THE SALIENT FEATURES

OF THE FAMILY CODE OF

THE PHILIPPINES
April 28, 2008
CARTS, Teachers Camp,
Baguio City

Marriage and its Requisites

Definition

of Marriage (Article 1)

Marriage is a special contract.

It is a permanent union.
The union is between a man and a woman.
The union must be entered into in accordance

with law.
The purposes of marriage is the
establishment of conjugal and family life.
It is not only a contract but also a status.

Marriage vs. Ordinary Contracts

Only a man and a woman

can enter into marriage
Permanent unless annulled
or declared null and void
Rights and duties of parties
are fixed by law except in
the marriage settlement.
Breach of contract may
give rise to a criminal
action.

Rights and obligations are

fixed by the parties
themselves.
May be entered into by
anyone who is legally
capacitated.
Breach of contract gives
rise to an action for
damages.

Essential Requisites (Art. 2)

Legal

capacity of the contracting parties

who must be male and female
Consent freely given in the presence of
the solemnizing officer.

Formal Requisites (Art 3)

Authority of the solemnizing officer

A valid marriage license
A marriage ceremony which takes place with
the appearance of the contracting parties
before a 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

Article 4

Absence of any of the essential or formal

requisites shall render the marriage void ab
initio.
A defect in any of the essential requisites shall
render the marriage voidable.
An irregularity in the formal requisites shall not
affect the validity of the marriage but the party
or parties responsible for the irregularity shall
be civilly, criminally and administratively liable.

Article 26

All marriages solemnized outside the

Philippines in accordance with the laws in
force in the country where solemnized and
valid there as such, shall also be valid in this
country.
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen
and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a
divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by
the alien spouse capacitating him or her to
remarry, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have
capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

Article 26contn

A foreign marriage although valid in the country of

celebration, will still be void in the Philippines if:

Either or both parties did not have the legal capacity to get
married.
The marriage is immoral for being bigamous or
polygamous.
Consent of one party is lacking because of mistake as to
the identity of the other.
One of the parties was psychologically incapacitated at the
time of the marriage to comply with the essential marital
obligations.
The marriage is incestuous.
The marriage is void by reason of public policy.

Void Marriages (Art. 35)

Those contracted by any party below 18 years of age

even with the consent of the parents or guardians;
Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to
perform marriages unless such marriages were
contracted with either or both parties believing in good
faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to
do so;
Those solemnized without a license;
Those bigamous or polygamous marriages;
Those contracted through mistake of one contracting
party as to the identity of the other; and,
Other marriages subsequently contracted.

Psychological Incapacity (Art 36)

A

marriage contracted by any party, who

at the time of the celebration, was
psychologically incapacitated to comply
with the essential marital obligations of
marriages shall likewise be void even if
such capacity shall become manifest
only after its solemnization.

Guidelines in proving
psychological incapacity

The burden of proof belongs to the plaintiff;

The root cause of the psychological incapacity must be
medically or clinically identified; alleged in the complaint;
sufficiently proven by experts and clearly explained in the
decision.
The incapacity must be proven to be existing at the time
of the celebration of the marriage.
Interpretations given by the National Appellate
Matrimonial Tribunal of the Catholic Church in the
Philippines, while not controlling or decisive should be
given great respect by the courts.
The trial court must order the prosecuting attorney and
the solicitor general to appear as counsels for the state.

Article 40
The

absolute nullity of a previous

marriage may be invoked for purposes of
remarriage on the basis solely of a final
judgment declaring such previous
marriage void.

Declaration of Presumptive
Death ( Art. 41)

The prior spouse has been absent for four consecutive

years;
The spouse present has a well-founded belief that the
absent spouse is already dead.
In case of disappearance where there is danger of death
under the circumstances set forth in Article 391 of the
Civil Code, an absence of two years shall be sufficient.
The spouse present must institute a summary proceeding
for the declaration of presumptive death, without
prejudice to the effect of reappearance of the absent
spouse.

Grounds for Annulment of

Marriage (Art. 45)
Lack

of parental consent
Insanity of one of the parties
Fraud
Force, intimidation or undue influence
Impotency
Affliction of sexually-transmissible
disease found to be serious and which
appears incurable

Article 46 (Badges of fraud)

Non-disclosure of a previous conviction by final judgment

of the party of a crime involving moral turpitude
Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the
marriage, she was pregnant by a man other than her
husband
Concealment of sexually-transmissible disease,
regardless of its nature, existing at the time of the
marriage
Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism,
homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time of the
marriage

Article 47
(prescription for
the filing of action for annulment)
Ground for annulment

Who can file action

Period of prescription

Convalidation or
ratification

Lack of consent

Party under age

Parents or guardians

Within 5 years after

reaching 21
Before child reaches 21

Free cohabitation after

reaching 21

Insanity of one party

The same spouse

Guardian of the insane
spouse
Insane spouse

Before death of the

other party
During lucid interval

Free cohabitation after

insane regains sanity

Fraud

The injured party

Within five years from

the discovery of the
fraud

Free cohabitation after

knowledge of the fraud

Force, intimidation or
undue influence

The injured party

Within 5 years from

cessation of cause

Free cohabitation after

cause has disappeared

Impotence of one party

The potent party

Within five years after

the marriage

Cannot be ratified but

action prescribes

Serious- sexually
transmitted disease

The healthy party

Within five years after

marriage

Cannot be ratified but

action prescribes

Legal Separation vs Annulment

In legal separation, the marriage is not

defective; in annulment, the marriage is
defective.
In legal separation, the grounds arise after the
marriage; in annulment, the grounds must exist
at the time of or before the marriage.
In legal separation, the parties are still married
to each other and cannot remarry; in
annulment, the marriage is set aside and the
parties can marry again.

