Marriages Exempted From License Requirement | What Are

It is commonly known that, in accordance with Article 20 of the Family Code, a valid marriage license must be obtained prior to entering into a marriage, and that it must be utilized within 120 days after the license has been issued. There can be circumstances, nevertheless, when securing first the marriage license before getting married may not be applicable. Hence, there are marriages exempted from license requirement.

Requirements for a valid marriage

There are two (2) requirements for a valid marriage. The essential and formal requisites of marriage. Under the essential requisites, there are two conditions, to wit:

• Consent freely given before the solemnizing officer
• Legal Capacity.¹

On the other hand, the formal ones are:

• Authority of the solemnizing officer
• Marriage ceremony
• Instrumental witnesses

Absolutely lacking in either essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage void ab initio. Yet, defect or irregularity in either may have different consequences. Defect in the essential conditions may render the marriage annullable. Conversely, when it comes to formal ones, irregularity thereof may only subject the one who causes the irregularity to  civil, criminal administrative liability.

Under the Family Code, it provides that:

“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 (2).²

“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.”³

Scope of Discussion

This article will discuss such circumstances where marriages can be validly made without the need of a valid marriage license, an exemption to the rule under Article 3 of the Family Code, which deals with the formal requisites of a valid marriage.

Article 3 of the Family Code laid down the formal requisites of a marriage, namely:

• Authority of the solemnizing officer;
• A valid marriage license except in cases provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title; and
• 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 2 witnesses of legal age

Generally, as provided under Article 4 of the Family Code, the absence of any of the essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage void ab initio with the exception stated in Article 3 paragraph 2 mentioned above.

Marriages exempted from License requirement

The local civil registrar of the city or municipality where each contracting party ordinarily resides issues a marriage license⁴. Without a marriage license, which is a legal requirement of marriage, the union is deemed null and invalid from the start . However, there are several situations where a marriage license is not necessary.

Marriage in Articulo Mortis

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.⁵

Literally, “Articulo Mortis” means “at the point of death.” The Family Code’s Article 29 permits marriage at the point of death without the need for a marriage license, but it also mandates that the solemnizing officer must sign an affidavit confirming that the marriage was performed in articulo mortis and that he took the necessary steps to ascertain the ages, relationships, and absence of any legal obstacles to the union.

Solemnized by a ship captain or airplane pilot

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.⁶

A marriage solemnized by a ship captain or airplane pilot as provided in Article 31 of the Family Code is subject to the following requisites:

• The marriage must be in articulo mortis
• The marriage must be between passengers and/or crew members
• Solemnized by a military commander

Solemnized by a military commander

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.⁷

The following are the requisites which must be present in order for a military commander to validly solemnize a marriage in articulo mortis pursuant to Article 32 of the Family Code:

• He must be a commissioned officer, or an officer in the armed forces of holding rank by virtue of a commission from the President;
• The assigned chaplain to his unit must be absent;
• The marriage must be in articulo mortis;
• The marriage must be solemnized within the zone of military operations.

In this circumstance, the contracting parties to the marriage may either be members of the armed forces or civilians.

Marriage where party resides in remote place

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.⁸

Similar to marriages in articulo mortis, when a marriage is solemnized without a marriage license because one or both parties live in a distant area, the solemnizing official must additionally sign an affidavit explaining why the marriage was performed without a license.

Both of the aforementioned situations must adhere to the rules outlined in Articles 29 and 30 of the Family Code. The validity of the marriage will not be affected if the solemnizing officer violates the requirements outlined in Articles 29 and 30 of the Family Code.

Rather, this will only constitute an irregularity in the solemnizing officer’s use of his or her authority, for which the latter may be held civilly, criminally, or administratively liable, as the case may be.

Marriage among Muslims or among members of ethnic cultural communities

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.⁹

The Code of Muslim Personal Laws, or Presidential Decree No. 1083, stipulates that the Family Code of the Philippines should be used in the event that a marriage between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is not solemnized in accordance with Muslim Law or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

Marriage of a man and a woman who have lived together as husband and wife for at least five (5) years

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.¹⁰

The goal in this situation is to protect the parties from potential embarrassment caused by the publishing of each applicant’s name for a marriage license. As a result, the exposure could deter the parties from establishing legitimacy for their position.

In order to protect the parties’ privacy and maintain their peace, the legislation decided to exclude them from the necessity that they have a valid marriage license.

To be exempt from the requirement of marriage license, the case of Borja-Manzano vs. Sanchez¹¹ enumerated the requisites in order for the provision on legal ratification of marital cohabitation to apply:

• The man and woman must have been living together as husband and wife for at least five years before the marriage;¹²
• The parties must have no legal impediment to marry each other;¹²
• The fact of absence of legal impediment between the parties must be present at the time of marriage;¹²
• The parties must execute an affidavit stating that they have lived together for at least five years [and are without legal impediment to marry each other]; and¹²
• The solemnizing officer must execute a sworn statement that he had ascertained the qualifications of the parties and that he had found no legal impediment to their marriage.¹²

As further discussed in the case of Ninal vs. Badayog,¹³ the five-year period must refer to a period of exclusive cohabitation which means that no third party was involved within that period and that the only thing missing in the relationship is the marriage.¹⁴

Final Thoughts

A marriage license is often needed before a couple may enter into a marriage or before getting married. However, the Family Code of the Philippines allows for exclusions or exemptions in situations when obtaining a license would not be practicable given the circumstances. In those specific situations, the law itself has stamped its approval, deeming such unique marriages valid, genuine, and legitimate, even in the absence of the required marriage license.

1. The parties must be at least eighteen (18) years of age[↩]
2. Article 4, Family Code[↩]
3. Id.[↩]
4. Article 9, Family Code[↩]
5. Article 27, Family Code[↩]
6. Article 31, Family Code[↩]
7. Article 32, Family Code[↩]
8. Article 28, Family Code[↩]
9. Article 33, Family Code[↩]
10. Article 34, Family Code[↩]
11. A.M. No. MTJ-00-1329, March 8, 2001 [Formerly A.M. No. OCA IPI No. 99-706-MTJ][↩]
12. Ibid.[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
13. G.R. No. 133778, March 14, 2000[↩]
14. Ibid.[↩]