Annulment vs Legal Separation in the Philippines

The two cases look at different moments. Annulment asks what was wrong at the time of the wedding: a missing parental consent, unsound mind, fraud, force, incapacity to consummate, or a serious disease (Article 45). Legal separation looks at serious wrongs between the spouses, such as repeated violence, drug addiction or infidelity (Article 55), which can arise during the marriage. Each ground is explained in grounds for annulment and grounds for legal separation.

If the problem is something that happened after the wedding, annulment usually does not fit. If the problem existed on the wedding day and is one of the six causes in Article 45, legal separation is not the only option. A third case, the declaration of nullity, covers marriages that were void from the start; see Annulment vs nullity vs legal separation.

• Both are court cases. Spouses cannot end or suspend their marriage by private agreement.
• In both, a public prosecutor makes sure the spouses are not colluding and that evidence is not invented or hidden, and no judgment can rest on a stipulation of facts or a confession of judgment (Articles 48 and 60).
• In both, while the case is pending, the court provides for the support of the spouses and the custody and support of the children if the spouses have no adequate written agreement (Articles 49 and 62).
• Both have deadlines, mostly five years, but counted from different moments (Articles 47 and 57).

These are made-up examples to show how the rule works. They are not advice for any real case.

Cora and Dino. Cora found out after the wedding that Dino had hidden his habitual alcoholism, which he already had when they married. That is fraud under Article 46(4), so she may file for annulment within five years after discovering it (Article 47(3)). If she instead files for legal separation on the ground of habitual alcoholism (Article 55(5)), she stays married.

Ella and Fermin. Five years into their marriage, Fermin started having an affair, then left home without any good reason and has been gone for more than a year. Sexual infidelity, and abandonment without justifiable cause for more than one year, are grounds for legal separation (Article 55(8) and (10)). They are not grounds for annulment, because they did not exist at the wedding. The deadline for legal separation is five years from the time the cause occurred (Article 57).

Article 63 lists the effects of a decree of legal separation. The spouses may live apart, but "the marriage bonds shall not be severed". Their absolute community or conjugal partnership is dissolved and liquidated, and the offending spouse loses any share of the net profits. Custody of minor children goes to the innocent spouse, subject to Article 213 (see custody of children under seven). The offending spouse can no longer inherit from the innocent spouse without a will, and provisions in his or her favor in the innocent spouse's will are revoked by law.

If violence under the Anti-VAWC law is alleged in a legal separation case, the six-month waiting period of Article 58 does not apply, and the court proceeds with the case as soon as possible (RA 9262, Section 19). A woman facing violence can also ask for a protection order without filing any marriage case; see BPO vs TPO vs PPO.

Both annulment and legal separation are court cases with deadlines, and the right case depends on facts that a court must find. Talk to a lawyer before filing, and before signing any agreement about property or children. If you cannot afford one, see free legal help.