DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

What is dissolution of marriage?

- is defined as a legal process that terminates a marriage or civil union.
There are several approaches that a couple can take when they want to end
their marriage. These primarily include: divorce, dissolution, annulment, and to a certain
extent, legal separation. Although “dissolution of marriage” sounds as if it could apply to
all of these methods, it actually refers to a specific procedure.
1) Annulment
- is a Court process in order to annul the marital union between a husband and
wife. Annulment of marriage presupposes that the marriage was valid from the
beginning and remains valid until annulled by the Court.
- Court proceeding which cancels marital relations between husband and wife.
Annulment is a very sensitive topic, but unfortunately, it is the only option
for Filipinos who feel trapped in a marriage. There is no divorce in the
Philippines, making it the only country in the world without divorce laws in the
books (unless you’re Muslim — and they comprise only 11% of the Philippine
population).
 Grounds of Annulment (Article 45, Family Code of the Philippines)
According to Article 45 of The Family Code of the Philippines, there are 6
legal grounds for the annulment of a marriage:

(1) Lack of parental consent (if either party is at least 18 but below 21 years old)

Either party was eighteen (18) years of age but below twenty-one (21),
and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parents, guardian or
person having substitute parental authority over the party. You can only file the
Petition within five (5) years after reaching the age of twenty-one. But you cannot
anymore file the Petition if you have freely cohabited with each other as husband
and wife after you reach the age of twenty-one. Your parent/s or guardian can
also file the Petition any time before you reach the age of twenty-one.

(2) Psychological incapacity

Either party was of unsound mind at the time of marriage. You may file the
Petition any time before the death of your husband or wife. But for instance, you
freely cohabited with each after he/she came to reason, under this circumstance,
you are already precluded by law from filing the Petition.
 (3) Fraud

The consent of either party was obtained by fraud. You can file the
Petition within five years after the discovery of the fraud, provided that you did
not freely cohabit with your husband or wife after your full knowledge of the facts
constituting the fraud.

(4) Consent for marriage obtained by force, intimidation, or undue influence

The consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation or undue

influence or otherwise known as “shotgun marriage”. You can file the Petition
within five years from the time the force, intimidation, or undue influence
disappeared or ceased. However, you are already barred from filing the Petition if
you have freely cohabited with your husband or wife knowing that the force or
intimidation had already ceased.

(5) Impotence / Physical incapability of consummating the marriage

Either party was a sexual impotent or physically incapable of engaging in

sexual intercourse and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable.
You can file the Petition within five (5) years after marriage.

(6) Serious sexually transmitted disease

Either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be

serious and appears to be incurable. You can also file the Petition within five (5)
years after marriage.

2) LEGAL SEPARATION

- A legal separation is a court-ordered arrangement whereby a married

couple lives apart, leading separate lives. A legal separation is a popular
alternative to a divorce when the parties are unsure of the state of their marriage
but want to establish financial boundaries and responsibilities, such as
separation of assets, custody of dependents, and child support.

However, legally separated couples are not permitted to remarry, since

their marriage is still considered valid and subsisting. Legal separation dissolves
the property relations of the spouses and removes the guilty party’s capacity to
inherit from the innocent party. 

 GROUNDS OF LEGAL SEPARATION

(1) Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the
petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner; 
 (2) Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change
religious or political affiliation;
(3) Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or
a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such
corruption or inducement;
(4) Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than 6
years, even if pardoned;
(5) Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent;
(6) Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent;
(7) Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether
in the Philippines or abroad;
(8) Sexual infidelity or perversion;
(9) Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner; or
(10) Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for
more than 1 year.

3) DIVORCE

A divorce is a legal decree that ends a marriage before the death of either
spouse. During a divorce proceeding, a court may resolve issues of child
custody, division of assets, and spousal support or alimony. After a divorce
becomes final, the parties are no longer legally bound to one another, and are
free to remarry or enter into a domestic partnership with another person.

As a general rule, Divorce is not allowed in the Philippines. The only

exception is when there is a Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce–when a
marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a
divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him
or her to marry, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have the capacity to remarry
under the Philippine law.

