couples now utter the words annulment of marriage and psychological incapacity at the slightest sign of trouble in their married life. little do they know that they are actually referring to declaration of nullity rather than annulment of marriage.
these two processes work towards the same end, that is, the formalization of the marital divide, but in reality are entirely of different species.
a petition for annulment of marriage refers to the petition for the dissolution of a voidable marriage while a petition for the declaration of nullity of marriage prays for the court to formally declare that a void marriage is indeed void.
a voidable (or annullable) marriage is one that is considered valid and subsisting until it set aside by a competent court. a void marriage on the other hand, is deemed never to have taken place at all, that's why they use the term void ab initio or void from the beginning.
interestingly, while a void marriage may be considered not to have taken place at all, it can be used as a basis for the criminal prosecution for bigamy. why? because only the court has the power to declare a marriage void. the parties cannot be so presumptuous as to assume that their former marriage is a nullity and therefore they are free to marry again. otherwise, half of the male population of this country would have already self declared their marriage to be void.
in our jurisdiction the following marriages are void:
1. underage marriage - where any (or both) of the parties is (are) below 18 years of age at the time of the celebration of the marriage. in this instance, the marriage is void even if there is parental consent.
2. fake priest marriage - where the person who solemnized the marriage is not legally authorized to do so. examples are marriages solemnized by barangay captains, congressmen, senators, pseudo pastors of fake religions and lawyers. yes lawyers are not authorized to solemnize marriages, only judges, justices, priests and pastors are.
3. unlicensed marriage - where the parties did not secure a marriage license prior to the celebration of marriage unless the marriage was celebrated in articulo mortis (at the point or near death) or the parties have been living together as husband and wife for at least five years without any legal impediment to marry each other.
4. multiple marriage - bigamous, trigamous, quadrogamous, polygamous in other words a marriage contracted while one of the parties has a subsisting marriage (unless that party is a muslim, but that's another story)
5. wrong mistake marriage - where there is mistake as to the identity of the other party to the marriage. example is where the ugly sister deceptively took the place of the prettier one and the groom unknowingly gave his i do. and when the veil is lifted...
6. second gloria marriage - where a widow or widower contracted a marriage without distributing legitimes to the children, the second marriage would be void. so single men/women on the prowl for rich widow/widower, beware, his/her fortune is not your fortune.
7. p.i marriage - the p.i. here does not refer to the popular cusswords used to describe the sexual proclivity of the mother of one's enemy. this refers to a marriage where one or both parties are psychologically incapacitated to perform the essential marital obligations. this is the most popular ground being invoked nowadays but it also entails the most expenses. technically speaking, it is the hardest to prove because the incapacity should be grave, preexisting and incurable.
8. incestous (kapamilya) marriage - marriages between ascendants and descendants of any degree and between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood. the scientific reasons for this is marriages between relatives usually result in inbreeding, with the resultant offsprings in some cases suffering from some kind of abnormalities. also it offends against common decency, propriety and societal mores.
9. kakahiya (kapuso) marriage. marriages between relatives up to fourth civil degree (first cousins beware), step parents and step children, parents in law and children in law, adopter and adopted, two adopted children of the same adopter, adopted child and legitimate child of the adopter, the hired gun and the widow or widower. incidentally, the law does not prohibit a marriage between an adopted child and the illegitimate child of the adopter.
yes virginia, there are grounds for the declaration of nullity of marriage other than psychological incapacity of one or both of the parties. so don't jump the gun and invoke p.i. like a mantra. make a self assessment first. you might just find an applicable ground which is easier to prove and less costly to boot.
next. last installment. annulment of marriage
