SC: Psychological incapacity to nullify marriage is ‘legal norm not medical’

THE Supreme Court has ruled that psychological incapacity as basis for nullifying a marriage is not a “medical but a legal concept”.

The high tribunal, in an en banc deliberation on Tuesday, modified the interpretation of the requirements of psychological incapacity as a ground for declaration of nullity of marriage found in Article 36 of the Family Code.

In the ruling penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, in the case of Tan-Andal v. Andal, G.R. 196359, the high court unanimously pronounced that psychological incapacity is “not a medical but a legal concept”.

The high court refers to a personal condition that “prevents a spouse from complying with fundamental marital obligations only in relation to a specific partner that may exist at the time of the marriage but may have revealed through behavior subsequent to the ceremonies”.

As such, the Supreme Court said that “it [psychological incapacity] need not be a mental or personality disorder. It need not be a permanent and incurable condition”.

Hence, the testimony of a psychologist or psychiatrist “is not mandatory in all cases”.

The 15-man court stressed that “the totality of the evidence must show clear and convincing evidence to cause the declaration of nullity of marriage”.