Void Marriages

The following marriages are void under Philippine Law:

1.) Those contracted by any party below 18 years old

2.) Those solemnized by a person not legally authorized to solemnize marriages

3.) Those solemnized without a license

4.) Bigamous/polygamous marriages except those under Art. 41 0f the Family Code (lack of a court declaration of presumptive death of an absent spouse.)

5.) Those contracted by mistake as to the identity of the parties

6.) Subsequent marriages that don't comply with Art. 53 of the Family Code

7.) Marriages contracted by any party suffering from psychological incapacity (Family Code, Art. 36)

8.) Incestuous marriages (Art. 37)

9.) Those declared void by reason of public policy (Art. 38)

Under Art. 53 (which merely reinforces Arts. 40, 41 and 52) of the Family Code subsequent marriages are valid only if the previous marriage has been declared void by the court; the properties of the spouses are partitioned and distributed; the presumptive legitimes of the children are delivered; and that all these are recorded in the civil registry/registry of property (a.k.a. Registry of Deeds.) Subsequent marriages without a court declaration of nullity of a previous void marriage (Art. 40) or presumptive death of an absent spouse (Art. 41) are also void.

For psychological incapacity to be a ground for the marriage being void it must be shown that the person in question doesn't have the heart and mind to perform the martial obligations. It doesn't necessarily have to manifest before or during the marriage but it must exist during the marriage. The cause must be medically or clinically identified, alleged in the complaint and sufficiently proven by experts.

Incestuous marriages under Art. 37 are the following:

1.) Those made between ascendants and descendants of any degree

2.) Those made between brothers and sisters of full or half-blood

Marriages declared void due to public policy are the following:

1.) Between collateral blood relatives (brothers, sisters, cousins) regardless of legitimacy up to the 4th civil degree

2.) Between step-parents and step-children

3.) Between parents-in-law and children-in-law

4.) Between adopting parents and adopting children

5.) Between the surviving spouse of an adopting parent and and 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

9.) Between parties where one of them, planning to marry the other, killed his own spouse or the spouse of the other.