This article explains, in Philippine context, when a marriage is void (a nullity from the start), when it is voidable (valid until annulled), who can file and when, the effects on children and property, and key procedural notes under the Family Code (E.O. 209, as amended) and controlling jurisprudence.

I. The Big Picture: Void vs. Voidable

Void (a.k.a. “null and void from the beginning”)

A void marriage never produced a valid marital bond.
The proper case is a Petition for Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Marriage.
Imprescriptible: you can file at any time (but related claims—e.g., property/accounting—can be time-bound).
Children are generally illegitimate, except those born or conceived before the final judgment of nullity under Article 36 (psychological incapacity)—they are deemed legitimate.
Property relations are not conjugal/absolute community; instead, apply Articles 147 or 148 (cohabitation rules), depending on good/bad faith and the presence of impediments.

Voidable (a.k.a. “valid until annulled”)

The marriage is valid and produces effects unless and until a court annuls it.
The proper case is a Petition for Annulment of Voidable Marriage.
Prescriptive periods strictly apply (see § VI).
Children conceived or born before the judgment of annulment are legitimate.
Property regime is the ordinary matrimonial regime until annulment; after annulment, liquidation follows.

II. Essential and Formal Requisites (Articles 2–4, 6, 7, 34)

Understanding these helps distinguish many void grounds.

Essential requisites (Art. 2):

Legal capacity of the parties (e.g., age, freedom to marry).
Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.

Formal requisites (Art. 3):

Authority of the solemnizing officer.
Valid marriage license (subject to statutory exemptions, e.g., Art. 34 cohabitation of at least five years, certain exceptional cases).
Marriage ceremony with the personal appearance of the contracting parties before the officer and two witnesses, and an exchange of their marital consent.

General rule on defects:

Absence of an essential/formal requisite → usually void.
Defect in an essential requisite (e.g., consent vitiated, insanity) → usually voidable.
Irregularity in a formal requisite (not amounting to absence) → does not void the marriage, but can cause liability of the responsible official.

III. Void (Absolutely Null) Marriages: Grounds and Notes

A. Article 35 (Marriages void from the beginning)

Common instances include:

Party below 18 at the time of marriage (even with parental consent).
Solemnized by a person with no authority, unless either or both parties in good faith believed the officer had authority (then the marriage stands).
Without a marriage license, unless validly exempt (e.g., Art. 34 five-year cohabitation as husband and wife with no legal impediment; other statutory exceptions).
Bigamous/polygamous marriages, unless the prior marriage was validly terminated or a prior spouse was judicially presumed dead in accordance with the Family Code (Art. 41–42).
Mistake as to the identity of a party.
Subsequent marriages void for failure to comply with Articles 52–53 (i.e., non-recording of a judgment of nullity/annulment, partition, delivery of children, and authorization to remarry before contracting a new marriage). This often surprises parties who remarry after a case but fail to record the required entries—rendering the new marriage void.

B. Article 36 (Psychological Incapacity)

A spouse is psychologically incapacitated to assume essential marital obligations, and such incapacity is antecedent, grave, and incurable in the legal sense.
The Supreme Court clarified that psychological incapacity is a legal, not purely medical concept; expert testimony may assist but is no longer indispensable. The focus is on proved facts showing an enduring personality structure causing an inability—not a mere difficulty or refusal—to fulfill essential marital duties (e.g., mutual love and respect, fidelity, cohabitation, support, raising children in the family).
Children conceived or born before the judgment of nullity under Art. 36 are legitimate.

C. Article 37 (Incestuous Marriages)

Between ascendants and descendants of any degree; and between brothers and sisters, whether full or half-blood.

D. Article 38 (Void by Public Policy)

Examples: between collateral relatives within the fourth civil degree (e.g., uncle-niece, aunt-nephew), step-parents and step-children, parents-in-law and children-in-law, adoptive parents and adopted children, adopted siblings, surviving spouse with the adopter/adoptee of the deceased spouse, etc.

E. Other causes of nullity captured by “absence” of requisites

No real ceremony or lack of personal appearance and actual exchange of consent.
Sham marriages where there was no genuine consent (e.g., proxy without authority, fabricated rites).

