SC: Personality disorder can be grounds for voiding marriage

The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that a personality disorder causing a spouse's inability to love or show affection can be grounds for declaring a marriage void.

In a decision authored by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC's Second Division overturned a previous ruling by reinstating the RTC's decision to nullify a marriage.

The case involved a couple who married secretly in 2002, faced long-distance separation due to the husband's work abroad, and eventually had two children.

Their relationship was characterized by frequent arguments and periods of separation, with them only living together physically for approximately five years.

The husband initiated the nullification proceedings in 2016, presenting a psychologist's diagnosis of Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder, which hindered his ability to form close relationships.