What Does it Mean if You were Married Without a Marriage License?
Getting married without a marriage license can mean that your marriage is null and void.
A marriage licence is required by the State to ensure that the persons getting married can validly do so. A marriage license is a requirement for most marriages to be valid, except in very limited situations.
A common question is whether you can remarry immediately if you were previously married without a marriage licence. I answer this question in depth as well.
What is a marriage license?
First of all, what is a marriage license?
It is one of the formal requisites of marriage. It is a legal requirement for getting validly married in the Philippines.
A marriage license represents the authority to enter a contract of marriage. This is granted to the couple by the State only after the proper government official has inquired into their capacity.
You are generally not allowed to get married in the Philippines unless you have obtained a marriage license.
Where is a marriage license obtained?
A marriage license is applied for and obtained from the local civil registrar of the city or municipality where one of the prospective spouses lives.
Both the man and the woman have to submit certain documents before they can be issued a marriage license. These include the sworn application for the marriage license, their birth certificates, and a certification from their embassy if one of them is a foreign citizen.
It takes time for a marriage license to be obtained because the law requires that an application for one should be posted publicly for ten days before the license is issued.
Do you always need a marriage license?
You usually need a marriage license to get married, but not always.
A marriage license is not required in a few situations. These include a marriage when one of the parties is at the point of death. Or a marriage where the couple has, for at least five years, actually lived together as husband and wife without any legal obstacle to their marrying each other.
But, in most other situations, a marriage license is indispensable. Its absence is fatal to the marriage.
What if you were required to get a marriage license, but you were married without one?
What if you were married without a marriage license?
For example, what if you had falsely claimed that you and your intended husband had already lived together for five years and were thus exempted from the marriage license requirement?
What is the status of that marriage?
The absence of a marriage license makes that marriage null and void from the beginning.
That marriage was never valid in the first place. This means that the children born of this null and void marriage are illegitimate. The marriage’s community property will be subject to dissolution and distribution between the spouses.
If your marriage is null and void for lack of a marriage license, was never valid, can you therefore marry someone else straight away?
No. Even if you were married without a marriage license, even if the marriage is null and void as a result, you don’t get to just decide that your marriage doesn’t exist and that you can thus marry again without further ado.
You first need to file a case in court. Only the court has the power to declare your marriage void for purposes of remarriage.
If you are in a null and void marriage, the law requires that you first get a court declaration of nullity before you can marry someone else.
If you don’t — If, before first getting this court declaration, you instead get married a second time, then the second marriage will also be null and void.
Not only that, by getting married before a court ruled your previous marriage void, you can be prosecuted for bigamy under Philippine law.
What should you do if you were married without a marriage license and you want to remarry?
If you want to remarry, then you have to file a court case for declaration of nullity of marriage with the Family Court.
This is a court trial, so you’ll need a lawyer to prepare your case, to prepare the witnesses, and present evidence to the court. Documents have to be prepared and proof has to be submitted.
You yourself should ideally testify in court, along with other witnesses needed to prove that 1) a marriage license was required in your case; and 2) no such marriage license was issued to the couple.
Proving these requires digging into the facts. You have to put persons on the witness stand who are in a position to know these facts, such as the civil registrar and other witnesses who can testify to the documents and to the facts of the wedding.
If these are proven with enough evidence then the court can rule for the dissolution of the marriage.
Only after that, and after the court’s judgment is recorded at the civil registry, should you remarry.
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Got married without a marriage license. Solemnized by the Baptist Church. The marriage was never registered to the Local Civil Registry or anywhere else. Do you still need to nullify such?
Yes. Particularly for purposes of remarriage, you cannot decide by yourself that the marriage is null and void. A court case and a court decision to this effect is necessary.
Article 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 (5) years and without any legal impediment to marry each other.
Kahit po ba meron na neto sa batas considered as NULL or VOID padin ang marriage without license?
It is not null and void if it falls under one of the exceptions to the marriage license requirement.
Hello,
I filed a petition for declaration of nullity on the ground of lack of marriage license. I did not pray for the custody of the child since the respondent/ father is out of the country and the child has been with my client/ mother since birth. The respondent did not participate in the trial and cannot be located. The petition for nullity was granted but the court did not order the amendment of the birth cert of the child who is 17 years old. I filed a motion to issue a decree of declaration of absolute nullity and also a motion to issue an order amending the birth cert from legitimate to illegitimate, and to order custody to my client. The court did not resolve the motion but issued the decree of declaration, however refused to issue the order to amend and give custody of the child. They said that I need to file a separate petition for it. Which I think is moot and academic in view of A.M. No. 02-11-10-SC. I plan to file a motion to resolve the previous motion with regards to the order to amend and as well to issue an order for my client to have sole custody of the child. I am a new lawyer but I think the court is wrong to refuse resolve the motion and issue the orders I prayed for.
