Supreme Court (File photo) MANILA - The Supreme Court reiterated its exacting standards in nullifying a marriage and turned down a petition for annulment by a woman who claimed her spouse refused to work and sent her away when she got pregnant. In a 12-page decision published online Friday, the high court stressed that "irreconcilable differences, sexual infidelity or perversion, emotional immaturity and irresponsibility do not prove the existence of psychological incapacity" that warrants voiding a marriage. The ruling affirmed the 2014 decision of the Court of Appeals (CA), which in turn reversed the 2011 decision of the Tagaytay Regional Trial Court on the petition for nullity of marriage filed by "Hannamer" against her husband. The two were high school sweethearts and got married in 2003 after years of a live-in arrangement and upon the insistence of the woman's mother. When their relationship soured, Hannamer claimed the man sent her away, did not support h
MANILA - The Court of Appeals (CA) has turned down a physician's petition to reconsider the annulment of his marriage of 35 years as the alleged condition of psychological incapacity was not convincing. Dr. Noel Fabian's previous annulment case was denied by the Imus, Cavite Regional Trial Court Branch 22 in 2017 and subsequently upheld by the CA on May 11. In his motion for reconsideration, Fabian said he preferred to be with his friends than to spend time with his family; indulged in extra-marital affairs; and would always be dominant and controlling of his wife. He said those are instances that are "serious and clearly demonstrative of his inability to recognize the significance of marriage". He presented a psychiatric report showing that he has Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, rendering him psychologically incapacitated from complying with fundamental marital obligations to his wife, with whom he has three children. The court did not find the doctor'
Court of Appeals (File photo) MANILA - An unsatisfactory marriage is not a null and void one, thus the Court of Appeals' (CA) decision to reject the petition of a husband seeking the annulment of his seven-year marriage. In a decision dated October 18, the CA said there is no psychological incapacity warranting the annulment of the marriage of John Dale S. Castro and Annalyn A. Castro, affirming the decision of the Manila court. The court said the couple may instead opt to obtain a legal separation. The tribunal added that "irreconcilable differences, sexual infidelity or perversion, emotional immaturity, and irresponsibility and the like, do not by themselves warrant a finding of psychological incapacity as these may only be due to a person's difficulty, refusal or neglect to undertake the obligations of marriage that is not rooted in some psychological illness". The man met his future spouse in a bar in December 2013 through a friend, who was the latter's boyfri