QuestionsQuestions (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 209)
Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman for the establishment of conjugal and family life; it is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law (not subject to stipulation), except that marriage settlements may fix property relations during the marriage within limits provided by the Code.
(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties, who must be a male and a female; and (2) consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.
(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer; (2) a valid marriage license except in cases under Chapter 2; and (3) a ceremony where the parties appear personally, declare in the presence of at least two legal-age witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife.
Absence of any essential or formal requisite renders the marriage void ab initio, except as stated in Article 35(2). Defects in essential requisites render it voidable under Article 45; irregularities in formal requisites generally do not affect validity, but the responsible party(ies) incur civil, criminal, and administrative liability.
Any male or female of age eighteen years or upwards, not under impediments mentioned in Articles 37 and 38, may contract marriage.
No prescribed form or religious rite is required. However, the parties must personally appear before the solemnizing officer and declare in the presence of at least two legal-age witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife; this declaration must be contained in the marriage certificate signed by the parties and witnesses and attested by the solemnizing officer.
(1) Incumbent members of the judiciary within their jurisdiction; (2) priests/rabbis/imams/ministers of registered religious sects authorized by their church/sect, provided at least one party belongs to the sect; (3) ship captains or airplane chiefs in the situation covered by Article 31; (4) military commanders of a unit with a chaplain assigned, in the cases in Article 32; (5) consuls-general/consuls/vice-consuls in the case in Article 10.
No license is required when: (1) either/both parties are at the point of death (Art. 27); (2) residence is so located there is no means of transportation to appear before the local civil registrar (Art. 28-29); (3) marriages among Muslims or ethnic cultural communities performed according to their customs/rites (Art. 33); (4) the parties have lived together as husband and wife for at least five years without legal impediment (Art. 34); and in specific cases involving ship/air/armed forces in articulo mortis (Arts. 31-32) which operate as exceptions tied to solemnization situations.
A marriage license is valid anywhere in the Philippines for 120 days from the date of issue; it is automatically cancelled at expiration if not used, and the expiry date must be stamped in bold characters.
Marriages contracted by any party below 18 are void from the beginning even with consent of parents/guardians (Art. 35[1]).
If at the time of celebration, a party was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations; the marriage is void even if incapacity becomes manifest only after solemnization.
Incestuous marriages between ascendants and descendants of any degree, and between brothers and sisters (full or half blood), are void from the beginning.
Examples include unions between collateral blood relatives up to the fourth civil degree, step-parents and step-children, parents-in-law and children-in-law, adopting parent and adopted child, and unions where one party killed the other’s spouse (or their own spouse) with intention to marry.
The action or defense for declaration of absolute nullity does not prescribe (with a historical exception mentioned for marriages under Article 36 celebrated before the Code’s effectivity, prescribing after 10 years from the Code’s effectivity as modified by amendments).
Void marriages under Articles 35 (void ab initio) and 36 (psychological incapacity void ab initio) have no prescriptive period for the action/defense (Art. 39). Annulment under Article 45 applies to marriages that are voidable for specific causes existing at time of marriage, and requires filing within prescriptive periods under Article 47.