MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that a spouse’s inability to emotionally connect or love their partner—if caused by a genuine psychological condition—can be considered psychological incapacity and may be used as grounds to declare a marriage void.

In a decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC’s Second Division granted a petition to nullify a marriage, citing the husband’s Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder, which the Court said rendered him incapable of fulfilling essential marital obligations.

“Loving one’s spouse is an important, if not the most important, essential marital obligation,” the Court emphasized. It added that when emotional detachment is deeply rooted in a person’s character—such as from a strict and emotionally distant upbringing—it may be considered psychological incapacity under Article 36 of the Family Code.

The couple married in 2002, but due to the husband’s overseas employment and strained relationship, they lived together sporadically and were only physically together for about five years. Their relationship was marked by frequent conflict and long periods of separation.

While a Regional Trial Court had earlier granted the petition for nullity, it reversed itself after the Office of the Solicitor General raised due process concerns. The Court of Appeals also denied the husband’s appeal.

The SC reversed these rulings, asserting that psychological incapacity can manifest after marriage, as long as the condition existed before or at the time of marriage and is proven to be deeply rooted and incurable.

The Court found that although the husband could provide financially, he consistently failed to meet his wife’s emotional needs and companionship expectations.

“A person must not be forced to stay in a loveless marriage,” the SC said, ruling the marriage void from the beginning.

However, in a dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, joined by Associate Justice Antonio Kho Jr., said the husband merely had a change of heart, not a psychological incapacity. Lopez said the husband had initially shown love, respect, and support, and thus failed to meet the threshold for incapacity under the Family Code.