FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILlPPINES

I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of

the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and
promulgate the Family Code of the Philippines,asfollows:
TITLE I
MARRIAGE
Chapter 1. Requisites of Marriage
Article 1. Marriage is a special contract of permanent union
between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law for
the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the
foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution
whose nature, consequences, and incidents are governed by law and
not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may
fix the property relations during the marriage within the limits
provided by this Code.
Art. 2. No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential
requisites are present:
(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male
and a female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing
officer.
Art. 3. The formal requisites of marriage are:
(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer;
(2) A valid marriage license except in the cases provided for in
Chapter 2 of this Title; and
(3) A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of
the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their
personal declaration that they take each other as husband and
wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal
age.
Art. 4. The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites
shall render the marriage void ab initio, except as stated in
Article 35
A defect in any of the essential requisites shall not affect the
validity of the marriage but the party or parties responsible for
the irregularity shall be civilly, criminally and
administratively liable.

Art. 5. Any male or female of the age of eighteen years or

upwards not under any of the impediments mentioned in Articles 37
and 38, may contract marriage.
Art. 6. No prescribed form or religious rite for the
solemnization of the marriage is required. It shall be necessary,
however, for the contracting parties to appear personally before
the solemnizing officer and declare in the presence of not less
than two witnesses of legal age that they take each other as
husband and wife. This declaration shall be contained in the
marriage certificate which shall be signed by the contracting
parties and their witnesses and attested by the solemnizing
officer.
In case of a marriage in articulo mortis, when the party at the
point of death is unable to sign the marriage certificate, it
shall be sufficient for one of the witnesses to the marriage to
write the name of said party, which fact shall be attested by the
solemnizing officer.
Art. 7. Marriage may be solemnized by:
(1) Any incumbent member of the judiciary within the court's
jurisdiction;
(2) Any priest, rabbi, imam, or minister of any church or
religious sect duly authorized by his church or religious sect
and registered with the civil registrar general, acting within
the limits of the written authority granted by his church or
religious sect and provided that at least one of the contracting
parties belongs to the solemnizing officer's church or religious
sect;
(3) Any ship captain or airplane chief only in the case mentioned
in Article 31;
(4) Any military commander of a unit to which a chaplain is
assigned, in the absence of the latter, during a military
operation, likewise only in the cases mentioned in Article 32;
(5) Any consul-general, consul or vice-consul in the case
provided in Article 10. Article. 8. The marriage shall be
solemnized publicly in the chambers of the judge or in open
court, in the church, chapel or temple, or in the office the
consul-general, consul or vice-consul, as the case may be, and
not elsewhere, except in cases of marriages contracted on the
point of death or in remote places in accordance with Article 29
of this Code, or where both of the parties request the
solemnizing officer in writing in which case the marriage may be
solemnized at a house or place designated by them in a sworn
statement to that effect.
Art. 9. A marriage license shall be issued by the local civil
registrar of the city or municipality where either contracting

party habitually resides, except in marriages where no license is

required in accordance with Chapter 2 of this Title.
Art. 10. Marriages between Filipino citizens abroad may be
solemnized by a consul-general, consul or vice-consul of the
Republic of the Philippines. The issuance of the marriage license
and the duties of the local civil registrar and of the
solemnizing officer with regard to the celebration of marriage
shall be performed by said consular official.
Art. 11. Where a marriage license is required, each of the
contracting parties shall file separately a sworn application for
such license with the proper local civil registrar which shall
specify the following:
(1) Full name of the contracting party;
(2) Place of birth;
(3) Age and date of birth;
(4) Civil status;
(5) If previously married, how, when and where the previous
marriage was dissolved or annulled;
(6) Present residence and citizenship;
(7) Degree of relationship of the contracting parties;
(8) Full name, residence and citizenship of the father;
(9) Full name, residence and citizenship of the mother; and
(10) Full name, residence and citizenship of the guardian or
person having charge, in case the contracting party has neither
father nor mother and is under the age of twenty-one years.
The applicants, their parents or guardians shall not be required
to exhibit their residence certificates in any formality in
connection with the securing of the marriage license. (59a)
Art. 12. The local civil registrar, upon receiving such
application, shall require the presentation of the original birth
certificates or, in default thereof, the baptismal certificates
of the contracting parties or copies of such documents duly
attested by the persons having custody of the originals. These
certificates or certified copies of the documents by this Article
need not be sworn to and shall be exempt from the documentary
stamp tax. The signature and official title of the person issuing
the certificate shall be sufficient proof of its authenticity.
If either of the contracting parties is unable to produce his
birth or baptismal certificate or a certified copy of either
because of the destruction or loss of the original or if it is
shown by an affidavit of such party or of any other person that
such birth or baptismal certificate has not yet been received
though the same has been required of the person having custody
thereof at least fifteen days prior to the date of the
application, such party may furnish in lieu thereof his current
residence certificate or an instrument drawn up and sworn to

