Dear Attorney Reyes,
There are many marriages being annulled or couples choosing to separate these days. Call me old-fashioned, but I still believe that a marriage vow is sacred and should not be broken.
What are the main reasons marriages fail, and how does annulment differ from legal separation?
– Madam Soriano
Dear Madam Soriano
That is a hard but interesting question. Marriages in the Philippines sometimes fail for different reasons, but studies show that most are influenced by cultural, social, and economic factors, which include, infidelity, financial problems, lack of communication, domestic violence and abuse, family interference, abandonment, substance abuse and lack of intimacy.
Annulment and legal separation are two distinct legal remedies for troubled marriages, with different effects and grounds under the Family Code of the Philippines.
An annulment dissolves the marriage as if it never legally existed. Once granted, both parties are considered single and free to remarry.
The grounds for annulment, as stated in Article 45 of the Family Code, must have existed before or at the time of marriage and include lack of parental consent, psychological incapacity, fraud, force, intimidation, or undue influence, physical incapacity to consummate the marriage, and marriages that are incestuous or bigamous (though these are typically subject to declaration of nullity rather than annulment).
On the other hand, legal separation does not dissolve the marriage but allows spouses to live separately while remaining legally married. So, even if their conjugal partnership is dissolved, they cannot remarry.
The grounds for legal separation, found in Article 55 of the Family Code, must have occurred during the marriage and include repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct, physical violence used to force the other spouse to change religious or political beliefs, attempts to corrupt or induce a child into immoral activities, drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, homosexuality, infidelity, bigamy, abandonment for more than one year without just cause, conviction of a crime with a penalty of over six years, and an attempt to kill the spouse or child.
In short, annulment nullifies the marriage, allowing both parties to remarry, while legal separation only permits spouses to live apart without terminating the marital bond.
“Love does not know its own depth until the time of separation.”
Sincerely,
Atty. Wowie Reyes
