WHAT IS ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES?
Annulment in the Philippines is a broad term for two types of dissolving a marriage . The first type is the “annulment” in the strict sense of the word and presupposes a valid marriage but voidable for reasons like impotence or having an incurable sexually transmitted disease. The second type is a “declaration of nullity” which are void marriages from the beginning like minority (under 18) , lack of a marriage license, bigamous marriages, and psychological incapacity. Generally, the distinction between these two types of dissolution of a marriage hinges on their consequences. A voidable marriage is valid until annulled, and thus will have legal effects after the annulment.
A void marriage, on the other hand, is void ab initio or from the very beginning. To illustrate, children born of a void marriage are generally illegitimate ( except when the ground is psychological incapacity) while children born of a voidable marriage are considered legitimate. A void marriage cannot be cured, for example by the cohabitation of the spouses after the celebration of the marriage while a voidable marriage can be cured by cohabitation ( except impotence and having an incurable sexually-transmitted disease).
1) WHAT ARE THE GROUNDS FOR ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES?
The most common grounds are psychological incapacity, lack of a marriage license, and minority (below 18). The other grounds will require more evidence and may prove to be more difficult to prove.
Grounds for Annulment (Valid Until Annulled):
1) Lack of parental consent if one or both of the parties are between 18 and 21 years of age;
2) Either party is of unsound mind;
3) Fraud in obtaining the consent of either party, for example pregnancy by another man;
4) Force and intimidation in obtaining the consent of either party;
5) Impotence or failure to consummate the marriage;
6) Sexually-transmitted disease which is incurable;
( Article 35, Family Code of the Philippines)
Grounds for Annulment (Void from the Beginning):
1) Minority or under 18 years of age;
2) Lack of authority of the solemnizing officer;
3) No marriage license, unless exempt under the law;
4) Bigamous or polygamous marriages;
5) Mistake as to the identity of one of the parties;
6) Subsequent marriages where the declaration of nullity of a previous marriage was not recorded in the partition or liquidation of the properties of the spouses or when there was no distribution of the presumptive legitime of the children with the proper government registry.
7) Psychological incapacity under Art. 36 of the Family Code.
2) WHAT IS THE COST OF ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES?
The quick and short answer is between 300 to 600 thousand Philippine Pesos depending on the lawyer hired for the case . This is roughly 6 thousand to 12 thousand US Dollars.
When one considers the cost of obtaining an annulment in the Philippines, the first thing to contend with is the attorney’s fees. Billing schemes vary widely among lawyers in the Philippines. Solo practitioners would often bill on a fixed basis while big law firms often charge on an hourly rate. Some firms even offer payment plans to complete the process of annulment .
The second cost component is the psychological evaluation . There is the report and the appearance fee of the psychologist or psychiatrist when he appears in court to testify. The fee could range between 20 thousand pesos to 40 thousand pesos.
Out of pocket costs should likewise be accounted for like transportation, especially if the venue of the case is far from the office of the handling lawyer, filing fees when there are disputed properties of the marriage, and publication costs when one spouse cannot be located or living outside the Philippines.
3) ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
Again, the quick and short answer is between 2 and 4 years on the average.
The single most important factor in determining the time to complete the process of annulment in the Philippines are congested court dockets. There are simply too many cases for very few judges to handle. Factor in prosecutors (who are required to handle hearings to determine if the parties are colluding with each other to obtain an annulment) who are themselves overly burdened with criminal cases, and you have the recipe for a process that can take about a year or two to complete.
Other factors are the inclusion of issues like child and spousal support, property disputes, and child custody.
4) WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS TO FILE AN ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES?
1. Marriage Certificate
2. Birth Certificates of children, if any
3. Complete address of the parties (house number, street, barangay, purok/village/subdivision, barangay, zone, town, province)
4. Notarized certificate of residency issued by the barangay
5. Sketch of address, certified by the barangay
6. Any ONE of the following showing the name and address of petitioner:
a) government-issued ID
b) lease contract or land title
c)utility bills from the recent six months
d) other proofs of residency
7. Affidavit of Personal Verification of Residency by counsel
8. Judicial affidavits of the Petitioner, the psychologist, and the corroborating witnesses
9. Psychological Evaluation Report
5) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHURCH ANNULMENT AND CIVIL ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES?
Church annulment is processed through any church or religion of which one is a member. In the Philippines, this is predominantly the Catholic church which is known to pass on applications for annulments through a matrimonial tribunal. The legal basis for annulment is the Canon Law which lists, among other grounds , psychological incapacity, fraud, force or intimidation, insanity, mental illness, lack of consent, a petitioner never intended to be permanently married or faithful, and that substance abuse prevented them from consenting to a lifelong marriage.( Annulment, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops).
These grounds are similar to civil or court annulments and there was an attempt by the Philippine Congress to even automatically recognize church annulments. The Philippine House of Representatives in 2018 passed on third reading HB 6779 entitled “AN ACT RECOGNIZING THE CIVIL EFFECT OF CHURCH ANNULMENT DECREE” which aims to have a church or religious annulment automatically recognized by law and allows for its registration. This has been criticized as violating the constitutional principle of separation of church and state . Just like most matters having to do with the dissolution of marriage in the Philippines, the Senate refused to adopt the bill and it died a natural death. Annulments in the Catholic Church have been known to take as much as ten years and involve multiple trials. Streamlining of the process has since been commenced by Pope Francis and is reputedly now free.
Civil or court annulment, on the other hand, is processed with designated family courts under the aegis of the Family Code of the Philippines. Common grounds include minority (below 18), lack of a marriage license, lack of authority of the solemnizing officer, bigamous, and polygamous marriages.
The most important thing to remember about court and church annulments is that one is independent of the other. If the objective were to remarry in any church, one has to obtain both types of annulments. If one wants to remarry ONLY in accordance with the law, then only the court annulment is required. The Constitution of the Philippines, after all, provides for the separation of church and state.
(UPDATED 27 FEBRUARY 2022)
On September 18, 2023, the Senate of the Philippines passed Senate Bill 2443 which included as one of the grounds for divorce an annulment: “A marriage annulment or dissolution, duly authorized by a church or religious entity, or a marriage termination duly authorized by customs and practices traditionally recognized, accepted and observed by an ICC or IP to which the parties belong, having the same effect as a decree of divorce, annulment, dissolution or declaration of nullity issued by a competent court.”
An ICC is an Indigenous Cultural Community while an IP is short for Indigenous People.
Simply put, should this Senate version of the divorce law be finally passed by the entire Congress of the Philippines, a church annulment or one done by accepted traditions or customs of indigenous cultural groups would automatically be a ground to grant a civil divorce or a civil annulment.
(UPDATED JANUARY 20, 2024)
