Essential and Formal Requisites of Marriage
- Essential requisites:
- Legal capacity of the contracting parties (male and female)
- Consent freely given in presence of solemnizing officer
- Formal requisites:
- Authority of solemnizing officer
- Valid marriage license (except in specific cases)
- Marriage ceremony with declaration before solemnizing officer and witnesses
- Absence of essential or formal requisites renders the marriage void ab initio
- Defect in essential requisites renders marriage voidable
- Irregularity in formal requisites may incur liability but does not invalidate marriage
Age and Consent Requirements
- Parties must be at least 18 years old and not under legal impediments
- No prescribed religious or civil form is required; personal appearance and declaration are mandatory
- Parental consent required for parties aged 18 to 21
- Parental advice required for parties aged 21 to 25
- Marriage counseling mandated if parental consent or advice is required
Solemnization and Authority to Solemnize Marriage
- Marriage solemnized by judges, authorized religious ministers, ship captains, military commanders, and consular officials in specific cases
- Public solemnization in designated places unless parties request private place under oath
Marriage License and Application Procedures
- License issued by local civil registrar where either party resides
- Application requires personal sworn statements including personal details, parents’ information, previous marriages
- Presentation of birth, baptismal, death certificates or affidavits required
- Publication of notice for 10 days to invite objections or report impediments
- License valid for 120 days from issuance
- Foreign citizens must submit certificate of legal capacity
- Fees collected except for indigents who are exempted
Marriages Exempted from License Requirement
- Marriages contracted in articulo mortis (point of death) without license are valid
- Marriages in inaccessible locations without license are valid
- Special solemnization by ship captains and military commanders for in articulo mortis marriages
- Muslim and ethnic community marriages valid without license if per customs
- Couples cohabiting for at least five years without legal impediments may marry without license
Void and Voidable Marriages
- Void marriages include those:
- Contracted by parties below 18
- Solemnized by unauthorized persons except in good faith cases
- Without license unless exempted
- Bigamous or polygamous
- Mistaken identity
- Non-compliance with Article 53 criteria
- Psychological incapacity at time of marriage renders it void
- Incestuous marriages void ab initio
- Marriages prohibited by public policy, such as certain relations by affinity and adoption, are void
- Nullity action does not prescribe
- Void marriages may be invoked for remarriage purposes only by final judgment
- Bigamous subsequent marriages are void except when absentee spouse presumed dead under certain conditions
- Effects of reappearance of absent spouse on subsequent marriage detailed
- Grounds for annulment defined with specific causes including non-consent, fraud, force, incapacity, disease
- Fraud defined narrowly with specific circumstances
- Actions for annulment have set prescriptive periods
Legal Separation
- Grounds for legal separation include violence, moral pressure, drug addiction, homosexuality, bigamous marriage, infidelity, attempted murder, abandonment
- Legal separation denied with condonation, connivance, or prescription
- Action filed within five years of cause
- Court must attempt reconciliation prior to decree
- Effects include separate living, property regime dissolution with forfeiture for guilty spouse, custody awards, inheritance disqualification
- Reconciliation possible with court approval and effects on property regime specified
Rights and Obligations Between Spouses
- Marriage requires mutual love, respect, fidelity, help, and support
- Spouses jointly fix family domicile
- Joint responsibility for family support
- Household management duty of both spouses
- Spouses may pursue occupations freely, objections decided by court on valid grounds
Property Relations Between Husband and Wife
- Governed by marriage settlements, this Code, and local customs
- Marriage settlements may stipulate absolute community, conjugal partnership, complete separation, or other regimes
- Donations by reason of marriage regulated; restrictions and revocations outlined
Absolute Community of Property
- Commences upon marriage celebration
- Community property includes all owned at marriage and acquired thereafter unless excluded
- Exclusions include properties by gratuitous title, personal use, or prior to marriage with legitimate descendants
- Community liable for support, debts related to community, taxes, education expenses, ante-nuptial debts benefiting family
- Gambling losses charged to loser, winnings to community
- Administration jointly by spouses; husband's decision prevails in disagreements unless challenged
- Disposition requires consent or court authority
- Termination on death, legal separation, annulment, or judicial separation
- Liquidation procedure elaborated including inventory, debts, distribution, and adjudication of residence
Conjugal Partnership of Gains
- Common fund from proceeds and income of separate properties and acquisitions
- Gains divided equally unless agreed otherwise
- Similar provisions on administration, liability, and dissolution as absolute community
Separation of Property
- Judicial separation only without express marriage settlement provision
- Grounds include civil interdiction, absence, loss of authority, abandonment, or abuse of power
- Petition process with creditor notice
- Voluntary dissolution possible
- Upon termination, property ownership governed accordingly
Property Regime for Unions Without Marriage
- Property acquired during cohabitation owned in common in equal shares unless proven otherwise
- Contributions presumed equal; exceptions for bad faith
The Family as a Social Institution
- Recognized as foundational to nation
- Relations between spouses, parents and children, ascendants, descendants, siblings governed by law
- Family disputes discouraged before compromise attempts
The Family Home
- Defined as joint dwelling and land of family
- Exempt from execution except for specific debts and obligations
- Value limits set for urban and rural areas
- Sale and alienation governed by consent of majority beneficiaries
- Continuity extended beyond death of spouses or head, with partition restrictions
Paternity and Filiation
- Legitimate children are those born of valid marriage including by authorized artificial insemination
- Illegitimate children defined and rights enumerated
- Grounds and procedures for impugning legitimacy
- Proof of filiation through official records or admission
- Rights to surname, support, and succession affirmed
Adoption
- Persons with full civil capacity may adopt minors; age and relationship requirements
- Restrictions on adopters include criminal record and alienage except for exceptions
- Required consents for adoption detailed
- Adoption effects include legitimacy, parental authority transfer, and succession rights
- Grounds and procedure for judicial rescission provided
Support Obligations
- Includes sustenance, education, medical, dwelling, transportation
- Obligors include spouses, ascendants, descendants, siblings with order of liability
- Proportionate support determined by means and need
- Legal provisions for support collection and third-party support
Parental Authority
- Joint exercise by father and mother over children
- Rights and duties include care, education, discipline, representation
- Substitute authority provided for absence or incapacity
- Court measures on parental authority suspension or termination
Emancipation and Age of Majority
- Majority at age 21 or by marriage or recorded emancipation agreement
- Effects include termination of parental authority and civil capacity attainment
Summary Judicial Proceedings
- Provides procedural rules for expeditious resolution of family law matters
- Covers petitions involving consent for transactions, parental authority issues, property administration
Final Provisions
- Repeals inconsistent laws
- Severability clause
- Retroactive effect except impairment of vested rights
- Effective one year after publication