before the local civil registrar concerned or any public official

authorized to administer oaths. Such instrument shall contain the
sworn declaration of two witnesses of lawful age, setting forth
the full name, residence and citizenship of such contracting
party and of his or her parents, if known, and the place and date
of birth of such party. The nearest of kin of the contracting
parties shall be preferred as witnesses, or, in their default,
persons of good reputation in the province or the locality.
The presentation of birth or baptismal certificate shall not be
required if the parents of the contracting parties appear
personally before the local civil registrar concerned and swear
to the correctness of the lawful age of said parties, as stated
in the application, or when the local civil registrar shall, by
merely looking at the applicants upon their personally appearing
before him, be convinced that either or both of them have the
required age.
Art. 13. In case either of the contracting parties has been
previously married, the applicant shall be required to furnish,
instead of the birth or baptismal certificate required in the
last preceding article, the death certificate of the deceased
spouse or the judicial decree of the absolute divorce, or the
judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of his or
her previous marriage.
In case the death certificate cannot be secured, the party shall
make an affidavit setting forth this circumstance and his or her
actual civil status and the name and date of death of the
deceased spouse. Art. 14. In case either or both of the
contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous
marriage, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they
shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles,
exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their
marriage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian,
or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned.
Such consent shall be manifested in writing by the interested
party, who personally appears before the proper local civil
registrar, or in the form of an affidavit made in the presence of
two witnesses and attested before any official authorized by law
to administer oaths. The personal manifestation shall be recorded
in both applications for marriage license, and the affidavit, if
one is executed instead, shall be attached to said applications.
Art. 15. Any contracting party between the age of twenty-one and
twenty-five shall be obliged to ask their parents or guardian for
advice upon the intended marriage. If they do not obtain such
advice, or if it be unfavorable, the marriage license shall not
be issued till after three months following the completion of the
publication of the application therefor. A sworn statement by the
contracting parties to the effect that such advice has been

sought, together with the written advice given, if any, shall be

attached to the application for marriage license. Should the
parents or guardian refuse to give any advice, this fact shall be
stated in the sworn statement.
Art. 16. In the cases where parental consent or parental advice
is needed, the party or parties concerned shall, in addition to
the requirements of the preceding articles, attach a certificate
issued by a priest, imam or minister authorized to solemnize
marriage under Article 7 of this Code or a marriage counselor
duly accredited by the proper government agency to the effect
that the contracting parties have undergone marriage counseling.
Failure to attach said certificates of marriage counseling shall
suspend the issuance of the marriage license for a period of
three months from the completion of the publication of the
application. Issuance of the marriage license within the
prohibited period shall subject the issuing officer to
administrative sanctions but shall not affect the validity of the
marriage.
Should only one of the contracting parties need parental consent
or parental advice, the other party must be present at the
counseling referred to in the preceding paragraph. (n)
Art. 17. The local civil registrar shall prepare a notice which
shall contain the full names and residences of the applicants for
a marriage license and other data given in the applications. The
notice shall be posted for ten consecutive days on a bulletin
board outside the office of the local civil registrar located in
a conspicuous place within the building and accessible to the
general public. This notice shall request all persons having
knowledge of any impediment to the marriage to advise the local
civil registrar thereof. The marriage license shall be issued
after the completion of the period of publication. (63a)
Art. 18. In case of any impediment known to the local civil
registrar or brought to his attention, he shall note down the
particulars thereof and his findings thereon in the application
for marriage license, but shall nonetheless issue said license
after the completion of the period of publication, unless ordered
otherwise by a competent court at his own instance or that of any
interest party. No filing fee shall be charged for the petition
nor a corresponding bond required for the issuances of the
order.
Art. 19. The local civil registrar shall require the payment of
the fees prescribed by law or regulations before the issuance of
the marriage license. No other sum shall be collected in the
nature of a fee or tax of any kind for the issuance of said
license. It shall, however, be issued free of charge to indigent
parties, that is those who have no visible means of income or
whose income is insufficient for their subsistence a fact

