A bit of advice needed (this is the wifes family) my wife is an only child, where she lives ( the house is in her name), but the land is in the name of her uncle and his ex-wife now it get confusing the uncle is now an american citizen living in florida for over 20 years and is divorced from his filipino wife who lives in cebu and is remarried to an american the uncle in florida wants to sign over the land to my wife, the ex-wife in cebu is happy to sign her share too let ( just need to drop her some pesos, and she will sign what ever) if the uncle in florida pop his clogs, then it automatically goes to the ex-wife, she doesnt want the land, but if she pops her clogs then one of her family might jump up and claim it, what then..............are we out but from what i gather once he became an american citizen, he relinquishes all property rights as he legally becomes a foreigner, hence the ex-wife becomes the complete and outright owner or does the uncle in florida still retains his 50% share. if he still retains his share, what does he need to do the talk im getting from the wife is..........he simply signs an SPA and the ex-wife in cebu also signs the SPA over to my wifes mother, who then puts the land to my wifes name is this possible been to a few lawyers, getting different advice 1.. when he became an american citizen, did he automatically rescind his share to his former wife 2.. can he just sign over is share via n SPA ANY SORT OF DIRECTION ON THIS WOULD BE FANTASTIC
https://yourhomeinthephilippines.com/can-former-filipino-citizens-own-land-in-the-philippines Have a look at the above mate
Former Filipinos can own some land if I remember correctly. But even if he can't it doesn't really matter if everyone involved is willing to come to an agreement to transfer/sell as long as the property is sold to a Filipino (your wife). Get on it before anyone kicks the bucket and hereditary rights become an issue.
If he is a dual citizen he can still retain and own property. If an American citizen, but Filipino by birth, it is limited on the amount of land he can own.
I'm not sure if the US requires you to denounce your citizenship prior to gaining American citizenship (some countries do). But that wouldn't stop him from becoming a Filipino citizen again after he denounced his citizenship...so long as becoming a Filipino citizen again didn't require him to denounce his current citizenship. While I believe that the Philippines does require a person to denounce their current citizenship during the naturalization process I believe they have made an exception to this rule, or have a different process, for Former Filipinos. I believe that the rule on property ownership depends on if you have previously held a Filipino citizenship (not just Filipino by birth). I seem to recall the rules specifically mentioning "former" Filipinos, not just being born to a Filipino mother/parents.
Former Filipinos own their land and can even purchase land up to 1000 sq m urban and 5000 sq m in the country. You are correct about addressing this before the current claimants kick off; if younger inheritors stake claims, which they will because it is the national sport, well that’s another issue. It can cause family quarrels that I personally would never allow somebody married to me to go through again. Let them have the land and subdivide it amongst themselves. Each inheritor gets 100 sq m minus area for accessibility. Absurd. Of course they don’t want a small piece of land, they want you to pay them off and perhaps file a frivolous adverse claim later on after you gain title based on some long forgotten and baseless document, which they do not want to win in court but for which they want more money and you will settle because it is cheaper paying them off than going to court. You can see I don’t take an optimistic view of land ownership here. One thing though, in this area it is one hell of s good investment. Market values of land have risen very steeply. If a person’s Filipina wife thinks she can put up with the grief, it may pay off with a 4x return in 10 years. It is like a junk bond: very high return but very risky. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If the uncle has dual citizenship he will still have right's to the land and can purchase land in the Philippines if he chooses to.
My wife is a dual citizen, when she gained US citizenship, she lost her Philippine citizenship. She had to reacquire her Philippines citizenship after being naturalized. US citizenship needs to be renounced to lose it. My first task would be to understand the situation around the land. Is it titled land or deed of sale of some part of a larger titled plot? There can be several layers to land ownership.
My late husband was dual citizen. He was a natural born Philippine citizen prior to becoming a US citizen. If memory serves me right, he was able to reacquire his Philippine citizenship, but at the same time retaining his US citizenship. He did not have to renounce his US citizenship at all. He drew US social security income and pension while we lived in the Philippines, at the same time he was able to purchase land and avail of all services allowed of Philippine citizens. 100% dual citizenship (US/Philippines) is legal and possible.
