People who only discover their spouse's true colors after they get married often say that they marry a stranger. While marriage is an opportunity to get to know your partner's strengths and weaknesses, some individuals are not yet ready to embrace these weaknesses. In fact, weaknesses can even be a reason that will push an individual to file a petition for annulment. For instance, a wife will not realise her husband's laziness unless they live under one roof. As most people dream of a better life after marriage, annulment has been deemed an escape when things do not go as planned. Can laziness be considered a ground for annulment? Can husband's failure to fulfill marital obligations enough to consider him psychologically incapacitated? Here are the grounds for annulment under Family Code of the Philippines:
VOID AND VOIDABLE MARRIAGES
Art. 80. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning:
(1) Those contracted under the ages of sixteen and fourteen years by the male and female respectively, even with the consent of the parents;
(2) Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriages;
(3) Those solemnized without a marriage license, save marriages of exceptional character;
(4) Bigamous or polygamous marriages not falling under Article 83, Number 2;
(5) Incestuous marriages mentioned in Article 81;
(6) Those where one or both contracting parties have been found guilty of the killing of the spouse of either of them;
(7) Those between stepbrothers and stepsisters and other marriages specified in Article 82. (n)
Art. 81. Marriages between the following are incestuous and void from their performance, whether the relationship between the parties be legitimate or illegitimate:
(1) Between ascendants and descendants of any degree;
(2) Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half blood;
(3) Between collateral relatives by blood within the fourth civil degree. (28a)
Art. 82. The following marriages shall also be void from the beginning:
(1) Between stepfathers and stepdaughters, and stepmothers and stepsons;
(2) Between the adopting father or mother and the adopted, between the latter and the surviving spouse of the former, and between the former and the surviving spouse of the latter;
(3) Between the legitimate children of the adopter and the adopted. (28a)
Art. 83. Any marriage subsequently contracted by any person during the lifetime of the first spouse of such person with any person other than such first spouse shall be illegal and void from its performance, unless:
(1) The first marriage was annulled or dissolved; or
(2) The first spouse had been absent for seven consecutive years at the time of the second marriage without the spouse present having news of the absentee being alive, or if the absentee, though he has been absent for less than seven years, is generally considered as dead and believed to be so by the spouse present at the time of contracting such subsequent marriage, or if the absentee is presumed dead according to Articles 390 and 391. The marriage so contracted shall be valid in any of the three cases until declared null and void by a competent court. (29a)
Art. 84. No marriage license shall be issued to a widow till after three hundred days following the death of her husband, unless in the meantime she has given birth to a child. (n)
Art. 85. A marriage may be annulled for any of the following causes, existing at the time of the marriage:
(1) That the party in whose behalf it is sought to have the marriage annulled was between the ages of sixteen and twenty years, if male, or between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years, if female, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent of the parent, guardian or person having authority over the party, unless after attaining the ages of twenty or eighteen years, as the case may be, such party freely cohabited with the other and both lived together as husband and wife;
(2) In a subsequent marriage under Article 83, Number 2, that the former husband or wife believed to be dead was in fact living and the marriage with such former husband or wife was then in force;
(3) That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party, after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as husband or wife;
(4) That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the other as her husband or his wife, as the case may be;
(5) That the consent of either party was obtained by force or intimidation, unless the violence or threat having disappeared, such party afterwards freely cohabited with the other as her husband or his wife, as the case may be;
(6) That either party was, at the time of marriage, physically incapable of entering into the married state, and such incapacity continues, and appears to be incurable. (30a)
Art. 86. Any of the following circumstances shall constitute fraud referred to in Number 4 of the preceding article:
(1) Misrepresentation as to the identity of one of the contracting parties;
(2) Non-disclosure of the previous conviction of the other party of a crime involving moral turpitude, and the penalty imposed was imprisonment for two years or more;
(3) Concealment by the wife of the fact that at the time of the marriage, she was pregnant by a man other than her husband.
No other misrepresentation or deceit as to character, rank, fortune or chastity shall constitute such fraud as will give grounds for action for the annulment of marriage. (n)
Art. 87. The action for annulment of marriage must be commenced by the parties and within the periods as follows:
(1) For causes mentioned in Number 1 of Article 85, by the party whose parent or guardian did not give his or her consent, within four years after attaining the age of twenty or eighteen years, as the case may be; or by the parent or guardian or person having legal charge, at any time before such party has arrived at the age of twenty or eighteen years;
(2) For causes mentioned in Number 2 of Article 85, by the spouse who has been absent, during his or her lifetime; or by either spouse of the subsequent marriage during the lifetime of the other;
(3) For causes mentioned in Number 3 of Article 85, by the sane spouse, who had no knowledge of the other's insanity; or by any relative or guardian of the party of unsound mind, at any time before the death of either party;
(4) For causes mentioned in Number 4, by the injured party, within four years after the discovery of the fraud;
(5) For causes mentioned in Number 5, by the injured party, within four years from the time the force or intimidation ceased;
(6) For causes mentioned in Number 6, by the injured party, within eight years after the marriage. (31a)
Art. 88. No judgment annulling a marriage shall be promulgated upon a stipulation of facts or by confession of judgment.
Art. 89. Children conceived or born of marriages which are void from the beginning shall have the same status, rights and obligations as acknowledged natural children, and are called natural children by legal fiction.
Children conceived of voidable marriages before the decree of annulment shall be considered as legitimate; and children conceived thereafter shall have the same status, rights and obligations as acknowledged natural children, and are also called natural children by legal fiction. (n)
Art. 90. When a marriage is annulled, the court shall award the custody of the children as it may deem best, and make provision for their education and support. Attorney's fees and expenses incurred in the litigation shall be charged to the conjugal partnership property, unless the action fails. (33a)
Art. 91. Damages may be awarded in the following cases when the marriage is judicially annulled or declared void from the beginning:
(1) If there has been fraud, force or intimidation in obtaining the consent of one of the contracting parties;
(2) If either party was, at the time of the marriage, physically incapable of entering into the married state, and the other party was unaware thereof;
(3) If the person solemnizing the marriage was not legally authorized to perform marriages, and that fact was known to one of the contracting parties, but he or she concealed it from the other;
(4) If a bigamous or polygamous marriage was celebrated, and the impediment was concealed from the plaintiff by the party disqualified;
(5) If in an incestuous marriage, or a marriage between a stepbrother and a stepsister or other marriage prohibited by article 82, the relationship was known to only one of the contracting parties but was not disclosed to the other;
(6) If one party was insane and the other was aware thereof at the time of the marriage. (n)
