Short answer. Until you turn twenty-six. The party who married without the required parental consent may file within five years after attaining the age of twenty-one. The parent or guardian may file instead, but only before that party reaches twenty-one — the two windows do not overlap.
What the law says
(1) For causes mentioned in number 1 of Article 45 by the party whose parent or guardian did not give his or her consent, within five years after attaining the age of twenty-one, or by the parent or guardian or person having legal charge of the minor, at any time before such party has reached the age of twenty-one;
Family Code, Article 47 — Who May File; Prescriptive Periods. Read the full provision →
Two filers, two different clocks
The clause gives the right to file to the party whose parent or guardian did not consent, within five years after attaining the age of twenty-one — so the period opens on the twenty-first birthday and closes on the twenty-sixth. The parent, guardian or person having legal charge of the minor may also file, but only at any time before such party has reached the age of twenty-one. Their standing ends the day the child turns twenty-one; from that day the choice belongs to the spouse alone, and nobody else can make it.
The other spouse has no say in it
The article names who may file, and the spouse who was of age is not on the list. Neither is a parent-in-law, a sibling or anyone else with an opinion about the marriage. This matters in practice because these cases often arrive with a family pushing on one side and a family pushing on the other. Only the two people the clause names can start the action, and once the five years have run, no one can. The marriage is treated as valid until a court says otherwise.
Reaching the deadline is not the only way to lose the ground
A separate rule can close the door long before the five years are up. If the party freely lived together with the other as husband and wife after turning twenty-one, the marriage is treated as accepted and the ground is gone, even with years left on the clock. So the period in this clause sets the outer limit, not a safe stretch of time to think it over. If you have turned twenty-one and are still living together, that is the point to take advice on, not the calendar.
Two dates settle almost everything
Get the birth certificate and the marriage certificate together and read the two dates side by side. They establish the age at marriage, when the twenty-first birthday fell, and therefore which window you are in and how much of it is left. What is also worth writing down is whether you lived together after that birthday, and for how long, because that is the question a lawyer will ask next. Missing consent that was later given, or given by someone without legal charge of you, is a separate issue worth raising early.
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 →