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BY GORDON Q. GUILLERGAN
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Friday, January 27, 2017
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“All good things come to those who wait.” ― Violet Fane
TIME away from your partner gives you the opportunity to recollect yourself. It sometimes allows you to realize you do not want to go back.
“Cool off”, as our millennial would call it, is often a double-edged sword in marriage. Many assume that if you have been apart from your spouse, it’s about time to move on.
If you’re separated from your spouse for four years, is that sufficient ground for annulment?
No. De facto separation is not a ground for annulment. However, the absence of two or four years, depending on the circumstances, may be enough to ask the court for a declaration of presumptive death of the “absent spouse.” This will give the spouse the opportunity to again re-marry.
Some believe that Article 83 (2) of the Civil Code which provides that any marriage, subsequently contracted by a person during the lifetime of the first spouse of such person, with any other person other than such first spouse shall be illegal and void from its performance, unless:
* the first spouse had been absent for seven consecutive years at the time of the second marriage without the spouse present having news of the absentee being alive, or if the absentee, though he has been absent for less than seven years, is generally considered as dead and believed to be so by the spouse present at the time of the contracting such subsequent marriage, or if the absentee is presumed dead according to articles 390 and 391. The marriage so contracted shall be valid in any of the three cases until declared null and void by a competent court.
The aforementioned is taken by many that a spouse can remarry even without securing a judicial declaration of presumptive death. Meaning, no need to go to court, for as long as:
(a) there be no news that such absentee is still alive;
(b) the absentee is generally considered to be dead and believed to be so by the spouse present; and
(c) the absentee is presumed dead under Article 390 and 391 of the Civil Code.
Partly true in a sense, but remember that our source of law on Marriages and Family Relations is already governed by the Family Code, and no longer by the Civil Code.
For the purpose of contracting the subsequent marriage, the spouse present must institute a summary proceeding as provided in this Code for the declaration of presumptive death of the absentee, without prejudice to the effect of reappearance of the absent spouse.
We all, married or not at some point, desire to move from an unloving relationship, or perhaps be the one who simply disappears. But to a certain point, we have to face the music and settle things right before we can finally move.
In cases of marriages, have the court declare the aforementioned, for you to move on and re-marry. We forget that everything in life is a process and we can’t simply skip pages just because we already want to go the next.
Remember, only those who see the cracks and holes understand how to fix them, and know how to avoid them./PN
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