Family Code: Marriages Flashcards
What is Marriage according to the Family Code?
Article 1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code.
How is Marriage different from Ordinary Contracts?
- Both are governed by different laws.
- Marriage can only be dissolved by death or annulment unlike in Ordinary contracts, it can be dissolved through Mutual Agreement and by other legal causes.
- Marriage is PERMANENT while Ordinary Contracts can be fixed with whatever period is agreed upon.
- Breach in Ordinary Contracts gives rise to actions for damages while in marriage there is none.
What are the Essential Requisites of Marriage?
- Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female; and
- Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.
What are the Formal Requisites of Marriage?
- Authority of the solemnizing officer;
- A valid marriage license except in the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title; and
- 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.
What is the effect of the ABSENCE of ANY of the essential or formal requisites?
The marriage shall be rendered Void Ab Initio.
EXCEPT when the marriage was contracted with EITHER or BOTH parties believing in good faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so.
What will happen if there is a DEFECT in ANY Essential Requisites?
It shall not affect the validity of the marriage but the party or parties responsible for the irregularity shall be civilly, criminally and administratively liable.
Who may contract marriage?
Any male or female who are at least 18 years old and upwards without any legal impediments.
Who may solemnize a marriage?
(1) Any incumbent member of the judiciary within the court’s jurisdiction;
(2) Any priest, rabbi, imam, or minister of any church or religious sect duly authorized by his church or religious sect and registered with the civil registrar general, acting within the limits of the written authority granted by his church or religious sect and provided that at least one of the contracting parties belongs to the solemnizing officer’s church or religious sect;
(3) Any ship captain or airplane chief only in the case mentioned in Article 31;
(4) Any military commander of a unit to which a chaplain is assigned, in the absence of the latter, during a military operation, likewise only in the cases mentioned in Article 32;
(5) Any consul-general, consul or vice-consul in the case provided in Article 10.
Where can a marriage be solemnized?
- Chambers of the judge or in open court.
- Church, chapel or temple
- Office the consul-general, consul or vice-consul
- House or place designated by the contracting parties by submitting a written request to the solemnizing officer.
What happens when Parental CONSENT (between 18 and 21) and Advice (Above 21) in addition to a Certificate issued by solemnizing officer or marriage councilor has not been attained by the contracting parties?
It shall suspend the issuance of the marriage license for a period of three months from the completion of the publication of the application. Issuance of the marriage license within the prohibited period shall subject the issuing officer to administrative sanctions but shall not affect the validity of the marriage.
What will the LCR do after the application of the marriage license by the contracting parties?
Art. 17. The local civil registrar shall prepare a notice which shall contain the full names and residences of the applicants for a marriage license and other data given in the applications. The notice shall be posted for ten consecutive days on a bulletin board outside the office of the local civil registrar located in a conspicuous place within the building and accessible to the general public. This notice shall request all persons having knowledge of any impediment to the marriage to advise the local civil registrar thereof. The marriage license shall be issued after the completion of the period of publication.
What marriages can be solemnized without a marriage license?
- In case either or both of the contracting parties are at the point of death and shall remain valid even if the ailing party subsequently survives.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
What are Void Marriages 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;
(3) Those solemnized without license;
(4) Those bigamous or polygamous marriages;
(5) Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other.
What marriages are void from the beginning for being INCESTUOUS?
(1) Between ascendants and descendants of any degree; and
(2) Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood.
What marriages are void from the beginning for reasons of Public Policy?
(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 child and the adopter;
(7) Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter;
(8) Between 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.
What are the requirements of the Declaration of Presumptive Death of a spouse?
- That the absent spouse has been missing for four consecutive years, or two consecutive years if the disappearance occurred where there is danger of death.
- That the present spouse wishes to remarry.
- That the present spouse has a well-founded belief that the absentee is dead.
- That the present spouse files a summary proceeding for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee.
What does “Well-founded belief” mean?
It is upon the showing of proper and honest-to-goodness inquiries and efforts to ascertain not only the absent spouse’s whereabouts but, more importantly, whether the absent spouse is still alive or is already dead.
What is the effect of an Affidavit of Reappearance of an absent spouse in relation to Art. 41,FC?
The subsequent marriage referred to in the preceding Article shall be automatically
What happens when both spouses of the subsequent marriage acted in bad faith in Art.41,FC?
The said marriage shall be void ab initio and all donations by reason of marriage and testamentary dispositions made by one in favor of the other are revoked by operation of law.
What are the Grounds for Annulment of Marriage?
(1) 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) 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 a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable
What does “Fraud” mean in No.3 of Art.45?
(1) Non-disclosure of a previous conviction by final judgment of the other party of a crime involving moral turpitude;
(2) Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the marriage, she was pregnant by a man other than her husband;
(3) Concealment of sexually transmissible disease, regardless of its nature, existing at the time of the marriage; or
(4) Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism or homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time of the marriage.
No other misrepresentation or deceit as to character, health, rank, fortune or chastity shall constitute such fraud as will give grounds for action for the annulment of marriage.
Who my file the action for Annulment of Marriage and within what period?
(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.
What are the effects of Filing and Issuance of a Decree of Annulment?
Art. 49. During the pendency of the action and in the absence of adequate provisions in a written agreement between the spouses, the Court shall provide for the support of the spouses and the custody and support of their common children. The Court shall give paramount consideration to the moral and material welfare of said children and their choice of the parent with whom they wish to remain as provided to in Title IX. It shall also provide for appropriate visitation rights of the other parent.
The final judgment in such cases shall provide for the liquidation, partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses, the custody and support of the common children, and the delivery of third presumptive legitimes, unless such matters had been adjudicated in previous judicial proceedings.
All creditors of the spouses as well as of the absolute community or the conjugal partnership shall be notified of the proceedings for liquidation.
In the partition, the conjugal dwelling and the lot on which it is situated, shall be adjudicated in accordance with the provisions of Articles 102 and 129.
What are the GROUNDS for 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 six 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 one year.
For purposes of this Article, the term “child” shall include a child by nature or by adoption.
