Chapter 2.

Marriages Exempted from License Requirement

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. (72a)

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. (72a)

Art. 29. In the cases provided for in the two preceding articles, the solemnizing officer shall state in an
affidavit executed before the local civil registrar or any other person legally authorized to administer oaths
that the marriage was performed in articulo mortis or that the residence of either party, specifying the
barrio or barangay, is so located that there is no means of transportation to enable such party to appear
personally before the local civil registrar and that the officer took the necessary steps to ascertain the ages
and relationship of the contracting parties and the absence of legal impediment to the marriage. (72a)

Art. 30. The original of the affidavit required in the last preceding article, together with the legible copy of
the marriage contract, shall be sent by the person solemnizing the marriage to the local civil registrar of the
municipality where it was performed within the period of thirty days after the performance of the marriage.
(75a)
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. (74a)
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. (74a)
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. (78a)
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. (76a)

EXEMPTION FROM MARRIAGE LICENSE
contracting parties need not obtain a marriage license prior to getting validly married.
exceptions to the formal requirement of a valid marriage license.
anchored on
o necessity and practicality
! marriages in articulo mortis - where at least one of the parties is in the brink of
death and
! of marriages in remote places;
o on the respect for and recognition of the customs and practices of Muslims and ethnic
minorities;
o policy of the state to validate or legitimize illicit cohabitation between persons who do
not suffer any legal impediment to marry.

FAR AREAS
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,

SOLEMNIZING OFFICERS UNDER ARTICLE 7 AND MAYOR
either or both of the contracting parties are at the point of death.
valid even if the ailing party subsequently survives

CHIEF PILOT AND SHIP CAPTAINS
only marriages in articulo mortis
while the plane is in flight or the ship is at sea and even during stopovers at ports of call.
only among passengers and crew members.

MILITARY COMMANDER
must be a commissioned officer
o rank should start from a second lieutenant, ensign and
commander of a unit
o any subdivision (regiment, battalion, etc.) of an army whose strength is laid down by
regulations
o at least a battalion (
only solemnize a marriage if it is in articulo mortis
in the absence of a chaplain
within the zone of military operation and during such military operation.
either be members of the armed forces or civilians.

MUSLIM AND ETHNIC GROUPS
for as long as the marriages of ethnic groups, pagans and Muslims were performed in accordance
with their customs, rites and practices, such marriages were considered valid
Code of Muslim Personal Laws - February 4, 1977 and became effective in the same year.
o law on persons and family relations among Muslims.
o does not provide that, for a marriage to be valid, a marriage license has to be procured by
the contracting parties.
Under Republic Act No. 6766, the Organic Act for the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR),
Article X, sec. 2
o Marriages solemnized between or among members of the indigenous tribal group or
cultural community in accordance with the indigenous customary laws of the place shall
be valid, and the dissolution thereof in accordance with these laws shall be recognized.
other ethnic groups in the - still governed by the Family Code,

COHABITATION FOR 5 YEARS
living together as husband and wife must meet two distinct conditions namely:
o must live as such for at least five years characterized by exclusivity and continuity that is
unbroken.
o they must be without any legal impediment to marry each other.
conditions must concur but they do not qualify each other. In
o during five-year period, it is not necessary that they must not have suffered from any
legal impediment.
o second condition as to the absence of any legal impediment must be construed to refer
only to the time of the actual marriage celebration.
o Hence, the parties must be without legal impediment only at the time of the marriage
ceremony and not during all those previous five (5) years.
o This must be the interpretation because the essential requirements under Article 2 and the
formal requirements under Article 3 for a valid marriage must be present only at the
celebration of the marriage and not at any other point in time.
! The five-year period is not among the said essential and formal requirements.
o The phrase legal impediment refers to any possible ground or basis under the Family
Code, including non-age and the status of being already married among others, to make a
marriage infirm. But the presence or absence of such legal impediment should only be
considered at the time of the celebration of the marriage ceremony.
Under Article 34 of the Family Code, however, for as long as there is no legal impediment at the
time of the marriage ceremony, the parties can avail of the exception (
o Hence, under the Family Code, a spouse who was living-in with his or her paramour can
avail of this exception and marry his or her paramour without a marriage license after the
death of his or her legal spouse.
Under this exception, the contracting parties shall state the fact of their cohabitation for at least five
years and the absence of any legal impediment to marry in an affidavit before any person
authorized by law to administer oaths.
o solemnizing officer shall also state under oath that he ascertained the qualifications of
the contracting parties and found no legal impediment to the marriage.
The failure of the solemnizing officer to investigate shall not invalidate the marriage.
o In Cosca v. Palaypayonwhere a judge solemnized a marriage involving a party who was
only 18 years of age without a marriage license on the basis of an affidavit where the
parties indicated that they lived together as husband and wife for six years already, the
Supreme Court held that the judge acted improperly because he should have conducted
first an investigation as to the qualification of the parties. The judge should have been
alerted by the fact that the child was 18 years old at the time of the marriage ceremony,
which means that the parties started living together when the 18-year-old was barely 13
years of age. There was a probability that the affidavit was forged. Nevertheless, the
Supreme Court did not state that the marriage was void because clearly at the time of the
marriage ceremony, the parties had no legal impediment to marry.
falsity of affidavit cannot be considered to be a mere irregularity considering that the 5-year period
is a substantial requirement of the law to be exempted from obtaining a marriage license

DIRECTORY REQUIREMENTS
Non-observance of requirements will not render the marriage void or annullable
However, failure to comply with the provisions shall be punished by imprisonment for not less
than one month nor more than two years, or by a fine of not less than three hundred pesos nor
more than two thousand pesos, or both, in the discretion of the court.