void on other grounds such as the psychological incapacity under Article 36 of the Family Code.
Q. Where can I file the Petition for Annulment?
You can only file the Petition for Annulment in the place of your residence or the place of residence of your husband or wife.
Q. I would like to file the Petition in Cebu but I do not have residence
there yet. My husband is not also living there. But I will be accepting
a job as call center manager in Cebu a month from now. Can I file the Petition in Cebu?
Yes, you can file the Petition in Cebu but you have to establish residence in Cebu for a period of at least six (6) months prior to the filing of the Petition. This can be arranged because you will be relocating there for your new job assignment.
DECLARATION OF NULLITY OF MARRIAGE
A petition to declare the marriage void presupposes that the marriage was void or invalid from the beginning. Legally, it can be said that the marriage did not even exist. But there are so many questions about this issue like, do you need to file the Petition if your marriage did not even exist from the beginning? The answers that you have been looking for can be found below.
Q. What are the grounds to declare the marriage void?
The grounds to declare the marriage void are as follows:
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 unless exempted by law.
4. Those bigamous or polygamous marriages.
5. Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other;
6. Assuming that you caused the annulment of your first marriage. However, you get married immediately without waiting for issuance of the Final Decree of Annulment. Your second marriage can also be voided by the Court.
7. Psychological Incapacity of the husband or wife, existing at the time of marriage, which prevents him or her from complying with the essential marital obligations of marriage, even if such incapacity becomes manifest only after the solemnization of the marriage.
8. Incestuous Marriages (between ascendants and descendants; between brothers and sisters whether full or half blood).
9. Marriages between relatives:
a. between collateral blood relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree;
b. between step-parents and step-children;
c. between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
d. between the adopting parent and the adopted
child;
e. between the surviving spouse of the adopting
parent and the adopted child;
f. between the surviving spouse of the adopted
child and the adopter;
g. between an adopted child and and a legitimate
child of the adopter;
h. between adopted children of the same
adopter;
i. between parties where one, with the intention to
marry the other, killed the other person’s
spouse, or his or her own spouse.
Q. I just found out that my husband was married before and I have obtained a marriage contract from the NSO to prove this. It was also confirmed when I confronted my husband about this. Do I still have to file a Petition? Can I also file a criminal case against my husband? Can his ex-wife file a criminal case against me? What is my defense, if any?
Although your marriage was void from beginning, the law still requires you to obtain a declaration of absolute nullity of your marriage by filing a petition in court. Yes, you can also file a criminal case for Bigamy against your husband. Yes, his ex-wife may file a criminal case for bigamy against you and your husband. But your defense is lack or absence of knowledge regarding his prior marriage or absence of criminal intent.
Q. What happens if I will get married without having my first marriage declared void?
Your second marriage will be invalid for being bigamous. The sad thing is, you will be facing another criminal case for bigamy
in so far as your second marriage is concerned.
Q. Is there a time limit for me to file a Petition to declare the marriage void?
The action to declare the marriage void shall not prescribe. Meaning, you can file the petition anytime during your lifetime.
Q. My lawyer told me that my second marriage was void from the beginning. I totally disagreed because the Court has already issued a Decision declaring my first marriage void from the beginning. I also showed him the Court Decision and an Entry of Judgment from the same Court. But my lawyer still insists that my second marriage was void because I failed to obtain a final decree of annulment from the Court? Is my lawyer correct?
Yes, your lawyer is correct. It appears to us that you have not completed the process before you can validly contract a second marriage. You should have brought the Court Decision and Entry of Judgment for recording at the Local Civil Registrar where your first
marriage was recorded. After the recording, you should have gone back to the Court to show proof that the Court documents were already recorded in the Local Civil Registrar. The Court will then issue a Final Decree of Annulment. Since you failed to follow this process, your second marriage is void.
Quote Reply