established by their affidavit, or by their oath before the local

civil registrar. chan robles virtual law library
Art. 20. The license shall be valid in any part of the
Philippines for a period of one hundred twenty days from the date
of issue, and shall be deemed automatically canceled at the
expiration of the said period if the contracting parties have not
made use of it. The expiry date shall be stamped in bold
characters on the face of every license issued.
Art. 21. When either or both of the contracting parties are
citizens of a foreign country, it shall be necessary for them
before a marriage license can be obtained, to submit a
certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage, issued by
their respective diplomatic or consular officials.
Stateless persons or refugees from other countries shall, in lieu
of the certificate of legal capacity herein required, submit an
affidavit stating the circumstances showing such capacity to
contract marriage.
Art. 22. The marriage certificate, in which the parties shall
declare that they take each other as husband and wife, shall also
state:
(1) The full name, sex and age of each contracting party;
(2) Their citizenship, religion and habitual residence;
(3) The date and precise time of the celebration of the marriage;
(4) That the proper marriage license has been issued according to
law, except in marriage provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title;
(5) That either or both of the contracting parties have secured
the parental consent in appropriate cases;
(6) That either or both of the contracting parties have complied
with the legal requirement regarding parental advice in
appropriate cases; and
(7) That the parties have entered into marriage settlement, if
any, attaching a copy thereof.
Art. 23. It shall be the duty of the person solemnizing the
marriage to furnish either of the contracting parties the
original of the marriage certificate referred to in Article 6 and
to send the duplicate and triplicate copies of the certificate
not later than fifteen days after the marriage, to the local
civil registrar of the place where the marriage was solemnized.
Proper receipts shall be issued by the local civil registrar to
the solemnizing officer transmitting copies of the marriage
certificate. The solemnizing officer shall retain in his file the
quadruplicate copy of the marriage certificate, the copy of the
marriage certificate, the original of the marriage license and,
in proper cases, the affidavit of the contracting party regarding
the solemnization of the marriage in place other than those
mentioned in Article 8.

Art. 24. It shall be the duty of the local civil registrar to

prepare the documents required by this Title, and to administer
oaths to all interested parties without any charge in both cases.
The documents and affidavits filed in connection with
applications for marriage licenses shall be exempt from
documentary stamp tax. (n)
Art. 25. The local civil registrar concerned shall enter all
applications for marriage licenses filed with him in a registry
book strictly in the order in which the same are received. He
shall record in said book the names of the applicants, the date
on which the marriage license was issued, and such other data as
may be necessary. (n)
Art. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, in
accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were
solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this
country, except those prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5)
and (6), 3637 and 38.
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is
validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained
abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry,
the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under
Philippine law. (Asamended by ExecutiveOrder 227)
Chapter 2. Marriages Exempted from License Requirement
Art. 27. In case either or both of the contracting parties are at
the point of death, the marriage may be solemnized without
necessity of a marriage license and shall remain valid even if
the ailing party subsequently survives.
Art. 28. If the residence of either party is so located that
there is no means of transportation to enable such party to
appear personally before the local civil registrar, the marriage
may be solemnized without necessity of a marriage license.
Art. 29. In the cases provided for in the two preceding articles,
the solemnizing officer shall state in an affidavit executed
before the local civil registrar or any other person legally
authorized to administer oaths that the marriage was performed
in articulo mortis or that the residence of either party,
specifying the barrio or barangay, is so located that there is no
means of transportation to enable such party to appear personally
before the local civil registrar and that the officer took the
necessary steps to ascertain the ages and relationship of the
contracting parties and the absence of legal impediment to the
marriage.
Art. 30. The original of the affidavit required in the last
preceding article, together with the legible copy of the marriage

contract, shall be sent by the person solemnizing the marriage to

the local civil registrar of the municipality where it was
performed within the period of thirty days after the performance
of the marriage.
Art. 31. A marriage in articulo mortis between passengers or crew
members may also be solemnized by a ship captain or by an
airplane pilot not only while the ship is at sea or the plane is
in flight, but also during stopovers at ports of call.
Art. 32. A military commander of a unit, who is a commissioned
officer, shall likewise have authority to solemnize marriages in
articulo mortis between persons within the zone of military
operation, whether members of the armed forces or civilians.
Art. 33. Marriages among Muslims or among members of the ethnic
cultural communities may be performed validly without the
necessity of marriage license, provided they are solemnized in
accordance with their customs, rites or practices .
Art. 34. No license shall be necessary for the marriage of a man
and a woman who have lived together as husband and wife for at
least five years and without any legal impediment to marry each
other. The contracting parties shall state the foregoing facts in
an affidavit before any person authorized by law to administer
oaths. The solemnizing officer shall also state under oath that
he ascertained the qualifications of the contracting parties are
found no legal impediment to the marriage.
Chapter 3. Void and Voidable Marriages
Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the
beginning:
(1) Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age
even with the consent of parents or guardians;
(2) Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to
perform marriages unless such marriages were contracted with
either or both parties believing in good faith that the
solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so;
(3) Those solemnized without license, except those covered the
preceding Chapter;
(4) Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not failing under
Article 41;
(5) Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as
to the identity of the other; and
(6) Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article 53.
Art. 36. A marriage contracted by any party who, at the time of
the celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with
the essential marital obligations of marriage, shall likewise be

