Void marriage
My friend has a girlfriend. Almost eight months into their relationship, he learned that they are related to each other as her mother is the illegitimate sister of his father. So basically, they are cousins (they have the same grandfather). He’s thinking of asking her to be engaged since they’re already reaching their thirties. He is wondering if they can legally marry each other. Please help.
Andrew
Dear Andrew,
According to Articles 2 and 3 of the Family Code of the Philippines, for a marriage to be considered lawful and valid, the essential and formal requisites laid down by our laws must be present. These are: (1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female; (2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer; (3) Authority of the solemnizing officer; (4) A valid marriage license except in the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of Title I of the Family Code of the Philippines; and (5) 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.
Apart from the abovementioned requisites, it is vital that the marital union does not fall under any of the void and voidable marriages mentioned under Chapter 3, Title I of the Family Code.
One of the salient provisions of this chapter is Article 38, which provides: “The following marriages shall be void from the beginning for reasons of public policy: (1) Between collateral relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree.”
To ascertain whether the parties are collateral relatives within the fourth civil degree, it is necessary to “x x x consider their nearest and immediate common ascendant and then count the number of relatives from one of them to the common ascendant and from the common ascendant to the other one” (paragraph 5, page 220, Persons and Family Relations Law, Fourth Edition, 2004 by Melencio S. Sta. Maria, Jr.). The rationale behind the legal proscription is that: Marriage between collateral blood relatives up to the fourth civil degree may disturb the policy of the state as it may likely result though not of the same gravity, in the dangers and confusion attendant in incestuous marriage under Article 37.”
Given the story presented, it appears that your college dormmate and her boyfriend are collateral relatives within the fourth degree considering that they share a common ascendant — their grandfather. And even if their relationship appears to be illegitimate, a marriage between them will still result in a void marriage because Article 38 (1) of the Family Code expressly embraces both legitimate and illegitimate relationships as long as they are still within the fourth civil degree.
Hope this helps.