Question & AnswerQ&A (Act No. 3613)
The essential requisites for marriage are the legal capacity of the contracting parties and their consent.
Any male of the age of sixteen years or upwards, and any female of the age of fourteen years or upwards may contract marriage, subject to exceptions in sections 28 and 29.
No particular form for the ceremony of marriage is required, but the parties must declare in the presence of the person solemnizing the marriage and two witnesses that they take each other as husband and wife, and this must be set forth in a triplicate instrument signed by the parties and witnesses.
Marriages may be solemnized by the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court; Judges and auxiliary judges of Courts of First Instance; municipal judges of Manila and justices of the peace; and priests or ministers of the gospel of any registered denomination, church, sect, or religion.
Marriages must be solemnized publicly in the office of the justice or court or in a church, chapel, or temple unless exceptions such as marriage on the point of death or at remote places apply.
Yes, except for marriages of an exceptional character authorized in Chapter II, no marriage shall be solemnized without a marriage license issued by the municipal secretary or the clerk of the Municipal Court in the place where the female has her habitual residence.
Applicants must submit original or certified copies of baptismal or birth certificates, or in certain cases, an instrument with sworn declarations by two witnesses verifying identity and age.
Causes include: marriage contracted under legal age without subsequent cohabitation after attaining age; prior existing marriage; unsoundness of mind at marriage time; consent obtained by fraud or force; physical incapacity at the time of marriage that continues and is incurable.
They shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one month nor more than two years, or by a fine of not less than two hundred pesos nor more than two thousand pesos.
Yes, all marriages performed outside the Philippine Islands, in accordance with the laws of the country where performed and valid there, shall also be valid in the Philippines.
It is deemed to be the residence of her parents or guardian if under eighteen years of age; if over eighteen, the place where she lived uninterruptedly for at least one year prior to the application date.
Children born before the decree of nullity for causes such as under-age marriage, existing prior marriage, or unsound mind shall be considered legitimate.
Marriages may be solemnized without a license in cases of "in articulo mortis" (on the point of death) or when the female resides more than fifteen kilometers from the municipal building without proper communication routes.