Dear PAO,
I have been married for almost five years now and things went smoothly between us until this year. I’ve found out that he got mental problems, most likely because of his drug addiction during his younger days.

I didn’t know that he got that until recently, it got triggered and I took him to a psychologist. The doctor prescribed him some medicines as a lifetime maintenance and more importantly should be taken every day. I am quite worried with my future with him in his condition. Can this be a ground for annulment?
Regards,
Merci

Dear Merci,
It is unfortunate that this happened to you and your husband. Hopefully, your husband would be able to get through this dark time in his life with your help and his other loved ones.

As to your question, our Family Code does not provide drug addiction as a ground for annulment, unless it was existing and concealed from the spouse at the time of the marriage. It is also necessary that upon discovery of such fraud, the spouse does not freely cohabit with the spouse.

Art. 45(3) of the Family Code states, “That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud, unless such party afterwards, with full knowledge of the facts constituting the fraud, freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife[.]”

Art. 46 of the same code states, “Any of the following circumstances shall constitute fraud referred to in Number 3 of the preceding Article:

“xxx

“[4] Concealment of drug addiction, habitual alcoholism or homosexuality or lesbianism existing at the time of the marriage” (emphasis given).

Article 45(3) thereto speaks of a situation where the consent of either party to marry the other was obtained by fraud. This means that the other spouse must have defrauded or fooled the other party into marrying despite his or her drug addiction. The only way that one could have defrauded the other is when he or she conceals the fact of drug addiction from the other (Article 46(4), Family Code).

Article 45(3) of the Family Code also speaks of cohabiting with the defrauding spouse as a means of ratifying the marriage and removing the said situation under the ground for annulment. This part simply means that when the other spouse, even after discovering that he or she was defrauded by his or her spouse, freely cohabits with the other, then he or she cannot use the said ground of concealment of drug addiction for filing an annulment from his or her spouse.

Nonetheless, simple drug addiction, without the fraud and concealment, is a ground to file for legal separation under Article 55(5) of the Family Code. Filing for a legal separation does not dissolve the marriage. Thus, if you decide to file for legal separation from your husband, then you will still remain married to him. However, you will be entitled to live separately from your husband, the property regime of your marriage will be dissolved and liquidated, the custody of your minor children will be awarded to the innocent spouse, and the offending spouse will be disqualified from inheriting from the innocent spouse should the innocent spouse die without an heir.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. Please be reminded that this advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.