IV. Voidable (Annulable) Marriages: Grounds (Art. 45) and Fraud (Art. 46)

A marriage is voidable—valid until annulled—when the consent or capacity was defective at the time of celebration:

Lack of parental consent (party was 18–21 at marriage).
Insanity (unless the sane spouse knew of the insanity or the insane spouse later freely cohabited after regaining sanity).
Fraud (Art. 46 lists what counts):
- Non-disclosure of a conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.
- Concealment of pregnancy by another man at the time of marriage.
- Concealment of a sexually transmissible disease existing at the time of marriage.
- Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, homosexuality, or lesbianism existing at the time of marriage. (Note: These must be causal to consent; discovery triggers tight filing deadlines—see § VI.)
Force, intimidation, or undue influence (consent not freely given).
Impotence (incurable physical incapacity to consummate the marriage).
Sexually transmissible disease that is serious and appears incurable at the time of marriage (also separately listed in Art. 46 as fraud if concealed).

Ratification cures voidability. For example, if the threatened spouse later freely cohabits with the other after the force or intimidation ceases, the defect is cured and annulment is barred. Similarly, continued cohabitation after parents’ consent becomes unnecessary (i.e., after the spouse turns 21) ratifies the marriage.

V. Who May File and Against Whom

Void marriages: A spouse (or even third parties with real interest in certain contexts) may file a petition for declaration of absolute nullity. The respondent is the other spouse; the Office of the Solicitor General (through public/assistant city/ provincial prosecutors) participates to guard against collusion and fabricated evidence.
Voidable marriages: Only the injured spouse (or in limited cases, e.g., relatives/guardians in insanity) may file a petition for annulment against the other spouse.

VI. Prescriptive Periods (Voidable Only) – Article 47

Lack of parental consent: by the party whose parental consent was required, within 5 years after reaching 21; by parents/guardian before the party turns 21.
Insanity: by the sane spouse or a relative/guardian, any time before death of either; or by the insane spouse during a lucid interval.
Fraud: within 5 years from discovery of the fraud.
Force, intimidation, undue influence: within 5 years from the time the force/intimidation ceases.
Impotence: within 5 years after the marriage.
Serious and apparently incurable STD: within 5 years after the marriage.

(Actions for declaration of nullity of void marriages do not prescribe.)

VII. Effects on Children (Articles 50–54, related rules)

Voidable marriage annulled: All children conceived or born before the judgment of annulment are legitimate.
Void marriage (general rule): children are illegitimate, except when nullity is under Article 36 (psychological incapacity)—in which case children conceived or born before the final judgment are legitimate.
Paternity/filial relations are still governed by general rules on filiation, acknowledgment, and support. Illegitimate children carry the mother’s surname by default (with statutory avenues for using the father’s surname), are entitled to support and successional rights in the legitime of illegitimate children.

VIII. Property Relations After a Void or Voidable Marriage

A. If the marriage is annulled (voidable):

The pre-existing matrimonial property regime (e.g., absolute community or conjugal partnership, or separation of property by agreement) is liquidated.
Forfeitures can occur against the spouse in bad faith (e.g., share may accrue to common children).
Donations by reason of marriage and testamentary benefits may be revoked, subject to statutory limits.

B. If the marriage is void:

No valid property regime ever arose; apply cohabitation regimes:

Article 147 (Both free to marry, but the marriage is void—for example, lack of license or authority):

Wages and properties acquired by their joint efforts are co-owned in equal shares, unless there is proof of unequal actual contribution, in which case the shares follow proven contributions.
If only one is in bad faith, his/her share is forfeited in favor of their common children, otherwise to the innocent party.
Properties acquired by either exclusively by chance, donation, or inheritance are separate.

Article 148 (There is a void union with impediment, e.g., bigamous/adulterous):

Only properties acquired by their actual joint contributions are co-owned, and shares are proportional to contributions; no presumption of equality.
If either or both are in bad faith, the bad-faith party’s share is forfeited similarly (to common children, or in default, to the innocent spouse; if both in bad faith and no common children, forfeiture may go to the State).

