Either spouse may petition to declare their marriage null and void
Dear PAO,
My husband is claiming that he is psychologically incapacitated to break free from our marriage bond. Benefitting from his misdeed, can he file a petition to nullify our marriage?
Donna
Dear Donna,
In the case of Fernando C. Clavecilla, represented by Atty. Marvel C. Clavecilla v. Marivic V. Clavecilla and the Republic of the Philippines, GR 228127, March 6, 2023, the Supreme Court, through Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, elucidated that either spouse may petition the court to declare their marriage as null and void under Article 36 of the Family Code, to wit:
“The doctrine of unclean hands originated from the maxim ‘he who comes into equity must come there with clean hands.’ It is a frequently stated maxim which is also expressed in the principle that he or she who has done inequity shall not have equity. It signifies that a litigant may be denied relief by a court of equity on the ground that his or her conduct has been inequitable, unfair and dishonest, or fraudulent, or deceitful as to the controversy in issue. Equity refuses to offer its aid in any manner to one seeking its active interposition who has been guilty of unlawful or inequitable conduct in the manner with relation to which he seeks relief. xxx
“At any rate, the Court does not see any reason why the principle of clean hands should prevent a psychologically incapacitated spouse from initiating a proceeding to annul a marriage. This is because there is no party at fault in case of annulment of marriage based on psychological incapacity. Culpability cannot be imputed on the part of the spouse said to be psychologically incapacitated since it is not deliberate or intentional on his or her part to possess such personality trait. By reason of psychological incapacity, it cannot be said that bad faith had motivated the afflicted spouse to enter into a marriage or to even seek for a declaration of its nullity. It must be emphasized that the unclean hands doctrine only avails in cases of inequity, which does not exist in a marriage sought to be annulled on the basis of psychological incapacity of a spouse to comprehend and discharge marital obligations.
“Most importantly, Art. 36 of the Family Code does not prohibit the psychologically incapacitated spouse from initiating the action. Indeed, under the Rule on Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages, [the Rule] the Court allows either of the spouses to file the petition, alleging specifically, the facts showing the incapacity of either or both of them: xxx
“xxx
“Evident from the above-quoted minutes that what is required in filing a petition for nullity of marriage is the presence of psychological incapacity. It will not be significant to the courts whether the petitioner spouse is free from such incapacity. The only requirement is that at least one of them is psychologically incapacitated to comprehend and discharge their marital obligations. If the intention of the framers was to prohibit the incapacitated spouse, they would have expressly stated so, similar to actions to annul a voidable marriage under Art. 47 of the Family Code.”
Accordingly, either spouse, whether psychologically incapacitated or not, may initiate a petition to declare the nullity of his/her marriage. The law only requires that the petition contains specific allegations of the incapacity of either or both spouses from complying with the essential marital obligations. Thus, your husband may indeed file a petition to declare the nullity of your marriage, even if he is the one who is psychologically incapacitated.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated on.