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Marriage
Based on the Family Code, a valid marriage requires certain essential and formal requisites. Essential requisites to marriage include legal capacity to marry and consent. Formal requisites include a valid marriage license, authority of solemnizing officer and a marriage ceremony where the contracting parties personally appear before the solemnizing officer and declare that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of two witnesses of legal age.

Absence of any of the essential and formal requisites renders a marriage void ab initio (from the beginning). A defect in the essential renders the marriage voidable and thus can be subject to annulment. Irregularities in the formal requisites does not affect the validity of the marriage but renders the parties responsible for such irregularities to be civilly, criminally or administratively liable.

Annulment
A marriage can be annulled if there is a defect in the essential requisites. Consent obtained through fraud, deceit or violence, for example, can annul the marriage. Similarly, an individual below 21 years old who contracts to marry but does not obtain parental consent can also have their marriage annulled within the prescribed period.