A Marriage without a Marriage Ceremony is Null and Void
What happens if you get “married” without a marriage ceremony?
That becomes a problem for the marriage because a marriage ceremony is an indispensable requirement for a valid marriage. A marriage without out one is null and void.
There must be an actual marriage ceremony. There is no specific form or religious rite required for the marriage vows, but the law is clear on what the ceremony must include.
What is a marriage ceremony?
The marriage ceremony takes place through the appearance of the man and the woman before the solemnizing officer. They must make a personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife.
This must be in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age.
This requirement is indispensable. The absence of a marriage ceremony will make the marriage null and void. In fact, there will have been no marriage at all.
Mere signing of papers is not enough
The mere signing of a marriage contract by the man and the woman, without the presence of a solemnizing officer, makes the marriage void from the beginning. A mere signing of papers without the marriage ceremony makes it so that no marriage ever took place.
So if you have a situation like this — and it happens too often — where the man and the woman just sign papers without their personally taking each other as husband and wife in front of a solemnizing officer, that is not a valid marriage.
What about marriages by proxy?
r. ThiA marriage by proxy is one where one of the parties to a marriage is merely represented by a delegate or a friend. There is no personal appearance by the man and the woman before a solemnizing officer in a marriage by proxy.
Because of this, because the law requires a marriage ceremony with the appearance of the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife, a proxy marriage is void under Philippine law.
If the proxy marriage is solemnized in the Philippines, the marriage is void because our Family Code requires the physical presence of both parties.
However, the same Family Code states that marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, if valid in accordance with the laws of the country where they were solemnized, shall also be valid here.
This seems to means that, if a proxy marriage is lawful and valid in a foreign country, and a Filipino or Filipinos validly married through a proxy marriage in accordance with that country’s laws, then this marriage will also be considered valid in the Philippines.
Legal writers say that the marriage by proxy is considered celebrated that the place where the delegate or the proxy appears.
This raises an interesting question which, as far as I know, has not been ruled on by the Supreme Court:
If the place of the marriage by proxy is, for example, in a State in the US like Montana which allows proxy marriage while the Filipino marrying by proxy is actually located in the Philippines – is such a proxy marriage valid if one or both of the parties was in the Philippines when the marriage took place abroad?
It seems the answer, unless the marriage is struck down for being against public policy, is that the proxy marriage would be valid since the place of its celebration was not actually in the Philippines.
The argument made in favor of its validity is that the interpretation of the Family Code allows it and that public policy leans toward the validity of the marriage which the State upholds as the foundation of the family and society.
The argument against validity would be that proxy marriage, if the parties are actually in the Philippines, circumvents the public policy reasons of our Family Code’s marriage ceremony requirements.
Finally, it bears noting that the Philippines has been a signatory to the Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages since 1963, ratifying it in 1965. Article 1, paragraph (2) of the Convention gives room to allow proxy marriage under certain circumstances. In its Instrument of Ratification of the Convention, the Philippines affirmed that it does not allow proxy marriages within its territory, but did not object to the validity of proxy marriages celebrated abroad. The Philippines has never renounced the Convention.
What do you do if there was no valid marriage ceremony?
You must go to court to get it legally declared null and void.
Whichever the case — whether a proxy marriage or a problem with your marriage ceremony — it is important to remember is that it is not up to you to decide whether your marriage is legally null and void, particularly if you want to remarry.
The law says that:
The absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be invoked for purposes of remarriage on the basis solely of a final judgment declaring such previous marriage void.
This means that, even if there was something wrong with your marriage ceremony so that it was invalid, you need to get a court declaration of nullity of that marriage if you want to be clear to remarry. A case needs to be filed in court to get the final judgment.
Without such a court declaration, the second marriage would be bigamous and itself null and void.
we are living together start on Jan.2003 i am 18 year old and my x husband is 17 year old turning 18 yr old on March 2003 and we got married on August 2012 so our marriage certificate is no marriage license, but they put in our M.C they put article 34 e.o 209..so the time we’ve been living together we both young and not in the legal age when we live in together, My question is our M.C is still valid even we are living together for more than 5 years but we live in not legal age?
If you were living together without impediment for at least 5 years before marriage then a marriage license would not have been required to make the marriage valid.
I was asked to sign a “Marriage Certificate” with my parent’s consent a decade ago, there was no ceremony whatsoever. We signed, then a couple of weeks, we were just informed that we are married just like that! I just recently saw this article and I am really curious about this for years, “signing a document brought to our house is enough to say it’s a marriage?”, it’s odd to me honestly.
Thank you for this information, I’ve been separated from my “so-called wife” for 8 years now; considering the story, I’ve shared above our so-called marriage is actually null and void? just wanted to be sure.
