Under the law, a marriage is considered null and void during the subsistence of a previous marriage. The court has to declare the prior spouse as presumed dead for the marriage to become valid.
Marriage is a tough decision. Once you decide to spend the rest of your life with the person you intend to marry, you need to embrace everything about the person including his/her flaws and imperfections.
Some married couples decide to part ways because both parties claim they married a stranger. Due to the long process involved in filing for petition of annulment, both parties may assume that long separation is enough to nullify marriage.
In fact, there are presumptions that when married parties do not see each other for more than seven years, it will automatically nullify your marriage. For instance, a woman marries a man in 2016 and the wife decided to seek for a CENOMAR or a Certificate of No Marriage Record. The CENOMAR is issued to prove that a person has not contracted any marriage.
Unfortunately, the wife found out that her husband has been married in 2000. It is natural for the wife to confront the husband about this issue. It turned out that the marriage that took place in 2000 did not last long because a month after the marriage, his wife left. The wife never returned and not knowing his wife's whereabouts, the husband presumed that the marriage is no longer valid.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Since previous marriage has not been nullified, the spouse can face a criminal charge of bigamy.
According to Article 41 of the Family Code:
Art. 41. A marriage contracted by any person during subsistence of a previous marriage shall be null and void, unless before the celebration of the subsequent marriage, the prior spouse had been absent for four consecutive years and the spouse present has a well-founded belief that the absent spouse was already dead. In case of disappearance where there is danger of death under the circumstances set forth in the provisions of Article 391 of the Civil Code, an absence of only two years shall be sufficient.
For the purpose of contracting the subsequent marriage under the preceding paragraph the spouse present must institute a summary proceeding as provided in this Code for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee, without prejudice to the effect of reappearance of the absent spouse.
As for the declaration of presumptive death under Article 41 of the Family code, the following requisites must be met:
1. That the absent spouse has been missing for four consecutive years, or two consecutive years if the disappearance occurred where there is danger of death under the circumstances laid down in Article 391, Civil Code.
2. That the present spouse wishes to remarry.
3. That the present spouse has a well-founded belief that the absentee is dead.
4. That the present spouse files a summary proceeding for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee.