This looks like a sound argument, but it may require an appeal if the court is not swayed. You may also consider whether the civil registry will annotate the birth certificates of the children with a note of the court decision without need of a further order. This may depend on whether the children were identified in the court records and decision.
But keep in mind that lawyers’ opinions, including this, are just that while the court’s issuances are rulings.
Greetings! Is it okay to have a wedding ceremony while processing the marriage license. for my end, we would like to get married on July 11, but our registration will only available on July 17. Thank you
No, you cannot validly marry without a marriage license except in very specific circumstances.
My friend’s ex-GF got pregnant when they were both under 18 years old. With parental consent/supervision, they performed a civil marriage ceremony with a city mayor back then. Under the impression that he was already married before, he asked for a marriage certificate recently in PSA but they found no record of their marriage which happened around 2007. He is puzzled now if their marriage was really considered legal or due to their age so it was considered null from the start that is why it was never registered to PSA.
We cannot speak for why a record was not submitted to the PSA.
we are 78 years old and would like to be married, however we would like to keep our wealth separate to insure that our children receive the wealth we accumulated with a former spose at the time of our death. we both have trust and trustees. is there anything else we need to do to ensure this? .maybe a prenup or a Christian certificate instead of a license?
certi
A prenuptial agreement fixing an absolute separation of property as your marital property regime.
Avoiding a marriage license is not a good idea for this.
What if we filed for marriage license, but ceremony will start before the license is to be issued. will there be any concern on that?
That would be a void and invalid marriage.
Hello Atty, may I ask if application for marriage license must be done by both parties? and can a marriage be solemnized even without parents consent as they’re both 21 above? Thank you
Parental consent is not necessary when someone is over 21 years of age.
Yes, the marriage license must be applied for by both parties.
How long and how much would it cost to file for the declaration of nullity of marriage for marriage which are null and void from the beginning due to lack of marriage license?
We would have to check the facts of your case, but perhaps a year or two in normal circumstances.
My wedding is on Dec 3, the marriage license will be released on November 11, will there be concern with the validity of our marriage ? Also we filed it sa makati, pero yung ceremony is on San juan.
A marriage license is valid for 120 days anywhere in the Philippines.
Hello Atty .I would like to ask if a marriage license must be obtained for a couple who are cohabitating for more than 5 years but are below 20 years old at the beginning of their cohabitation? Thank You and God Bless You
Yes. They must have been capacitated to marry for that entire time.
Hi Atty. I would like to ask if we falsely declared that we are living for 5 yrs before getting married to hasten our marriage, and wala pong marriage license na binigay, can it be used as ground for nullification or our marriage? Thank you po.
Yes. Such a marriage can be declared null and void if it is proved that the 5 year period was not really complied with.
Hello atty. I would like to ask if tbe marriage contract is not registred on 2 years. And the is died. Wolluld it be possible to file late registration for marriage contract. Thank you for asnwering. Godbless you po.
This is best addressed to the local civil registrar and the PSA.
My marriage was annulled in Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court, my marriage was done in Quezon City, I already received the certified true copy of Certificate of Finality. Whats the next step?
The court decision has to be registered with the local civil registrars and with the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Greetings! Sa marriage certificate ng aking pamangkin,- a seafarer ang date of marriage was May 28,2015. And date or registration qas June 23, 2015. During Dec 2014-August 2015, nasa barko po sya. Nakatatak po sa passport nya na hindi po sya bumaba ng barko ng May 2015. Accng sa pamangkin ko ang wife po nya ang nag process nito noon. Legal po ba ang kasal kahit wlang seremonya?
It would not be a valid marriage, but a court case is necessary to declare the marriage void.
Good day Ma’am/Sir.
I would like to inquire regarding my stepfathers case, he and my mother was married last year. Someone said that the marriage was null/void due to lack/improper documentation. Since void daw po ito ano po need po namin gawin? Tinignan ko po sa US embassy website need daw po nito
“Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage”, para daw po maging eligible na magpakasal. Since na kasal na po sila ano po need namin gawin na solution Para po maging valid po yung kasal nila? I hope po mabasa niyo po ito.
Your quick response is highly appreciated.
Thank you po and God bless.
We’d need to know why it would be void. We’ll be happy to go over the facts of this case if you can fill out our full form for this on https://lawyerphilippines.org/
Thank you.
Greetings! Can i ask what is the process of filling a nullity of marriage. We have a marriage certificate but we don’t have a marriage license. And now i have a new life i want to remarry but how and how long is the process
We would need to know more about the facts of the case. We will be happy to respond to specifics through our form on https://lawyerphilippines.org/
Good day,where can we get the Certificate of legal Capacity to contract marriage?Is it one of the Philippine required for US citizens to get married a Filipina?
Yes. This is typically an affidavit executed by a US citizen at the US embassy. Check this with the local civil registrar from which you intend to apply for a marriage license.