It would require a court case to have it so declared in court. It will have to be proved in court that there actually was no marriage ceremony that took place. For this, the presumption of regularity enjoyed by the marriage certificate will have to be overcome with convincing evidence.
Hi my brother got married 2 years ago in the philippines by judge. He was in the process to complete her appocation for sponsorship in canada unfortunetly he passed away last March now i found out that she was milking my brother for money force him to send her support with the amount every week. until the my brothers last breath they were not in good terms because of money. I have proof of their conversation! will i be able to request for nul and void for their marriage certificate since he just when back to phillipines for 2 months and after the wedding he came back to canada there was never a time were they lived in one house he meet her through internet i think i have never meet her too. please advice
That is not in itself ground for nullity of marriage.
Hi Atty,
My live-in partner and I have lived under the same roof since 2016. We were planning to get married this 2022. We have secured a Notarized Joint Affidavit of Cohabitation. May I know if same process and requirements padin kapag nagayos kami ng papers for marriage?
You should speak with tge priest, minister, or judge who will conduct the marriage about the requirements he will ask from you.
Is a marriage contract valid without a marriage license?
There are specific circumstances where the law allows a marriage to be celebrated without a marriage license. But if those circumstances are not present then such a marriage would be invalid.
We have written about that here: https://lawyerphilippines.org/what-does-it-mean-if-you-were-married-without-a-marriage-license/
What if in oir PSA marriage contract, there are printed names of witnesses (without signature) but in fact they did not really witness of our signing. And the officer indicated on the marriage certificate was not really present at the solemnizing place. it was a different person, and we just literally sign without any ceremony.
The marriage certificate is presumed to faithfully reflect the facts stated on its face. You would have to present evidence to overcome the presumption that the entries on the certificate are true.
It is valid? I am in the middle east and the one i married is in manila, My brother attend my wedding ceremony in replace with me because im here in saudi arabia. It is valid as a proxy marriage?
We will need to know more about the situation to say.
Please provide more information on our form at https://lawyerphilippines.org or send us an email on admin@lawyerphilippines.org
It will come down to where the marriage is considered to have taken place.
Greeings! i got marriage in 1996 without ceremony.. and without marriage license and parents consent.. we just sign a marriage contract . i was 20 years old during that time.. now seperater for 13 years.. is mm marriage valid?
It may not be valid for the reasons stated in this article. We would need to know more of the particulars to say.
We could discuss your specific case if you contact us through our form on https://lawyerphilippines.org
1st ty for your info here.. so that i understand this correctly, i living in the US, American citizen can marry my GF who is filipina living in Davao, by proxy from the US and it would be 100% legal under PH law? is that correct? if yes, i will have her contact you for support because if one searches this, other ph attorneys disagree and say it is NOT legal in the PH.. “”””However, the same Family Code states that marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, if valid in accordance with the laws of the country where they were solemnized, shall also be valid here.”””
Marriages celebrated by proxy in Utah have been recorded into the Philippine civil registry by the Philippine consulate in San Francisco. You may want to contact the consulate for more information.
Just want to inquire about the proxy marriage, my fiancé is in the Qatar and I am in the Philippines and because of travel restrictions he can not come to the Philippines due to covid but we both want to go through and have a Wedding. Is it possible. Pls help us we really want to go through and also for the sake of our baby. Thank you
You should consider contacting the Philippine consulate to ask whether they will register such a marriage.
Good day!
I got married in 1999 withouta marriage license and a marriage certificate even the signature in our merrage contract was not ours . Is this an invalid marriage? What are the process to void a marriage? Thank you.
This will require a court case to nullify the marriage on this ground.
I live in Australia and want to marry my partner in june 2023 who lives in the Philippines.
What paper work / certificates do I need to marry
You should consider contacting your embassy on general guidelines.
I married my child’s father through Proxy marriage. It was solemnized in Montana while he was stationed in Texas and I was here in the Philippines. I received an e-mail with an attached copy of our marriage certificate in a pdf format. Now I’m wondering how to get the marriage registered here in the Philippines when I don’t have a physical copy of the certificate.
The certified marriage certificate will have to be obtained from Montana. Once it is obtained, arrangements can be made to file the Report of Marriage with the Philippine consulate in San Francisco so that the marriage is registered in the Philippine civil registry system.
To whom it my concern:
Dear sir,
Just want to inquire about the proxy marriage, my fiancé is in the US and I am in the Philippines and because of travel restrictions he can not come to the Philippines due to covid but we both want to go through and have a Wedding by proxy but we will have the online ceremony via zoom or Skype whichever is applicable but will still have another ceremony here in the Philippines when he comes here hope you can give us positive updates and enlightenment on this matter thank you and more power
[Redacted] of _________ City
Hi sis pwede ba mag proxy marriage if nsa US ang papakasalan at nasa Philippines naman po ako? Valid po ba ang if ever