void even if such incapacity becomes manifest only after its

solemnization. (As amended by Executive Order 227)
Art. 37. Marriages between the following are incestuous and void
from the beginning, whether relationship between the parties be
legitimate or illegitimate:
(1) Between ascendants and descendants of any degree; and
(2) Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half
blood.
Art. 38. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning
for reasons of public policy:
(1) Between collateral blood relatives whether legitimate or
illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree;
(2) Between step-parents and step-children;
(3) Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
(4) Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;
(5) Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the
adopted child;
(6) Between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the
adopter;
(7) Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the
adopter;
(8) Between adopted children of the same adopter; and
(9) Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the
other, killed that other person's spouse, or his or her own
spouse.
Art. 39. The action or defense for the declaration of absolute
nullity of a marriage shall not prescribe. (As amended by
Executive Order 227 and Republic Act No. 8533; The
phrase "However, in case of marriage celebrated before the
effectivity of this Code and falling under Article 36, such
action or defense shall prescribe in ten years after this Code
shall taken effect "has been deleted by Republic Act No.
8533[Approved February 23, 1998]).
Art. 40. The absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be
invoked for purposes of remarriage on the basis solely of a final
judgment declaring such previous marriage void. (n)
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. (83a)
Art. 42. The subsequent marriage referred to in the preceding
Article shall be automatically terminated by the recording of the
affidavit of reappearance of the absent spouse, unless there is a
judgment annulling the previous marriage or declaring it void ab
initio.
A sworn statement of the fact and circumstances of reappearance
shall be recorded in the civil registry of the residence of the
parties to the subsequent marriage at the instance of any
interested person, with due notice to the spouses of the
subsequent marriage and without prejudice to the fact of
reappearance being judicially determined in case such fact is
disputed. (n)
Art. 43. The termination of the subsequent marriage referred to
in the preceding Article shall produce the following effects:
(1) The children of the subsequent marriage conceived prior to
its termination shall be considered legitimate;
(2) The absolute community of property or the conjugal
partnership, as the case may be, shall be dissolved and
liquidated, but if either spouse contracted said marriage in bad
faith, his or her share of the net profits of the community
property or conjugal partnership property shall be forfeited in
favor of the common children or, if there are none, the children
of the guilty spouse by a previous marriage or in default of
children, the innocent spouse;
(3) Donations by reason of marriage shall remain valid, except
that if the donee contracted the marriage in bad faith, such
donations made to said donee are revoked by operation of law;
(4) The innocent spouse may revoke the designation of the other
spouse who acted in bad faith as beneficiary in any insurance
policy, even if such designation be stipulated as irrevocable;
and
(5) The spouse who contracted the subsequent marriage in bad
faith shall be disqualified to inherit from the innocent spouse
by testate and intestate succession.
Art. 44. If both spouses of the subsequent marriage acted in bad
faith, said marriage shall be void ab initio and all donations by
reason of marriage and testamentary dispositions made by one in
favor of the other are revoked by operation of law.

Art. 45. 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 eighteen years of age or over but below
twenty-one, and the marriage was solemnized without the consent
of the parents, guardian or person having substitute parental
authority over the party, in that order, unless after attaining
the age of twenty-one, such party freely cohabited with the other
and both lived together as husband and wife;
(2) That either party was of unsound mind, unless such party
after coming to reason, freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife;
(3) 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
husband and wife;
(4) That the consent of either party was obtained by force,
intimidation or undue influence, unless the same having
disappeared or ceased, such party thereafter freely cohabited
with the other as husband and wife;
(5) That either party was physically incapable of consummating
the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and
appears to be incurable; or
(6) That either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible
disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable.

Submitted to: SIR JOMAR SIRIBAN.

Submitted by: ROLANDO AGPAOA JR.