Text of the provision

Art. 38. 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;

(3) Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;

(4) Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;

(5) Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the adopted child;

(6) Between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the adopter;

(7) Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter;

(8) Between adopted children of the same adopter; and

(9) Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed that other person's spouse, or his or her own spouse.

(82)

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

Where Article 37 voids marriages that are incestuous by blood, Article 38 voids a wider set for reasons of public policy — relationships that are not incest in the strict biological sense but that the law will not sanction. All are void from the beginning.

The list covers three kinds of relationship: collateral blood relatives up to the fourth civil degree (first cousins fall within this), relationships by affinity or adoption (step-parent and step-child, in-laws, adopter and adopted, and various combinations arising from adoption), and, at paragraph (9), a marriage between two people where one killed the other's spouse (or their own) intending to marry the survivor.

Two points worth noting

The fourth civil degree limit on collateral relatives is what makes a marriage between first cousins void here, while more distant cousins are not caught. And paragraph (9) — the "kill to marry" prohibition — does not require a criminal conviction; the intent and the killing are what the provision addresses, as a matter of public policy against profiting from the crime.

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Cases citing this article

Compiled automatically from Supreme Court decisions published on LawPhil that expressly cite this article, most frequently cited first. A listing means the decision cites the provision — it is not a statement that the case is the leading authority, and it does not show whether a ruling has since been modified or abandoned. Always read the decision itself.

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment. The annotation, case summaries and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. Whether this provision applies to a particular marriage depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your situation can assess.