Hi all I have been with my girlfriend for 6 years..... we got engaged about 5 years ago. she is now a british citizen,and we have a daughter together born here in UK, she has 2 children from previous relationship.. they are also british citizens now.. and i was born here in the UK she is married to her ex still in the philippines.. they have not been together for 10 years now... we want to get married, but dont know if she needs annulment first and if she does how can we do this in the UK Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the forum dlee. Yes she needs an annulment it's not easy and the process is long and expensive I'm afraid, I am not sure how you would go about the process from here in the UK, was the husband a Filipino, it is slightly easier to get out of a relationship if the other partner is not a Philippine national. I suspect you would have to engage the services of a Philippine lawyer who specialises in this kind of case but that is not easy to do from a distance. You also have problems regards ever visiting the Philippines as if the husband ever found out about you he could have you jailed for adultery the penalty is up to 7 years imprisonment for both of you. If the husbands location and status are unknown it is possible that you could petition that marriage was over through the presumed death of the husband. There is a lot of information on annulment available here http://jlp-law.com/blog/ it proved useful to me over the years our case which is similar to yours except that my partners ex was a foreigner and had obtained a foreign divorce, it's taken us 7 years to get that divorce recognised in the Philippines but we finally succeeded last month. Given that your partner is already a British citizen it may be possible her to petition for a divorce under UK law from here but I really don't know if that would work, just clutching at straws sorry.
Just looked up this bit of information http://findlaw.co.uk/law/family/divorce_and_dissolution/500175.html While this looks like it will work it will not be recognised by the Philippine authorities and you would both still be liable to charges of adultery in you were to visit the Philippines either individually or together but of course this presupposes the husband being aware that you are there.
Thanks for the quick reply OSS , yes her ex partner is a philppine national, he knows about us and is really ok with everything, his parents, my partners children grandparents came to the uk last year to visit the kids, and even treated my daughter as their own grandchild.. i dont think there would ever be a problem with him going and reporting us as we all get on well, he wants the annulment as he has got an oppertunity to go the USA where his parents live... i will have a read of the links you sent, we want to marry as we are also planning on leaving for oz soon, and it would be better if we finally got married ! as a defacto relationship is a nightmare to prove ! especially with our circumstances of us both living at different locations in the uk... work related ! and house sale or non sale !
Welcome dlee. I don't really know the answer to your question. You may want to read the Family Code of the Philippines... http://www.chanrobles.com/executiveorderno209.htm Charges of adultery do remain a very real threat should your fiancee go to the Philippines to seek an annulment. To the best of my knowledge, it would be necessary for your fiancee's husband to file charges against both of you at the same time. I guess that would not be possible if you fiancee went to the Philippines alone. You fiancee is in a position to know if her husband is likely to file charges for adultery and he would be less likely to do so if your fiancee could file charges against him for concubinage (should he have a mistress). You can read about adultery/concubinage here... http://famli.blogspot.co.uk/2006/01/adultery-concubinage-and-psychological.html If your fiancee did manage to get a divorce in the UK, her husband would still need to get the divorce recognised in the Philippines, if we wanted to remarry there.
The ex husband would have to apply for an annulment, the rule about divorce recognition only applies where one party is a foreigner at the time of the marriage which is probably not the case here and given that likelihood his costs are as you know Howerd substantial, so whatever happened the ex husband is unlikely to be a happy chappie.
Not much reason then for the husband to co-operate in divorce proceedings then. I have had a look on this website... http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governm...eorcivilpartnership/Gettingadivorce/DG_193734 It is possible to apply for a divorce without the agreement of the husband, if they lived apart for more than five years. That would seem the route to take, if it is available in this case, without worry of having to travel to the Philippines to get an annulment and its associated risk of getting arrested for adultery. Of course, it still may not be safe to visit Philippines after many divorce, unless and until the husband gets any annulment in the Philippines.
I would guess that a name change and travelling on a UK passport in the new married name would make them fairly invisible in the Phils, I only raised the point because it is important to be aware of it. Clearly they could travel to the Phils under their married name with British passports, the immigration officer would probably still issue Balikabyan privileges for both of them but they would not enquire about the history of the lady at Philippine immigration, very very unlikely that anyone would ask anything at immigration.
This article suggests that a marriage between two Filipinos can result in divorce, recognised by the Philippine authorities where one of the spouses becomes a naturalised foreigner... http://fredpamaos.com/1812/divorce-in-the-philippines/
That is very useful information Howerd, it is contrary to what I had read before but appears very valid and would give some hope to dlee of having a clean slate everywhere eventually. However as I mentioned earlier the divorce recognition process has taken me and Ana seven years, if we had got everything right at the beginning it would have taken four and half years, however there may be no need for dlee and his partner to even consider this procedure at all.
nice find howerd, this may be what we need, finally a route we can maybe take without much hassel and costs
It is probably worth pointing out that your circumstances are exceptional and somewhat different to dlee.
Your gf can file for divorce here in UK without any issues. Given the situation you describe it shouldn't take long, and the costs will be minimal. No need for any solicitor involvement, all DIY. Just obtain a 'divorce pack' from your local county court and all the forms and information you need are included. Once the divorce absolute is issued she can then decide to send a copy to her ex-husband in Philippines who can then use that for complying with the procedure in having the foreign decree of divorce judicially recognized in the Philippines. He will then be free to remarry also. His costs will also be minimal as it's not a 'full blown' annulment, just a judicial process. As you know divorce is just not recognised in Phils. However you gf is now a British Citizen and she is entitled to the 'foreign' divorce. The key legal reckoning point is not the citizenship of the parties at the time of marriage, but the citizenship at the time a valid divorce is obtained abroad by the petitioner. Hope this helps you move forward with the divorce and also as a 'starting point' for any 'double checking' research you may want to undertake. Good luck
Hi could you please tell me what do you think about situation where petitioner isn"t british citizen but staying in UK on a student visa?would that process be still possible?
You can ask your fiance' to divorce her Filipino husband and a petition for recognition of divorce can be filed. For further info on this you can read this link which contains a clear discussions on your case. Click http://duano.com.ph/TellMeAboutPage/recognition-of-divorce-Philippines.html
She can resort to filing a petition for recognition of divorce. Just read this link http://duano.com.ph/TellMeAboutPage/annulment-process-divorce-legalseparation-Philippines.html
