Can The Marriage Be Annulled If The Parties Were Already Separated For 18 Years?

I had a client who was separated-in-fact with her husband for 18 years.  In fact, her husband already cohabited with 2 different women. Allegedly, her husband was able to contract another marriage. She was asking on whether their separation for 18 years would be a ground for annulment.

To answer the query of my client, we have to examine what has been provided by our laws.

In the Family Code of the Philippines, there are instances provided on which the marriages shall be void from the very beginning or the marriages shall be declared annulled. 

Only those grounds provide by the Family Code shall be considered and nothing else.

In the said Family Code, the following marriages shall be VOID from the beginning:

1. Those contracted by any party below 18 years of age even with the consent of parents or guardian;

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 a license, except those provided by the Code;

4. Those bigamous or polygamous marriages;

5. Those contracted through the mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other; and

6. Those subsequent marriages that are void due to non-compliance of the requirements of the law (Article 35).

Article 36 of the Family Code also provides an instance in which the marriage shall be annulled based on psychological incapacity.  Accordingly, a marriage contracted by any party who, at the time of the celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage, shall likewise be void even if such incapacity becomes manifest only after solemnization.

Incestuous marriages shall also be void from the beginning, whether the relationship between the parties be legitimate or illegitimate:

1. Between ascendants and descendants of any degree; and

2. Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood (Article 37).

For reasons of public policy, the following marriages shall be declared void:

1. Between collateral blood relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree;

2. Between step-parents and step-children;

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

4. Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;

5. Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the adopted child;

6. Between the surviving spouse of the adopted and the adopter;

7. Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter;

8. Between the adopted children of the same adopter; and

9. Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed that other person’s spouse or his or her own spouse (Article 38).

Article 45 of the Family Code enumerates causes for the annulment of the marriages.  The causes for such annulment shall be existing at the time of the marriage. These causes are:

1. That the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was 18 years of age or over but below 21, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining the age of 21, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;

2. That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

3. That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

4. That the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence, unless the same having disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife;

5. That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or

6. That either party was afflicted with s sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.

Only the foregoing grounds for declaration of nullity of marriages and the causes for annulment of marriage shall be considered.

There was no mention of separation-in-fact as one of the grounds or causes. Regardless of the number of years the parties have been separated, their marriage cannot be declared annulled sans the grounds or causes mentioned in the Family Code.

The agreement of the parties signed by them even before a notary public is not one of the grounds or causes mentioned by the Code.

Note: Image Credit to www.colo-divorce.com via Google.