Void marriage requires judicial recognition

Dear PAO,

In 2012, when I was just 17 years old, I married my boyfriend, Carl, by misdeclaring in all our
marriage documents that I was already 18 years old. Carl and I happily lived together for two
years. However, in our second year together, he started to become unreasonably jealous of men
around me. He started hitting me each time he saw me talking to another man. At first, it was just
negligible. Eventually, he started hitting me really hard that I had to go to work with bruises.
When I could no longer endure the physical abuse, I decided to run away from him.
After two years of living on my own, I met Joe, who became my boyfriend. He knows everything
about Carl and he wholeheartedly accepted me despite my past. Joe and I have been living
together for three years now. We both think it’s time for us to start a family of our own. I heard
from the radio that it’s a requirement that I should have been at least 18 years old at the time of
my marriage and that a marriage contracted by a minor is void. This gave me hope that Joe and
I could get married. However, when I requested a copy of my Certificate of No Marriage, my
marriage to Carl appeared on the certificate even if I was still a minor at the time of my
marriage to him. How do I correct this error so that I can marry Joe?

Antonette

Dear Antonette,

Your marriage with Carl is void as it was contracted during the time when you were still a minor.
Article 35 of the Family Code of the Philippines states that marriages “contracted by any party
below eighteen years of age even with the consent of parents or guardians” shall be void. This is
anchored on the basic requirement that one of the essential requisites to a marriage is the “legal
capacity of the contracting parties” (Article 2, Family Code). Legal capacity to contract marriage
contemplates the age of the parties and the absence of any legal impediment (i.e., prior marriage
or familial relationship) during the time when the parties contracted the marriage. The age
requirement in contracting a marriage is further emphasized in Article 5 of the law, which states
that “any male or female of the age eighteen years or upwards not under any of the impediments
mentioned in Articles 37 and 38, may contract marriage.” Thus, if at the time of the marriage,
either one or both of the parties are minors, the said marriage is void.
However, even if your marriage is void, you cannot just simply contract a subsequent marriage
on the basis that your prior marriage is void. Article 40 of the Family Code is instructive – there
is a need to judicially declare a void marriage as invalid, to allow the parties therein to marry
again. It specifically provides that “the absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be invoked
for purposes of marriage on the basis solely of a final judgment declaring such previous marriage
void.”
Simply put, the law requires you to first file a petition in court to nullify your marriage on the
ground that the same was contracted when you were still a minor. When the court judicially
declares your marriage to be null and void, the legal impediment for you to remarry will be
removed and you may legally marry Joe. This judicial declaration nullifying your first marriage
will also be reflected in your Certificate of No Marriage.