Bar Q and A #8

1.) In June 1985, James married Mary. In September 1988, he also married Ophelia with whom he begot two (2) children, A and B. In July 1989, Mary died. In July 1990, he married Shirley and abandoned Ophelia. During their union, James and Ophelia acquired a residential lot worth P300,000.00. Ophelia sues James for bigamy and prays that his marriage with Shirley be declared null and void. James, on the other hand, claims that since his marriage to Ophelia was contracted during the existence of his marriage with Mary, the former is not binding upon him, the same being void ab initio; he further claims that his marriage to Shirley is valid and binding as he was already legally capacitated at the time he married her.Is the contention of James correct?

Yes. His marriage to Ophelia is void ab initio because of his subsisting prior marriage to Mary. His marriage to Shirley, after Mary’s death, is valid and binding.

2.) A and B, both 18 years old, were sweethearts studying in Manila. On August 3, 1988, while in first year college, they eloped. They stayed in the house of a mutual friend in town X, where they were able to obtain a marriage license. On August 30, 1988, their marriage was solemnized by the town mayor of X in his office. Thereafter, they returned to Manila and continued to live separately in their respective boarding houses, concealing from their parents, who were living in the province what they had done. In 1992, after graduation from college, A and B decided to break their relation and parted ways. Both went home to their respective towns to live and work. Can either or both of them contract marriage with another person without committing bigamy? Explain your answer.

Either or both of the parties cannot contract marriage in the Philippines with another person without committing bigamy, unless there is compliance with the requirements of Art. 52 Family Code, namely: there must be a judgment of annulment or absolute nullity of the marriage, partition and distribution of the properties of the spouses and the delivery of their children’s presumptive legitimes, which shall be recorded in the appropriate Civil Registry of Property, otherwise the same shall not affect third persons and the subsequent marriage shall be null and void. (Arts. 52 and 53, FamilyCode)

3.) Maria and Luis, both Filipinos, were married by a Catholic priest in Lourdes Church, Quezon City in 1976, Luis was drunk on the day of his wedding. In fact, he slumped at the altar soon after the ceremony. After marriage, Luis never had a steady job because he was drunk most of the time. Finally, he could not get employed at all because of drunkenness. Hence, it was Maria who had to earn a living to support herself and her child begotten with Luis. In 1986, Maria filed a petition in the church matrimonial court in Quezon City to annul her marriage with Luis on the ground of psychological incapacity to comply with his marital obligation. Her petition was granted by the church matrimonial court. 1) Can Maria now get married legally to another man under Philippine laws after her marriage to Luis was annulled by the church matrimonial court? Explain 2) What must Maria do to enable her to get married lawfully to another man under Philippine laws?

No, Maria cannot validly contract a subsequent marriage without a court declaration of nullity of the first The law does not recognize the church declaration of nullity of marriage.
To enable Maria to get married lawfully to another man, she must obtain a judicial declaration of nullity of the prior marriage under Article 36 Family

4.) In 1985, Sonny and Lulu, both Filipino citizens, were married in the Philippines. In 1987, they separated, and Sonny went to Canada, where he obtained a divorce in the same year. He then married another Filipina, Auring, in Canada on January 1, 1988. They had two sons, James and John. In 1990, after failing to hear from Sonny, Lulu married Tirso, by whom she had a daughter, Verna. In 1991, Sonny visited the Philippines where he succumbed to heart attack. Explain the status of the marriage between Lulu and Tirso.

The marriage between Lulu and Tirso is void ab initio because Lulu is still validly married to Sonny.

5.) Ana Rivera had a husband, a Filipino citizen like her, who was among the passengers on board a commercial jet plane which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean ten (10) years earlier and had never been heard of ever since. Believing that her husband had died, Ana married Adolf Cruz Staedtler, a divorced German national born of a German father and a Filipino mother residing in Stuttgart. To avoid being required to submit the required certificate of capacity to marry from the German Embassy in Manila, Adolf stated in the application for marriage license that he was a Filipino citizen. With the marriage license stating that Adolf was a Filipino, the couple got married in a ceremony officiated by the Parish Priest of Calamba, Laguna in a beach in Nasugbu, Batangas, as the local parish priest refused to solemnize marriages except in his church. Is the marriage valid? Explain fully.

