Short answer. No. A marriage between a step-parent and a step-child is void from the beginning under the Family Code's public-policy list. The bar applies even though there is no blood relationship at all, and even after the marriage that created the step-relation has ended.
What the law says
The following marriages shall be void from the beginning for reasons of public policy: (1) Between collateral blood relatives whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree; (2) Between step-parents and step-children;
Family Code, Article 38 — Marriages Void for Public Policy. Read the full provision →
A prohibition that has nothing to do with blood
People often assume the marriage bans exist to prevent children being born of close relatives, and conclude that a step-relation must be outside them. The law takes a different view. Marriages between step-parents and step-children are void for reasons of public policy, and the phrase names the reason exactly: the objection is to marrying within a household where one person once stood in the position of a parent to the other. No blood link is required, no genetic risk is being managed, and the age gap between the parties is irrelevant. The relation itself is the disqualification.
The step-relation does not end when the marriage that made it does
The commonest version of this question comes after a death or a nullity: the parent has died, or the marriage that made the person a step-parent has been dissolved, and the two surviving adults wish to marry. The provision is not written with a condition attached. It does not say step-parents and step-children while the intervening marriage subsists. Read as it stands, and consistently with the neighbouring clauses that expressly reach a surviving spouse, the disqualification is treated as permanent. That is the assumption you should plan around rather than the one you would prefer.
The neighbouring in-law clause catches the mirror case
The same list voids a marriage between parents-in-law and children-in-law, which is the relation that arises through your own marriage rather than your parent's. Between them, the two clauses cover the affinity relations running one generation up and one generation down. What they do not reach are step-siblings, who are not named anywhere in the list and are not blood relatives of each other. That is a real distinction, not a loophole, but it is narrow enough that it is worth confirming which relation you actually have before relying on it.
What a registrar and, later, a court will look at
The documents that matter are the marriage certificate of the parent and the step-parent and the birth certificate of the child, since together they show the relation the prohibition names. A marriage celebrated in the face of that record is void from the beginning, not merely voidable, so it cannot be saved by lapse of time or by the parties' agreement to treat it as valid. If the relationship is genuinely something else, a long-term partner of a parent who never married them, for instance, get that established on paper before any application is filed.
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.
- Republic of the Philippines vs. Marelyn Tanedo Manalo, G.R. No. 221029, April 24, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Abigael An Espina-dan vs. Marco Dan, G.R. No. 209031, April 16, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →