A comprehensive guide to your options, grounds, effects, and procedures

1) First principles: three different concepts

Declaration of Nullity (Void Marriage). Says the marriage never legally existed because a fatal defect was present from the very beginning (e.g., psychological incapacity, bigamy, lack of license without a valid exemption, under 18, incest, marriages void for public policy).
Annulment (Voidable Marriage). The marriage was valid at the start but is defective due to specific curable grounds (e.g., lack of parental consent for an 18–20-year-old, fraud, force/intimidation, insanity, incurable STD existing at the time of marriage, impotence). Until annulled by a final court judgment, the marriage remains valid.
Legal Separation. The marriage bond remains, but spouses live separately; property relations are separated; and certain marital effects are suspended. No right to remarry arises.

There is no general divorce for most marriages under Philippine civil law (special rules exist for Muslim marriages under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws and for certain foreign divorces recognized by Philippine courts).

2) Quick comparison: outcomes that matter

Topic	Declaration of Nullity (Void)	Annulment (Voidable)	Legal Separation
Marriage bond after judgment	Treated as never existing (void ab initio)	Dissolved from finality of judgment	Still married
Right to remarry	Yes, after final judgment and proper civil registry entries	Yes, after final judgment and proper civil registry entries	No
Children’s status	Generally illegitimate (because no valid marriage existed), though they have rights to support and inheritance as illegitimate children	Legitimate (conceived/born before finality)	Legitimate
Property regime	If parties cohabited without a valid marriage, property rules under Art. 147/148 apply (see §7)	Conjugal/ACP/CPG is liquidated like a valid marriage ending	Conjugal/ACP/CPG is separated, but marriage continues
Support between spouses	May be awarded depending on good/bad faith and equities	Possible during the case; post-judgment depends on fault	Possible during and after; guilty spouse may be denied support
Succession rights	No spousal intestacy after judgment	No spousal intestacy after judgment	Still spouses for some purposes, but post-decree legal separation carries mutual disqualification to inherit ab intestato
Surname	Either spouse may revert to maiden/surname per rules	Same	Same
Fault findings	Can matter for property allocation and damages	Can matter	Guilty spouse loses benefits (e.g., may be barred from support, donations revoked)

3) Grounds, with time limits (prescription)

A) Declaration of Nullity (void marriages) — no prescriptive period

Common grounds (non-exhaustive):

Under 18 at time of marriage (void even with consent).
Psychological incapacity existing at the time of marriage (Article 36).
Bigamous/polygamous marriages (unless a recognized exception applies).
No marriage license (except valid statutory exemptions, e.g., 5-year cohabitation with no legal impediment).
Incestuous marriages; marriages void for public policy (certain degrees of relation, affinity, adoption, etc.).
Mistaken identity of a spouse.
Subsequent marriages void under Article 53 (failure to record prior decree/partition/new COCs before remarrying).

Psychological incapacity today. The Supreme Court has clarified that this is a legal (not purely medical) concept describing a spouse’s enduring, grave inability to assume essential marital obligations, existing at or before the wedding, and not mere personality quirks. Expert testimony can help but is not indispensable; courts look at totality of evidence and concrete behaviors.

B) Annulment (voidable marriages) — with prescriptive periods (from Family Code)

Lack of parental consent (one party 18–20 at marriage): action by that party within 5 years after reaching 21; parents/guardian may sue before the child turns 21.
Insanity/unsound mind: by the sane spouse, a relative, or guardian before the insane spouse’s death; action by the insane spouse during lucid interval or after regaining sanity.
Fraud (e.g., concealment of a conviction, pregnancy by another man, etc.): within 5 years from discovery.
Force, intimidation, or undue influence: within 5 years from cessation of the coercion.
Impotence (existing and incurable at time of marriage): within 5 years after marriage.
Serious, apparently incurable sexually transmissible disease (existing at time of marriage): within 5 years after marriage.

C) Legal Separation — file within 5 years from occurrence of the cause

Recognized grounds include:

Repeated physical violence or attempt on life,
Sexual infidelity or perversion,
Attempt to corrupt or induce into prostitution,
Conviction of a crime with ≥6 years imprisonment,
Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism,
Bigamy, homosexuality or lesbianism (as historically phrased in the Family Code),
Abandonment without just cause for more than 1 year.

Bars to legal separation: collusion, both parties at fault, condonation/forgiveness, consent, connivance, recrimination, and prescription.

4) Where and how cases proceed

All three are petitions filed in the Regional Trial Court, designated Family Court at the spouses’ residence. The State is a mandatory party in nullity/annulment via the public prosecutor (and the OSG on appeal), to ensure no collusion and to protect marriage as a social institution.

Typical flow:

Verified petition with detailed facts + supporting evidence (civil registry docs, medical/psychological reports, communications, witnesses).
Raffle to a Family Court; summons; prosecutor’s collusion investigation.
Pre-trial; possible mediation (no compromise on civil status).
Trial (testimonial + documentary evidence).
Decision; if granted, Entry of Judgment after appeal period.
Civil registry compliance (Art. 52/53): Register the decision and required instruments in the local civil registry and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to avoid future defects (e.g., a later marriage declared void under Art. 53 if you remarry without proper annotation/recording).

