five ways to leave your lover - the final installment -annulment of marriage

while we are at the last installment of the various ways with which couples could unshackle the marital yoke that enslaves them, it is nice to know how these folks got to be enslaved in the first place.

the dissolution of a defective marriage starts with the understanding of the foundation of a perfectly valid marriage. and the law says:

Art. 2. No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:

(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.

Art. 3. The formal requisites of marriage are:

(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer;
(2) A valid marriage license except in the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title; and
(3) A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age.

The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites as mentioned above shall render the marriage void ab initio except the absence of marriage license which is excused under extraordinary circumstances like:

Art. 27. In case either or both of the contracting parties are at the point of death, the marriage may be solemnized without necessity of a marriage license and shall remain valid even if the ailing party subsequently survives.

Art. 28. If the residence of either party is so located that there is no means of transportation to enable such party to appear personally before the local civil registrar, the marriage may be solemnized without necessity of a marriage license.

Art. 33. Marriages among Muslims or among members of the ethnic cultural communities may be performed validly without the necessity of marriage license, provided they are solemnized in accordance with their customs, rites or practices. (78a)

Art. 34. No license shall be necessary for the marriage of a man and a woman who have lived together as husband and wife for at least five years and without any legal impediment to marry each other. The contracting parties shall state the foregoing facts in an affidavit before any person authorized by law to administer oaths. The solemnizing officer shall also state under oath that he ascertained the qualifications of the contracting parties are found no legal impediment to the marriage.

A defect in any of the essential requisites (legal capacity and consent) shall render the marriage voidable or annullable. the following grounds could be invoked in the annulment of marriage:

(1) too old to vote but too young to marry. That the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was eighteen years of age or over but below twenty-one, 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 twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;

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

(3) deceived and defrauded. 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; fraud involves concealment of previous conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, pregnancy of the wife at the time of marriage by a man other than her groom, sexually transmissible disease, homosexuality, lesbianism, drug addiction and alcoholism.

(4) forced, intimidated and influenced. 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) impotent and frigid. That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; or

(6) the crabs and the clap. That either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.

The action for the annulment of a voidable marriage is however prescriptible. meaning that it should be filed within the proper time or else the voidable marriage becomes valid by the passage of time or the happening of the event.

Art. 47. The action for annulment of marriage must be filed by the following persons and within the periods indicated herein:

(1) For causes mentioned in number 1 of Article 45 by the party whose parent or guardian did not give his or her consent, within five years after attaining the age of twenty-one, or by the parent or guardian or person having legal charge of the minor, at any time before such party has reached the age of twenty-one;
(2) For causes mentioned in number 2 of Article 45, by the same spouse, who had no knowledge of the other’s insanity; or by any relative or guardian or person having legal charge of the insane, at any time before the death of either party, or by the insane spouse during a lucid interval or after regaining sanity;
(3) For causes mentioned in number 3 of Article 45, by the injured party, within five years after the discovery of the fraud;
(4) For causes mentioned in number 4 of Article 45, by the injured party, within five years from the time the force, intimidation or undue influence disappeared or ceased;
(5) For causes mentioned in number 5 and 6 of Article 45, by the injured party, within five years after the marriage. (87a)

now. are you happy in your married state?

do you look forward to waking up everyday to gaze at your spouse's face in its unwashed glory?

if given a chance, would you marry the same boy or girl?

only you could provide the answers. i'm just here to give you options.