The issue hinges on whether or not the missing husband was dead or alive at the time of the secondmarriage.

If the missing husband was in fact dead at the time the second marriage was celebrated, the second marriage was valid. Actual death of a spouse dissolves the marriage ipso facto whether or not the surviving spouse had knowledge of such fact. A declaration of presumptive death even if obtained will not make the marriage voidable because presumptive death will not prevail over the fact of death.

If the missing husband was in fact alive when the second marriage was celebrated, the second marriage was void ab initio because of a prior subsisting marriage. Had Ana obtained a declaration of presumptive death the second marriage would have been voidable.

In both cases, the fact that the German misrepresented his citizenship to avoid having to present his Certificate of Legal Capacity, or the holding of ceremony outside the church or beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the solemnizing officer, are all irregularities which do not affect the validity of the marriage.

6.) Hand W were married in 1990. H, being a member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), was deployed to a rebel- infested area in 1992. Since then, W has not heard from her husband, H. One day, the AFP informed W that H had been declared missing since 1995. In consequence, W diligently pursued all available means to ascertain her husband's whereabouts, but to no avail. Firmly believing that H had already died, W filed a claim before the AFP in 2008 for the death benefits of the missing serviceman. However, the AFP, despite being cognizant of H's status, would not act on the claim, contending that H could not be presumed dead unless a judicial declaration to this effect is issued by the proper court. In what instance/s is a judicial declaration of presumptive death necessary? In this case, is the contention of the AFP correct? Explain.

Judicial declaration of presumptive death is only used for the purpose of contracting a subsequent marriage. Article 41 of the Family Code provides that for the purpose of contracting a subsequent marriage contracted by a person who had a well-founded belief that his/her prior spouse who had been absent for four consecutive years was already dead, the spouse present must institute a summary proceeding for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee.

The contention of the AFP is incorrect. Because the Court has declared that the AFP can decide claims of death benefits of a missing soldier without requiring the claimant to first produce a court declaration of the presumptive death of such soldier and the claimant need only present any “evidence” which shows that the concerned soldier had been missing for such number of years and/or under the circumstances prescribed under Articles 390 and 391 of the Civil Code. Article 391 of the Civil Code provides that a person in the armed forces who has taken part in war and has been missing for four years shall be presumed dead for all purposes. Here, W informed the AFP that her husband had been declared missing since 1995, 23 years before the filing of her claim in 2018. There is, thus, no need for a judicial declaration of presumptive death before the AFP can act on the claim of W.

7.) Sidley and Sol were married with one (1) daughter, Solenn. Sedfrey and Sonia were another couple with one son, Sonny. Sol and Sedfrey both perished in the same plane accident. Sidley and Sonia met when the families of those who died sued the airlines and went through grief-counseling sessions. Years later, Sidley and Sonia got married. At that time, Solenn was four (4) years old and Sonny was five (5) years old. These two (2) were then brought up in the same household. Fifteen (15) years later, Solenn and Sonny developed romantic feelings towards each other, and eventually eloped. On their own and against their parents' wishes, they procured a marriage license and got married in church. a. Is the marriage of Solenne and Sonny valid, voidable, or void? b. If the marriage is defective, can the marriage be ratified by free cohabitation of the parties?

a. The marriage is voidable for lack of parental At the time of their marriage, Solenn and Sonny were only 19 and 20 years old, respectively. Assuming their marriage was under the Family Code, Article 14 provides that parental consent is required where either or both of the parties are between 18 and 21 years old at the time of marriage. In the absence of such parental consent, Article 45 of the Family Code provides that the marriage is voidable. Since the marriage was against their parents’ wishes, their marriage is voidable. Unlike in the Civil Code, their being step-siblings is immaterial under the Family Code and will not render the marriage void since such is not considered incestuous nor against public policy.

