Ending a Marriage: Annulment, Legal Separation and Foreign Divorce

Declaration of Nullity: Void Marriages

A void marriage is treated as if it was never valid. The Family Code lists the grounds (legal reasons), including:

• a party was under 18 (Art. 35);
• no Marriage License, unless the marriage falls under an exception (Art. 35);
• the person who officiated the wedding (the solemnizing officer) had no authority, unless either party honestly believed they did (Art. 35);
• bigamous or polygamous marriages (a party was already married), and marrying the wrong person by mistake (Art. 35);
• psychological incapacity: either party was unable to carry out the basic duties of marriage, a condition already there at the time of the wedding even if it showed only later (Art. 36);
• incestuous marriages and other marriages the law forbids, such as between certain relatives (Arts. 37 and 38).

Even though a void marriage was never valid, you still need a final court decision declaring it void before you can marry again (Art. 40).

On psychological incapacity, the Supreme Court ruled in Tan-Andal v. Andal (G.R. No. 196359, 11 May 2021) that it is a legal concept, not a medical illness, and that a psychologist's or psychiatrist's testimony is not strictly required. It must still be proven with clear and convincing evidence (strong proof).

Annulment: Voidable Marriages

A voidable marriage is valid until a court annuls (cancels) it. Article 45 lists the grounds, and Article 47 says who may file and by when:

Some grounds are lost if the couple freely lived together as husband and wife after the problem stopped or was discovered. If the period has passed, annulment on that ground is no longer available.

Legal Separation: Apart, but Still Married

Legal separation lets spouses live separately and ends their property regime (the rules on who owns what in the marriage), but they stay married. Neither spouse can remarry. Article 55 lists the grounds, which include:

• repeated physical violence or very abusive behavior against the petitioner (the spouse filing the case), a child of both of them, or a child of the petitioner;
• pressure to change religion or political party;
• an attempt to push or lure the petitioner or a child into prostitution;
• a final sentence of more than six years in prison, even if pardoned;
• drug addiction or habitual alcoholism;
• lesbianism or homosexuality, as worded in the 1987 Code;
• a later bigamous marriage, in the Philippines or abroad;
• sexual infidelity or perversion;
• an attempt on the petitioner's life;
• leaving the family without good reason for more than one year.

The case must be filed within five years from the time the cause happened (Art. 57), and the court cannot hear it until at least six months after filing, to give the couple time to reconcile (Art. 58). After the court's decision (decree), the property is divided, the spouse at fault loses their share of the net profits, custody of children under 18 usually goes to the innocent spouse, and the spouse at fault cannot inherit from the innocent spouse unless the innocent spouse leaves them something in a will (Art. 63).

Recognition of a Foreign Divorce

The Philippines has no general divorce law for most marriages. But under the second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family Code, when a Filipino is married to a foreigner and they get a valid divorce abroad that lets the foreign spouse marry again, the Filipino spouse can marry again too.

In Republic v. Manalo (G.R. No. 221029, 24 April 2018), the Supreme Court held that this applies even if it was the Filipino spouse who got the divorce abroad.

The foreign divorce does not count in the Philippines on its own. You file a petition in a Regional Trial Court to have it recognized. You must prove both the divorce decree and the foreign law that allowed it, usually with official copies certified by apostille or by the consulate. Once recognized, the decision is registered and a note (annotation) about it is added to the PSA Marriage Certificate.

Muslim Filipinos married under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws (Presidential Decree No. 1083) have separate rules on divorce, handled by the Shari'a courts.

Which One Lets You Remarry

After a nullity or annulment decision, the law also says that before you marry again, the property must be settled and divided (liquidated), the children must be given their presumptive legitimes (the share of inheritance the law reserves for them), and the decision must be recorded with the civil registries. If not, the later marriage may be void (Arts. 52 and 53). Your lawyer will handle these steps.

You Need a Lawyer for This

Each of these is a court case. A lawyer writes the petition and files it in the Family Court (a Regional Trial Court assigned to family cases). The government, through the public prosecutor and the Office of the Solicitor General, takes part to make sure the spouses are not secretly working together to fake a case (collusion). The court decides on the evidence. Spouses cannot simply agree to end the marriage.

Costs vary widely and depend on the case, so we do not list them. If you cannot afford a lawyer, the Public Attorney's Office gives free legal help to people who pass its indigency test (a check that you cannot afford a lawyer). You can also ask the legal aid office of a law school, or the local lawyers' group (the Integrated Bar of the Philippines chapter) in your province.

Once you have a final decision, register it with the Local Civil Registrar and ask the PSA for a Marriage Certificate with the note about the decision (an annotated certificate) before you apply for a new Marriage License.