 Foreign Degree of Divorce

 The divorce decree granted by a foreign country must first be filed
for recognition in the Philippine Regional Trial Court (RTC)
 Once the local court recognized the foreign divorce decree, it is
registered in the Local Civil Registry Office (LCRO) of the place of
jurisdiction of the RTC which granted the petition
 A copy of the registered court decree and certificate of finality to the
LCRO are provided to where the marriage was registered for
annotation in the certificate of marriage.
 The Code of Muslim Personal Laws specifically recognizes Islamic
divorce.

 Certificate of Divorce
 Code of Muslim Personal Laws recognizes Islamic divorce, which is
to be granted only after all possible means of reconciliation have
been exhausted between the spouses.

 GROUNDS OF DIVORCE

Cruel and inhuman treatment constitute as grounds for divorce. In a

proper defense, acceptable differences enable the defendant to have the ability
to arrange grounds for divorce.
Some examples for grounds for divorce are:

 Sexual harassment
 Attendant circumstance
 Adultery
 Alcoholism
 Disability
 Desertion
 Imprisonment
 Domestic violence (Including physical, sexual, or mental abuse of
the other spouse and/or the child/children of the couple.)
The spouse that is responsible for committing these allegations is required
to confirm the correct date and place that the allegations were committed. The
reason for the spouse to confirm the allegations is to show proof that the
allegations have taken place in the same state. The state then has to have the
authority to administer justice by hearing and determining the
controversies. Different states accept different grounds for divorce. [3] For
example, some states only accept no-fault divorce where other states accept
both fault and no-fault grounds for divorce.

Currently, six out of ten Filipinos are in favor of the legalization of divorce,
trying to pass a divorce bill in Congress is still difficult. A divorce bill filed in May
2014, House Bill 4408 authored by Representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmi de
Jesus, is still languishing in the House Committee on Population and Family
Relations almost a year later.

4) DECLARATION OF NULLITY OF MARRIAGE

A declaration of nullity of marriage applies to marriages which are void. Void

Marriages are considered as having never been taken place, they are void from
the very beginning.
 Grounds of declaration of Nullity of marriage
1. Absence of the Essential Requisites of Marriage – Consent and Legal
Capacity of the Parties
2. Bigamous Marriages
3. Incestuous Marriages
4. Psychological Incapacity

Grounds for a Judicial Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

1. Grounds enumerated in Article 35 of the Family Code of the Philippines

(Marriages that are void from the beginning)

Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning:

(1) Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the
consent of parents or guardians;

(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 license, except those covered the preceding
Chapter;

(4) Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not failing under Article 41;

Art. 41. A marriage contracted by any person during subsistence of a

previous marriage shall be null and void, unless before the celebration of the
subsequent marriage, the prior spouse had been absent for four consecutive
years and the spouse present has a well-founded belief that the absent spouse
was already dead. In case of disappearance where there is danger of death
under the circumstances set forth in the provisions of Article 391 of the Civil
Code, an absence of only two years shall be sufficient.

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

(6) Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 52, Article 53.
Art. 52. The judgment of annulment or of absolute nullity of the marriage, the
partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses and the delivery of the
children’s presumptive legitimes shall be recorded in the appropriate civil registry
and registries of property; otherwise, the same shall not affect third persons.
 Art. 53. Either of the former spouses may marry again after compliance with
the requirements of the immediately preceding Article; otherwise, the subsequent
marriage shall be null and void.

References:

https://www.callejalaw.com/declaration-nullity-and-annulment-marriage-and-legal-
separation-philippines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grounds_for_divorce

https://saklawph.com/legal-separation/

https://saklawph.com/annulment/

https://www.imoney.ph/articles/annulments-cost-philippines/

https://getinthepicture.org/sites/default/files/resources/c%20-%20Marriage
%20Registration%20and%20Dissolution%20of%20Marriagin%20in%20the
%20Philippines.pdf

http://www.gtalawphil.com/Philippine%20Annulment%20101_1.htm