Attorney Recommendation for Annulment in Philippines

DJB thanks for the reply. One of my girlfriend's daughter is already 18, the second is 16 and a boy who is 12. I want the annulment to happen before her second child is 18. Someone told me after 18 you can't bring over a dependent. Someone said 24 as long as she is studying or dependent

Hey John how long did your annulment take?

Harry pops you say she has children well that will make it a little longer to get visa's as if she knows where husband resides then get Lawyer to make contact as his permission maybe required to let the children leave the Phippines if not then you will need to post adverts in a national newspaper to give the ex a chance to give permission. It took us 2 years there is a mountain of paperwork to complete, and a total of nearly £10k including Flights, Lawyer, going back and forth to Manilia, hotels in Manilla. As for getting an annulment lawyer goes sorry to say you have no hope of completing this in 6 months it took us 1 year. May I suggest you look at the 2017 UK immigration rule they have changed big time, also do not try to bypass any avenue of UK Immigration as you could end up in real trouble and UK Immigration could stop your girlfriend from coming to the UK and you could end up with a big fine or worst. I am ex Immigration retired nearly 10 years now but back then it was hard work. The only other advice I can give you is to be honest when they ask you questions as we could tell if a person is not telling the truth. Lastly you may have noted there are lawyers in the UK that say they can do the work most are con artists as I saw when working at Heathrow Immigration and HQ a number were doing time for fraud. all the best and good luck.

Peter thanks for your detailed advice. May I please have the contact details of the annulment and immigration attorney you used in Philippines and also an immigration lawyer in UK, if you know of any.

I am surprised that it took you 2 years. My girlfriend's ex has not opposed to the annulment when contacted on the phone. I don't think he will oppose to the kids leaving Philippines either

you sound like a really useful guy to have on here . stick around !

Hi Harrypops. Sorry I haven't got back to you earlier but I have been out in the Phils for the past few weeks. We haven't had our annulment settled and if I'm honest I have given up all hope that it will ever be sorted. Sorry to put a downer on things. There have been many successful cases sorted by members on here so keep positive. The mistake we made was to go to someone although recommended on web pages, and indeed was successful in getting the annulment granted by a judge (by what means im not sure!) when it was sent for ratification in Manila they appealed against the Judges recommendation to grant it. The lawyer we used was very evasive avoiding emails and phone calls. Last we heard off her was that 'perhaps we should re apply'. Unknown to her we had already approached another Lawyer in Makati whom I believed was both professional,honest and up to the job. Sadly he couldn't take on the job until such a time that the appeal has been heard. The appeal was due to be heard last January and after several emails and telephone calls to the original Lawyer only once has she replied to say that the appeal is still on the Judges desk!!!!!! e very careful my friend who's services you employ. Good luck. If you want the name of the Lawyer in Makati then private message me and I will supply it.

JJ I feel sorry for you, I had the same sort of problem it took my wife about 8 weeks to get the rquired annulment through the courts although our problem was she had 1 x 3 year old lad by her first marriage all sorts of hurdles were put in the way. One of the hurdles was the child, we had to try and trace the biological father who had walk out when the child was born and had not wanted or had any contact with the child, we had to post notices in local newspapers trying to trace the biological father to obtain his permission to allow the child to leave the Philippines but we were unable to locate him after two months, so the annulment was granted. Are you considering of adopting the children (I have adopted my eldest) so they can obtain a British Passport? If so I found that the Social Care had to be involved but had no problems from with Social Care they backed me so it only took us 6 weeks to go to Crown Court and the Judge heard what had happened and granted adoption that day total time in court was 15 minutes. It has been 11 years now since I left Immigration the rules have change a hell of a lot since then some are for the better.

Re the name of Lawyer we used I will have to get back to you on this as we have moved 3 times since may wife and son's came to the UK and will have to go through he boxes we have yet to unpack. I know it can be very frustrating trying to sort things out but in the end your can relax more. Finally I was told by my Lawyer on Cebu it is not wise to walk around holding hands in public for should her ex or his family see you doing this they could (ex and his family) make things harder and longer to get he annulment through the courts especially if the new partner is a foreigner as we are the ex could cite you as the problem and your GF as the person who had committed say adultery for instance. I will start looking through paperwork this weekend for the name of the Lawyer I used and let you know.

This may be of interest for those of you trying for an annulment......http://philippineslifestyle.com/church-decreed-annulment-legalised/