Laws You Should Know About

I assume the church wedding is legal, but don't know. We had been married in the US prior so that might change how the church wedding is processed. I know people that have gotten married in the Philippines and it was honored by the US gov't for a spousal visa. I was just curious if you got married in two different countries, how it would be handled.

 

Filipino's can not initialize a divorce which means two Filipino's could never be divorced in the eyes of the Philippines. They can go to a country like the US and get a divorce which some have done and then remarry in the US yet if they ever return to the Philippines the 2nd marriage is considered invalid and they are considered married to two different people.

But like also said foreigners are not bound by Filipino Family Code as far as divorce goes which I stated earlier. Like your friends I have done this process myself.

What matters is if you had your marriage certificate filed with NSO in the Philippines. You couldn't legally get married in the US in a civil wedding and then come to the Philippines and have another marriage in the Philippines without getting a divorce from the first one (even if the same partner). You need to have your embassy clear you for marriage stating your not currently married (sure, you could lie but lets assume law abiding people). You could however have a religious wedding ceremony w/o the actual paperwork if you could find an appropriate religious person who is willing to do it. At that point it comes to if you file your foreign marriage with the NSO which would only be suggested if one of the partners if a Filipino. If one partner is a Filipino then by filing with the NSO they get bound by Filipino laws.

However even so that foreign spouse could still file for a divorce outside of the Philippines or in their own country and receive it. They would then for the US for instance need to have said divorce sent through the Department of State for verification and then to the Philippine Embassy in the US to be recognized as valid. Once that is done one would file a foreign recognition of divorce here in the Philippines and wait for a hearing where the judge pretty much asks if the divorce was done legally for the place received and make sure that it was the foreign spouse who filed it and then sign off. The court then forwards the order and a copy of the foreign divorce to the NSO and said marriage certificate is amended and one is then free to remarry in the Philippines.

One must remember that a Filipino can NOT petition for divorce even if they have foreign citizenship (unless renounce Philippine citizenship which may work). It must be done by the foreign partner and in some cases where allowed the Filipino can sign no contest to the divorce. It gets sticky at times also if its considered a jointly filed mutual divorce.

Judicial Recognition of a Foreign Divorce Decree | Philippine e-Legal Forum

 

I read somewhere that if this happened, the Female could be charged with Bigamy is this correct?

 

They can be but its supposed to require a complaint from the other spouse. Without the other spouse I'd suppose there is a case of defrauding the government or some such if they put their 2nd spouse on there Philhealth or other such things maybe but this is all getting into speculation. The male as well if is a Filipino could be charged with bigamy as well though just as a woman, no gender protections.

Catch with that is IF the Filipina ex wife wants she can cause a lot of havok for the guy if he doesn't do the recognition of a foreign divorce here in the Philippines if the first marriage was done here. He wouldn't be guilty of bigamy but would be in a sort of void area as the Philippines wouldn't claim bigamy but that his second marriage isn't accepted here until he files. It could end up costing him a lot more as he would likely need financial settlements with the ex wife. She could also make various claims and while in the hazy void areas lay claim to property and such while things are going through the courts. Not saying its legal for her to do that but as we all know *Hey, Its the Philippines!* would be applying.

So make sure that IF your coming back to the Philippines and married here the first round that to protect your rear end you get the foreign recognition done. Its an annoying process that cost me $1k for the foreign paperwork and 30k for a lawyer here which is on the cheap side (usually 60k) but a family friend who has done them before for others as well along with that I had everything together.

 

I had a neighbor back in the late 90's who was on the run, he went back to the US and divorced his Filipina wife, then came back and married again without going through the notification process.
His ex had him arrested for bigamy, he was facing years in prison, so he paid his bail and went on the run. Till this day he has never been near any immigration office. He has to move frequently because he would tell everyone what happened then p*ss them off.

 

I don't like marriage, love my freedom. Most of my friends, who live here and are married with filipina, they are married outside Philippines, Hong Kong or their home country. Philippines law are not in favor of foreigner. You can secure your gf/partner in many other ways than marriage. This thread confirms me, never marriage, at least in the Philippines

 

Illegal to ever be in the right.

 

I am living proof of the reason not to bring a Filipina to your country and marry, no matter how honorable and respected they are...it was a pure scam.