Text of the provision
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)
Family Code of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 209, approved July 6, 1987. The Code took effect on August 3, 1988 (Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005). Reproduced in full.
What this article means
For a marriage solemnized under Article 27 (articulo mortis) or Article 28 (no transportation), the officer must execute an affidavit, before the local civil registrar or anyone else authorized to administer oaths, stating which exemption applied and that the officer took the necessary steps to verify the parties' ages, their relationship, and the absence of a legal impediment.
This affidavit is the accountability mechanism for a licence-free marriage: it substitutes, in the officer's own sworn word, for the checks a license application would ordinarily provide.
Related provisions
- Article 27 and Article 28 — the two exemptions this affidavit supports.
- Article 30 — the deadline for transmitting this affidavit.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on the Article 29 officer's-affidavit requirement will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.