Grounds for legal separation ( Art 55)

Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed

against the petitioner, a common child or a child of the petitioner;
Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change
religious or political affiliation;
Attempt to corrupt the petitioner or child to engage in prostitution;
Final judgment sentencing respondent to more than six years of
imprisonment;
Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism
Lesbianism or homosexuality
Contracting of one spouse of another marriage
Sexual infidelity or perversion
Attempt by one spouse against the life of the other
Abandonment of one spouse by the other for more than one year

Article 56
(Defenses in legal separation)

Condonation
Consent
Connivance
Mutual guilt
Collusion
Prescription
Note : An action for legal separation shall be
filed within five years from the time of the
occurrence of the cause. (Article 57)

Article 63
(Effects of Legal Separation)

The spouses shall be entitled to live separately from each

other, but the marriage bonds shall not be severed;
The absolute community or the conjugal partnership shall
be dissolved and liquidated but the offending spouse shall
have no right to any share of the net profits earned by the
absolute community or the conjugal partnership;
The custody of the minor children shall be awarded to the
innocent spouse; and,
The offending spouse shall be disqualified from inheriting
from the innocent spouse by intestate succession.

Article 65
(Effects of reconciliation)

Reconciliation means resumption of cohabitation and

marital relations;
It is a bilateral act requiring the common consent of the
spouses, express or implied;
Mere friendly relations between the spouses, without
actual living together as before, is not sufficient to
constitute reconciliation; and,
After reconciliation, if one of the spouses commits
another act constituting a ground for legal separation, the
innocent spouse can file another action for legal
separation based on the new ground.

Article 68 , 69, 71 and 72

(Rights and obligations
between husband and wife)

To live together
To observe mutual love, respect and fidelity
To render mutual help and support
The spouses are jointly responsible for the support of the
family.
The management of the household shall be the right and
duty of both spouses.
When one of the spouses neglects his or her duties to the
conjugal union or commits acts which tend to bring
danger, dishonor or injury to the other or the family, the
aggrieved party may apply to the court for relief.

Article 149

The family is the foundation of the nation.

Being the foundation of the nation, the family is
a basic social institution which public policy
cherishes and protects.
Consequently, family relations are governed by
law.
No custom, practice or agreement destructive
of the family shall be recognized or given
effect.

Article 150
Family

relations include those:

Between husband and wife;

Between parents and children;
Among other ascendants and descendants;
Among brother and sisters, whether of the full
or half-blood.

Article 151
No

suit between members of the same

family shall prosper unless it should
appear from the verified complaint or
petition that earnest efforts toward a
compromise have been made but that
the same have failed.
If it is shown that no such efforts were in
fact made, the case must be dismissed.

Paternity and filiation

Paternity

is the civil status of the father

with respect to the child.
Maternity is the civil status of the mother
with respect to the child.
Filiation is the status of the child in
relation to the father or the mother.
Sometimes, it is used to indicate
paternity or maternity as well.

Kinds of paternity or filiation

Natural-

the relation between parent and

child arising from nature or from the
childs birth.
Artificial- the relation that arises between
parent and child by fiction of law or in
imitation of nature, as in adoption.

Kinds of children

Legitimate- one conceived or born during a

valid marriage of the parents or within lawful
wedlock.
Illegitimate- one conceived and born outside a
valid marriage or outside lawful wedlock.
Legitimated- one who is originally illegitimate
but later considered legitimate by legal fiction
because of the subsequent marriage of the
parents who at the time of the childs
conception had no legal impediment to marry
each other.

Article 164
(children by artificial insemination)

The artificial insemination is made on the wife, not on

another woman.
The artificial insemination of the wife is done with the
sperm of the husband or of a donor or both.
The artificial insemination has been authorized or ratified
by the spouses in a written instrument executed and
signed by them before the birth of the child.
The written instrument is recorded in the civil registry
together with the birth certificate of the child.

Article 172 (Proof of filiation)

The record of the birth appearing in the civil

register or a final judgment;
An admission of legitimate filiation in a public
document or a private handwritten instrument
and signed by the parent concerned;
The open and continuous possession of the
status of a legitimate child; and,
Any other means allowed by the Rules of Court
and special laws.

Article 174
(Rights of legitimate children)
To

bear the surname of the father and

the mother;
To receive support from their parents, the
ascendants and in proper cases from the
brothers and sisters;
To be entitled to the legitime and other
successional rights granted to them by
the Civil Code.

Article 176
Illegitimate

children shall have the

following rights:

To use the surname of their mother or of their

father with the consent of the latter;

To support in conformity with the Family
Code;
To the legitime,which of that of a legitimate
child and other successional rights

Article 194 (Concept of support)

Support consists of everything indispensable

for sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical
attendance, education and transportation in
keeping with financial capacity of the family.
Education includes schooling or training for
some profession, trade or vocation, even
beyond the age of majority.
Transportation includes expenses in going to
and from school or to and from ones place of
work.

Kinds of support

Natural- limited to what is absolutely

indispensable for subsistence or the bare
necessities
Civil- that which accords with the social
position or standing of the family
Legal- that which is required to be given by law
Judicial- that which is required to given by
court order
Voluntary or conventional by way of contract or
will

Characteristics of support

Purely personal, as it is founded on personal necessity;

Instransmissible or non-assignable as it is personal and needed for
survival;
Not subject to attachment or execution by creditors;
Never fixed as it is subject to adjustment depending on the means of
the giver and the needs of the recipient;
Reciprocal on the part of those who are by law bound to support each
other;
Demandable from the time it is needed, although payable only from the
time of demand, extrajudicial or judicial;
Demandable even if the recipient is beyond the age of majority, as long
as it is needed and the obligor has the capacity to give support; and,
Demandable even if the recipient is already married, as long as it is
needed and the obligor is in a position to give support.