Short answer. Yes — for insanity, Article 47 of the Family Code does not set a five-year deadline like most other grounds. The spouse who did not know of the other's insanity, or a relative or guardian, may file at any time before either spouse dies. The insane spouse, filing personally, must do so during a lucid interval or after regaining sanity.
What the law says
by the same spouse, who had no knowledge of the other's insanity; or by any relative or guardian or person having legal charge of the insane, at any time before the death of either party, or by the insane spouse during a lucid interval or after regaining sanity
Family Code, Article 47 — Who May File; Prescriptive Periods. Read the full provision →
No five-year window for this ground
Article 47 sets specific deadlines for each ground of annulment listed in Article 45, and most of them are tied to a five-year period — five years after turning twenty-one, five years after discovering fraud, five years after force or intimidation ended, five years after the marriage itself. Insanity is the exception. For a marriage annulled on the ground that a party was of unsound mind at the time of the marriage, the law instead ties the deadline to a life event, not a fixed number of years: it may be filed at any time before the death of either spouse, at least for the sane spouse and for relatives or guardians.
Who may file, and the knowledge requirement
Three categories of people can bring this kind of case, and each has a different condition attached. The spouse who did not know of the other's insanity at the time of the marriage may file, but if that spouse knew about the condition and married anyway, the law treats that knowledge as removing the ground. A relative, a guardian, or a person with legal charge of the insane spouse may also file, without the same knowledge requirement, since they act to protect someone who may be unable to protect themselves. And the insane spouse can bring the action personally, but only during a lucid interval or after fully regaining sanity — not while still incapacitated.
Why the deadline is measured this way
Tying the filing period to death rather than to a fixed number of years reflects the nature of the ground itself. Insanity is not always discovered right away, and its course can be unpredictable — a period that runs from the marriage date could expire before anyone realizes there is a problem, and the person best positioned to act, the insane spouse, may be incapable of doing so for years at a time. Allowing the case to be brought at any point before death, and allowing the insane spouse's own window to open only once sanity or a lucid interval returns, keeps the remedy available for as long as it could realistically be needed, rather than letting it lapse while the affected person was in no condition to use it.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Engrace Niñal, et al. vs. Norma Bayadog, G.R. No. 133778, March 14, 2000 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Maria Lina P. Quirit-Figarido vs. Edwin L. Figarido, G.R. No. 259520, November 5,2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →