You are on page 1of 6

Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

Recognizing foreign divorce in the


Philippines (Process)
Posted on April 11, 2017 by Lawyers in the Philippines

There is generally no divorce allowed the Philippines, but a marriage between a


Filipino and a foreigner is a special case. The Philippines will recognize the
divorce of a Filipino obtained abroad by the foreign spouse.

This follows from the second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family Code of the
Philippines:

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated


and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse
capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to
remarry under Philippine law.

Contents

Do you need to have your divorce recognized?

You were previously married, but your foreign spouse obtained a divorce. You
now want official Philippine records to reflect that you are no longer married to
your ex-spouse.

Do you need to have the divorce recognized in the Philippines? Yes, most likely.

A simple way to check is to make a request with the Philippine Statistics Office
for an Advisory on Marriage or a Certificate of No Marriage (CENOMAR).

Since a clear CENOMAR is typically needed to get a marriage license in the


Philippines, the result will inform you of where you stand.

Even if the CENOMAR comes clear, you may yet want to have your foreign
divorce recognized. Although you might technically be able to have a wedding
ceremony again in this country, legal issues concerning properties, legitimacy,
https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 1 of 6
Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

inheritance, spousal support and marital rights will cause difficulties down the
line.

How can the foreign divorce be recognized in the Philippines?

It is not a simple matter of presenting a copy of your foreign divorce decree to a


Philippine government office.

Recognition is a judicial process where both the foreign divorce and the foreign
divorce law need to be proven in Court. You will need to file a Petition for
Recognition of Foreign Divorce with the Regional Trial Court in the Philippines.
You will need to get a lawyer to prepare and conduct the case.

When you talk to a lawyer, you should disclose the whole picture to him,
providing honest and complete details about your ex-spouse, your citizenships,
your marriage and divorce. He will need to know the specific places and dates of
events. He will also need clear, accurate copies of your marriage and divorce
documents so that he can assess them himself. (Do not edit the facts or be afraid
to disclose everything to the lawyer you consult. He needs to know these facts in
order to do a good job. And a lawyer is bound to confidentiality by his Code of
Ethics.)

Don’t be embarrassed by whatever you need to tell your lawyer. Don’t hesitate to
ask him any questions you may have.

In the meantime, you can begin to put together some of the documents your
lawyer will need to review and which you’ll eventually have to submit to the
Court.

What are the documents you should prepare?

1. Philippine marriage certificate/record if the marriage was in the country


2. Official marriage certificate/record from the foreign country if the marriage
was abroad
3. Report of Marriage of a Filipino married abroad (if one was filed with the
DFA)
4. Official copies of your foreign divorce documents
5. Certified copy of the foreign country’s divorce law
6. Proofs of citizenship

Note that this is a general list. Depending on the particular foreign country

https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 2 of 6
Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

involved, and depending on the particular case, there may be other documents
necessary. This is because different countries have different divorce processes
and different kinds of marriage and divorce documents.

These documents can be merely scanned copies when you first send them to
your lawyer. The value of having these documents is firstly that they allow your
counsel a clear view of the circumstances. Reviewing them will also allow him to
advise you of what other documents you may need to get.

However, these documents will eventually have to be presented to the Regional


Trial Court with the Petition. For it to accept these documents, the Court needs
to be assured that they are genuine.

The Philippine documents will need to have been officially certified by the
correct government office (Civil Registrar/Philippines Statistics
Authority/Department of Foreign Affairs/etc.)

The foreign documents, on the other hand, will need to be certified by the
correct foreign office and they will need to be authenticated (Red Ribboned) by
the Department of Foreign Affairs or the Philippine embassy in the foreign
country. If a foreign document is not in English, then its certified English
translation is also needed and this also has to be authenticated by the DFA.

Can this be done while I am abroad?

Yes. That the petitioner is abroad while the case is being prepared can actually
be beneficial. If foreign documents need to be secured in the foreign country, it
is then often easiest for the petitioner to get them there herself.

Much of the remaining preparation can be done in remote coordination with


your lawyer over the internet.

Once trial begins, the petitioner should ideally come to testify on at least one of
the hearing dates. This hearing date can be scheduled well ahead of time to
account for travel and leave limitations.

However, if it is not possible for the petitioner to testify, she can appoint a
personal representative to appear on her behalf. The advisability of doing this
will depend on how well and completely the documents presented can prove the
facts of the case.

What is the court process for the recognition of foreign divorce?


https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 3 of 6
Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

After gathering the facts and the needed documents, the lawyer will draft
the Petition for Recognition of Foreign Divorce which needs to be signed by the
lawyer and sworn to by the petitioner. This Petition will then be filed with the
Regional Trial Court in the correct city or province. Attached to the Petition will
be copies of the relevant documents.

The case will then be raffled to one of the RTC’s branches in that city or
province. The RTC branch that gets the case will check whether the petitioner or
her lawyer have any family relation to the Court’s personnel, and take measures
to preserve impartiality. Then the RTC will order that the substance of the
Petition be published in a random newspaper once a week for 3 weeks. The case
will be calendared for first hearing and notices of this will be served to the
Philippine government offices concerned, to the last known address of the ex-
spouse, and to any other required parties.

Proof that these notices were served needs to be shown on the first hearing date.
After that, the lawyer will have the documents of the case marked into the record
of the Court.

As you can see, this is a court process with extensive pre-hearing requirements.
The trial itself requires the presentation of witnesses and other evidence, as well
as written memoranda, before the Court will make a ruling.

The testimony of a witness will be through a judicial affidavit. A judicial


affidavit is used in order to speed up the trial. In a judicial affidavit, the lawyer’s
questions and the answers of the witness are set into writing and notarized
before the hearing. This way, no matter how long the written testimony is, under
her lawyer’s guidance the witness will simply identify and affirm this judicial
affidavit in Court in order to complete her direct testimony. She can then be
cross-examined by the government lawyer to verify her statements. On cross-
examination, she will be asked follow up questions about her marriage and
divorce.

After all the evidence is submitted, the lawyer will submit to the RTC a legal
document known as a Formal Offer of Evidence and also a
final Memorandum. Absent active opposition by other parties, we will then
await the Court’s Decision. The waiting after these submissions would probably
take a few months because of the clogged court dockets.

Assuming it is favorable, the Decision can thereafter be registered with the civil

https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 4 of 6
Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

registrar and the Philippine Statistics Authority for annotation on the marriage
record.

How long does it take?

The trial can take about a year to about a year and a half to finish from date of
filing. Apart from the notice requirements (service of summons and
publication), the reason it can take so long is because of the heavy backlog of
court cases. Philippine courts tend to handle many, many cases at any given
time. Even though only a few hearing dates are needed in a Petition for
Recognition of Foreign Divorce, these are sometimes scheduled months apart
because the calendars of the courts are so crowded.

Also, sometimes side issues come up which need to be resolved so that the case
can move forward.

While lawyers can ask to be accommodated by the Court with closer hearing
dates, sometimes this is out of their hands. What lawyers can assure is the
quality of their work and their diligence in order to prevent avoidable delays.
That is why it is important to make the most of every hearing date. By doing so,
it may be possible to finish the case in a shorter period of time.

What are the costs involved?

A case for recognition of foreign divorce entails different costs.

There are the minimal fees to be paid to government offices for the certified
copies of documents. Then there are the fees charged by the Department of
Foreign Affairs or Philippine embassy for authenticating public documents.

When the Petition is filed, there is an initial filing fee collected by the Court.
There is also a requirement for the publication of the Petition in a small
newspaper chosen by the Court. There are other expenses associated with the
court proceedings, such as for the court transcripts, photocopying, postage, and
messengerial expenses.

A lawyer’s professional fees are dependent on several factors, among them the
difficulty of a particular case, the logistics involved, how much further
investigation and liasoning with government offices are needed, and other
specific circumstances. Professional fees are divided into the lawyer’s acceptance
https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 5 of 6
Recognizing foreign divorce in the Philippines (Process) | Lawyers in the Philippines 12/10/2017, 1(01 PM

fee for the case, by which he commits his time to study and analyze the facts,
commits to represent the client, and to prepare the Petition for Recognition, the
subsequent fees for the other written pleadings he must submit to the Court, and
court appearance fees for each hearing. These fees are agreed on during the early
consultations with the lawyer, after the circumstances of the case are better
known.

Atty. Francesco C. Britanico

Related reading: Foreign divorce and the former Filipino citizen

https://lawyerphilippines.org/2017/04/11/recognition-of-foreign-divorce-in-the-philippines-process/ Page 6 of 6

You might also like