IX. Support, Custody, and Succession

Support: Spouses owe support during the marriage; after nullity/annulment, support obligations may persist based on parent-child relationships and, in some cases, spousal support during litigation.
Custody: Determined on the best interests of the child, with general statutory preferences for young children (tender-age doctrine with exceptions).
Succession: Annulment or declaration of nullity alters spousal successional rights going forward; children’s successional rights depend on legitimacy/illegitimacy (subject to legitime rules).

X. Procedure and Practice Pointers

Type of action & venue
- File a verified Petition for Declaration of Absolute Nullity (void) or Annulment (voidable) in the Family Court (Regional Trial Court designated as such), typically where either spouse resides.
Participation of the State
- A public prosecutor investigates collusion and appears for the State; no default judgments on mere failure to answer. Courts are cautious because the State has an interest in the institution of marriage.
Evidence standards
- Totality of evidence governs; credible, specific proof of the ground alleged is critical.
- For Art. 36, the Court emphasizes legal incapacity shown by proven facts and behavior patterns; expert testimony is helpful but not indispensable; labels alone (e.g., “immature,” “narcissistic”) are not enough without concrete linkage to essential marital obligations and the antecedent, grave, incurable characteristics.
Interim relief
- Courts may grant provisional support, custody/visitation pendente lite, and protection orders when applicable.
Post-judgment recording (Articles 52–53)
- After a final judgment annulling or declaring nullity, the entry of judgment and required instruments of partition and delivery of children must be recorded in the Local Civil Registry and civil registries concerned.
- Failure to record these under Art. 52 renders any subsequent marriage void under Art. 53—a frequent and costly pitfall.
Remarriage
- A party becomes capacitated to remarry only after finality and proper recording of the judgment and required instruments.

XI. Comparing the Grounds at a Glance

Category	Representative Grounds	Who Files	Deadline
Void	Underage (<18), data-preserve-html-node="true" no license (no valid exemption), unauthorized officer (no good-faith belief), bigamy/polygamy (no valid exception), psychological incapacity, incest (Art. 37), public-policy bars (Art. 38), failure to record Art. 52 entries (Art. 53)	Spouse (and, in some contexts, interested parties)	No prescription for the main action
Voidable	Lack of parental consent (18–21), insanity, fraud (Art. 46), force/intimidation/undue influence, impotence, serious & apparently incurable STD	Injured spouse (or as allowed by law for insanity)	Strict: generally 5 years from cause/discovery; special rules per ground

XII. Practical Guidance

Name the correct remedy. If the ground is about absence (no license, underage <18, data-preserve-html-node="true" bigamy), file for declaration of nullity; if it’s about defective consent (fraud, force, insanity), file for annulment.
Mind the timelines for voidable marriages; sleeping on rights can forever bar relief.
Document contributions to property if the marriage may be void—this determines sharing under Articles 147/148.
For Art. 36, focus your proof on specific behaviors showing an inability (not mere unwillingness) to assume essential marital obligations, with antecedence, gravity, and incurability framed as legal characteristics.
Record the judgment and related instruments under Arts. 52–53 before remarrying.

XIII. FAQs

1) Can we “annul” a void marriage? Strictly speaking, no—you declare it void (nullity). “Annulment” is for voidable marriages.

2) Are psychological reports mandatory for Art. 36? No. Helpful, but not indispensable. Courts evaluate facts proving the legal criteria.

3) If my spouse hid drug addiction or a serious STD, is that fraud or a separate ground? It can be fraud (Art. 46) and/or a separate voidable ground (Art. 45) for serious/incurable STD. The prescriptive start and ratification rules can differ—consult counsel to strategize.

4) Are children always illegitimate if the marriage is void? Not always. Children conceived or born before judgment of nullity under Art. 36 are legitimate.

5) We won a case but didn’t record the judgment. Is a new marriage valid? No—a subsequent marriage without recording under Art. 52 is void under Art. 53.

XIV. Final Note

This article synthesizes the Family Code’s framework and leading doctrines distinguishing void from voidable marriages in the Philippines. Each case turns on facts, timelines, and compliance with post-judgment recording. When stakes include children, property, and future capacity to marry, precise pleading, careful evidence, and strict observance of Articles 52–53 are essential.