Can marriage be declared void if one spouse was already married?

Philippines takes marriage as a binding and lasting legal relationship. The act assumes that all marriages contracted exist and are alive. This is however not the case when one of the parties enters into a second marriage yet there exists a previous valid marriage.

Special attention is given in article 35(4) of the Family Code of the Philippines, which states clearly that bigamous or polygamous marriages lack legality in the first place. Put simply, an individual cannot enter into a valid marriage without the first marriage being voided legally or pronounced by a court of competence.

Bigamy is the situation where one marries and maintains the marriage and then gets into another marriage without having broken marital union. Since divorce is typically not available in the Philippines, a previously existing marriage still causes the legal effects unless it is ultimately annulled or its nullity declared or by the death of one of the spouses.

The second marriage has a number of problems that make it legally problematic:

1. Judicial Declaration Requirement - Article 40 of the Family Code stipulates that the nullity of a former marriage has to be first declared in court before an individual can remarry. Although the first marriage may be void, the subsequent marriage will be at risk of being void unless it obtains a judicial declaration.

2. Criminal Liability - When entering into a second marriage, a first marriage has not been divorced and thereby a second marriage is contracted, the criminal prosecution of bigamy based on the Revised Penal Code may take effect. This implies that the matter is not just civil but could be punitive as well.

3. Guaranteeing Marital Stability - The law against bigamy ensures the sanctity and stability of marriage. It avoids misconception in the property relation, right of succession and legitimacy of children.

The law has a few exceptions. As an example, Article 41 permits remarriage in situations where a spouse has been absent, and a legal pronouncement of presumptive death has been received. In the absence of such a judicial procedure a second marriage is legally invalid.

Avoiding a bigamous marriage by making it void is a social policy and an action controlled by law. It makes marital obligations not to be made lightly and everyone to follow the right procedures in law before remarrying. Meanwhile, it underlines that marriage is not only a personal affair but a legal institution which strictly has to be governed by law.

It is necessary to learn about the aftermaths of bigamous unions so as to avoid remarrying. A second union can find itself subject to a very harsh civil and criminal penalty without appropriate judicial measures, as though it never came into existence.