b. Yes, it can be ratified by free Article 45(1) of the Family Code provides that such voidable marriage may be ratified by free cohabitation of the party/ies over 18 years old but below 21 who married without the consent of his/her parents, by living together as husband and wife after attaining the age of 21. Here, Solenn and Sonny freely cohabitated and lived as husband and wife after attaining 21 years, then the marriage is considered ratified, provided that the parents have not filed an action for annulment before the parties reached 21 years old.

8.) One of the grounds for annulment of marriage is that either party, at the time of their marriage was afflicted with a sexually- transmissible disease, found to be serious and appears incurable. Two (2) years after their marriage, which took place on 10 October 1988, Bethel discovered that her husband James has a sexually- transmissible disease which he contracted even prior to their marriage although James did not know it himself until he was examined two [2) years later when a child was already born to them. Bethel sues James for annulment of their marriage. James opposes the annulment on the ground that he did not even know that he had such a disease so that there was no fraud or bad faith on his part. Decide.

The marriage can be annulled, because good faith is not a defense when the ground is based upon sexually-transmissible disease on the part of either party.

9.) Suppose that both parties at the time of their marriage were similarly afflicted with sexually-transmissible diseases, serious and incurable, and both knew of their respective infirmities, can Bethel or James sue for annulment of their marriage?

Yes, the marriage can still be annulled because the fact that both of them are afflicted with sexually-transmissible diseases does not efface or nullify the ground.

10.) Which of the following remedies, i.e., (a) declaration of nullity of marriage, (b) annulment of marriage, (c) legal separation, and/or (d) separation of property, can an aggrieved spouse avail himself/herself of: i. If the wife discovers after the marriage that her husband has AIDS. ii. If the wife goes (to) abroad to work as a nurse and refuses to come home after the expiration of her three-year contract there. iii. If the husband discovers after the marriage that his wife has been a prostitute before they got married. iv. If the husband has a serious affair with his secretary and refuses to stop notwithstanding advice from relatives and friends. v. If the husband beats up his wife every time he comes home drunk.

i. Since AIDS is a serious and incurable sexually-transmissible disease, the wife may file an action for annulment of the marriage on this ground whether such fact was concealed or not from the wife, provided that the disease was present at the time of the marriage. The marriage is voidable even though the husband was not aware that he had the disease at the time of marriage.

ii. If the wife refuses to come home for three
(3) months from the expiration of her contract, she is presumed to have abandoned the husband and he may file an action for judicial separation of property. If the refusal continues for more than one year from the expiration of her contract, the husband may file an action for legal separation under Article 55(10) of the FC on the ground of abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year. The wife is deemed to have abandoned the husband when she leaves the conjugal dwelling without any intention of returning. (Art. 101, FC) The intention not to return cannot be presumed during the three-year period of her contract.

iii. If the husband discovers after the marriage that his wife was a prostitute before they got married, he has no remedy. No misrepresentation or deceit as to character, health, rank, fortune or chastity shall constitute fraud as legal ground for an action for the annulment of marriage. (Art. 46, FC)

iv. The wife may file an action for legal separation. The husband’s sexual infidelity is a ground for legal separation. (Art. 55 FC) She may also file an action for judicial separation of property for failure of her husband to comply with his marital duty of fidelity. (Art. 135 (4), 101, FC)

v. The wife may file an action for legal separation on the ground of repeated physical violence on her person (Art. 55 (1), FC). She may also file an action for judicial separation of property for failure of the husband to comply with his marital duty of mutual respect. [Art. 135 (4), 101, FC] She may also file an action for declaration of nullity of the marriage if the husband’s behaviour constitute psychological incapacity existing at the time of the celebration of marriage.