Annulment vs Nullity vs Legal Separation: What Is the Difference?

For a side-by-side table of annulment and legal separation, row by row with the article for each point, see Annulment vs legal separation. For the whole picture, including foreign divorce, see Annulment in the Philippines.

Article 35 lists marriages that are void from the beginning:

The same article covers a marriage performed by a person with no legal authority (unless the couple believed in good faith that he or she had it), a marriage without a license outside the license-exempt cases, bigamous or polygamous marriages outside Article 41, a mistake about the identity of the other party, and later marriages that are void under Article 53. Articles 36 (psychological incapacity), 37 (incest) and 38 (public policy, such as between step-parents and step-children) add more.

A void marriage has no deadline:

Even so, Article 40 says a person may remarry only on the basis of a final judgment declaring the earlier marriage void.

Article 45 lists six causes that must exist at the time of the marriage:

They are: lack of parental consent for a party aged 18 to below 21; unsound mind; consent obtained by fraud; consent obtained by force, intimidation or undue influence; physical incapacity to consummate the marriage that continues and appears incurable; and a serious sexually-transmissible disease that appears incurable.

Fraud has a narrow meaning. Article 46 lists only four kinds, such as hiding a drug addiction or habitual alcoholism that existed at the wedding, and adds:

The first four causes can be lost. For example, a spouse deceived by fraud loses the ground if, after learning the facts, he or she freely lived with the other as husband and wife (Article 45(3)). Each cause, with its filing deadline, is explained in What are the grounds for annulment?

Legal separation does not end the marriage. Article 63 lists its effects, starting with:

The property regime is dissolved and liquidated, and the offending spouse loses any share in the net profits. Custody of minor children goes to the innocent spouse, subject to Article 213. The offending spouse cannot inherit from the innocent spouse by intestate succession.

The grounds in Article 55 include repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct, drug addiction or habitual alcoholism, sexual infidelity, an attempt on the petitioner's life, and abandonment without good reason for more than one year. The case must be filed within five years from the cause (Article 57), and it cannot be tried until six months after filing (Article 58). If the spouses reconcile, they file a joint statement under oath with the court (Article 65). All ten grounds and the defenses are in What are the grounds for legal separation?

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

Rico and Sara married in 2012. They had no marriage license, and none of the license-exempt cases applied. Their marriage is void under Article 35(3). There is no deadline to ask a court to declare it void (Article 39).

Tess learned in 2023 that before their 2020 wedding, her husband Victor hid a drug addiction. That is fraud under Article 46. She must file for annulment within five years after discovering the fraud (Article 47). If, knowing the truth, she freely kept living with him as husband and wife, she loses this ground (Article 45(3)).

Una's husband has hit her many times. She can file for legal separation on the ground of repeated physical violence (Article 55(1)) within five years. If the court grants it, they live apart and their property is divided, but they stay married, so neither can remarry (Article 63).

Sometimes. In Tan-Andal v. Andal (2021), the husband's drug addiction was also a ground for legal separation. The Supreme Court said this did not stop it from declaring the marriage void under Article 36, because the addiction was shown to be a sign of a psychological incapacity that already existed at the wedding. See Psychological incapacity after Tan-Andal.

All three are court cases. A lawyer helps you choose the right case, check the deadline that applies, gather witnesses and documents, and protect your rights over property, custody and support. Talk to a lawyer before you file, and before you sign any agreement with your spouse.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, see Free legal help in the Philippines for the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) and other options.