Cooling-off rule (legal separation). The court cannot render a decree until 6 months after filing, to allow for reconciliation efforts (except in urgent circumstances).

5) Evidence that moves the needle

Civil registry: PSA marriage certificate; birth certificates of children; prior decrees, if any.
Behavioral proof: Detailed narratives of day-to-day conduct showing incapacity or grounds (not just labels).
Medical/psychological: Clinical notes or evaluations corroborating behaviors and timing; remember, in psychological-incapacity cases, specific, grave, and antecedent inability—not mere incompatibility.
Digital records: Messages, emails, photos, location data, financial trails.
Third-party witnesses: Family, friends, co-workers who observed consistent patterns.

6) Custody, parental authority, and support

Best-interests of the child standard governs.
Tender-age presumption: Children under seven are usually with the mother, unless there are compelling reasons otherwise.
In legal separation, custody tends to favor the innocent spouse.
Support for children continues, apportioned based on resources and needs, regardless of marital remedy.
Visitation is crafted to minimize harm and encourage parental relationships, unless safety concerns exist.

7) Property consequences in detail

If the marriage is void (Declaration of Nullity)

The marital property regime never validly arose. Property acquired while cohabiting is governed by:
- Article 147 (both parties free to marry each other at the start): co-ownership in proportion to actual contributions (money, property, or care/domestic services); bad-faith shares may be forfeited in favor of common children or the innocent party.
- Article 148 (one or both parties not free to marry at the start, e.g., bigamy): stricter; only properties proven to be acquired through actual joint contributions are co-owned; bad-faith party’s share is forfeited to common children, otherwise to the State.

If the marriage is annulled (Voidable)

The (formerly valid) conjugal partnership/absolute community/property regime is liquidated like a marriage that ends.
Children conceived/born before finality remain legitimate.
Donations by reason of marriage may be revoked against the guilty party (depending on the ground).

If legally separated

The property regime is dissolved and liquidated; spouses’ mutual inheritance rights are curtailed; donations between spouses may be revoked; but the marriage continues (no remarriage).

8) Spousal support, inheritance, and surnames

During the case: either spouse (and the children) may seek support pendente lite.
After judgment:
- In nullity/annulment, post-marital support depends on equities and fault; no spousal intestate succession once the marital tie is gone.
- In legal separation, the guilty spouse may lose the right to receive support and is disqualified from inheriting ab intestato from the innocent spouse (and vice-versa, depending on fault findings).
Surnames: A wife may resume her maiden name after finality of a decree of nullity/annulment or legal separation; a husband may do the equivalent per naming rules (civil status annotations required).

9) Foreign divorces and special regimes (important adjacent rules)

If a Filipino is married to a foreigner and the foreigner validly obtains a divorce abroad that dissolves the marriage, the Filipino may seek judicial recognition of that foreign divorce in the Philippines, enabling remarriage domestically.
Later jurisprudence has allowed recognition even where the Filipino spouse later acquired foreign citizenship prior to divorce.
Muslim marriages may be dissolved under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws through talaq, khul’, faskh, etc., adjudicated in Shari’a courts.

10) Procedure tips and common pitfalls

Art. 52/53 compliance: After a favorable decision, record the decree and required instruments (liquidation, custody, support) with the local civil registry and PSA. Failure can render a subsequent marriage void.
No collusion: The prosecutor must certify. Do not paper over facts; credibility is central.
Be specific: Courts favor granular, behavior-based evidence over generic labels.
Mind the timelines: Many annulment grounds prescribe; legal separation must be filed within 5 years of the cause; nullity does not prescribe.
Cooling-off: Legal separation requires 6 months before decree.
Interim safety: Seek protection orders if there is violence or threats (under Anti-VAWC and related laws).

11) How long and how much?

Duration: Highly variable (commonly many months to a few years), affected by court load, evidence complexity, and appeals.
Costs: Filing fees, counsel fees, expert/psych evaluation (if used), publication/annotation, and incidental costs vary widely by venue and case strategy. Ask counsel for a phased budget (pleadings, trial, registry work).

12) Decision guide: which remedy fits?

I need freedom to remarry and the marriage was fundamentally invalid from day one. → Declaration of Nullity.
I need freedom to remarry; marriage started valid but a statutory defect existed (fraud/force/insanity/impotence/STD/parental consent). → Annulment (watch the 5-year clocks).
I do not (yet) seek to dissolve the bond, but I need to live apart, protect myself/children, and separate property because of my spouse’s fault. → Legal Separation (file within 5 years; no remarriage).

13) Practical checklist (for any of the three)

Gather: PSA certificates (marriage, children), IDs, financials, communications, medical/psych reports, police or protective orders if any.
Consult: A family-law practitioner to map grounds → evidence → reliefs.
Plan: Interim support/custody, residence, and safety.
File: In the proper Family Court; prepare for pre-trial and trial.
After: Ensure civil-registry annotations and PSA updates; settle property and support instruments to avoid future defects.

14) Bottom line

Annulment and Declaration of Nullity both end in the ability to remarry, but they start from different legal diagnoses (voidable vs void).
Legal Separation offers protection and property separation while keeping the bond intact—useful when ending the status is not desired or not yet achievable.
Your best choice depends on which ground you can actually prove, your objectives on remarriage, children, and property, and your tolerance for litigation timelines.