RULES FROM TAN-ANDAL VS ANDAL; BAR SYLLABUS

 Psychological Incapacity must be proven with clear and convincing evidence.

- Prior to this case, mere preponderance of evidence is required.
 The reverence given to the sanctity of marriage is essentially absent in an Art 36
case because there is no marriage to speak of, Psychological Incapacity
rendering the “marriage” void ab initio.
 Psychological incapacity is neither a mental incapacity nor a personality disorder
that must be proven through expert opinion.
 There must be proof of the durable or enduring aspects of a person's personality,
called "personality structure," which manifests itself through clear acts of
dysfunctionality that undermines the family.
 The spouse's personality structure must make it impossible for him or her to
understand and, more important, to comply with his or her essential marital
obligations.
 Proof of these aspects of personality need not be given by an expert.
 Ordinary witnesses who have been present in the life of the spouses before the
latter contracted marriage may testify on behaviours that they have consistently
observed from the supposedly incapacitated spouse.
 No need to label a person as having a mental disorder just to obtain a decree of
nullity.
 For instance, violence against one's spouse and children can be a manifestation
of juridically antecedent psychological incapacity when it is shown that the violent
spouse grew up with domestic violence or had a history of abusive romantic
relationships before the marriage.
- Evidence may testimony on the spouse's past experiences that may have led
him or her to become a child abuser.
 Characterizing psychological incapacity as "incurable" is antithetical, because
the law does not prohibit a person whose former marriage had been
nullified under Article 36 to remarry. If psychological incapacity were truly
 incurable, then remarriage should not be allowed as it would only result in
another void marriage.
 The psychological incapacity contemplated in Article 36 of the Family Code is
incurable, not in the medical, but in the legal sense.
- Molina is amended accordingly.
 This means that the incapacity is so enduring and persistent with respect to a
specific partner, and contemplates a situation where the couple's respective
personality structures are so incompatible and antagonistic that the only result of
the union would be the inevitable and irreparable breakdown of the marriage.
 An undeniable pattern of such persisting failure [to be a present, loving, faithful,
respectful, and supportive spouse] or incapacity must be established so as to
demonstrate that there is indeed a psychological anomaly or incongruity in
the spouse relative to the other.

To summarize [J.Leonen]

 Psychological incapacity consists of clear acts of dysfunctionality that

show a lack of understanding and concomitant compliance with one's
essential marital obligations due to psychic causes.
 It is not a medical illness that has to be medically or clinically identified;
hence, expert opinion is not required.
 Personal examination of the allegedly psychologically incapacitated
spouse is "not required for a declaration of nullity of marriage due to
psychological incapacity.
 So long as the totality of evidence sufficiently proves the psychological
incapacity of one or both of the spouses, a decree of nullity of marriage
may be issued.
 It is possible that the marriage is attended by psychological incapacity of
one or both spouses, with the incapacity manifested in ways that can be
considered as grounds for legal separation.
J. LEONEN BEING A POET:

Love is founded on a promise: to seek beyond ourselves in order to enable and ennoble
the other to continue to become the best version of themselves.

Love can be beyond labels.