Annulment of Marriage Due to Pre-existing Mental Incapacity: Statute of Limitations

A litigant sought to annul a marriage, alleging that the spouse lacked the capacity to consent due to a pre-existing, but undisclosed, mental condition that made the spouse legally incapacitated at the time of the marriage, while the defendant argued that the action was time-barred under the statute of limitations applicable to challenging a marriage based on a defect of consent. The court rejected the appeal, holding that an action seeking nullity of a marriage based on the incapacity of one spouse to consent, which stems from a permanent mental incapacity existing prior to the marriage and rendering the spouse subject to legal protection (tutelle or curatelle), must be brought within the specific five-year limitation period following the celebration of the marriage, as prescribed by the relevant civil code article concerning nullity for defect of consent, rather than relying on the general imprescriptible nature of actions related to the capacity to contract in other contexts.