HUSBAND ASK FOR DIVORCE/ANNULMENT

[David & Beng 0]

Hi guys, I have a friend and they just got married. Her husband is a foreigner from US and shes from here in our country. The problem is after her husband went back home to US, he just suddenly stopped talking to her. One day, she received an email saying he wants a divorce. No explanation. After that, she cant contact him anymore. No divorce in this country and annullment takes so long to be processed (u need finance to be able to do this). My question is..... "Is there anything she could do to make this guy pay for everything that she lost? Can she still go there to US even she still havent been there yet?" Any advice you can give will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

[Armenia 18]

Hi guys, I have a friend and they just got married. Her husband is a foreigner from US and shes from here in our country. The problem is after her husband went back home to US, he just suddenly stopped talking to her. One day, she received an email saying he wants a divorce. No explanation. After that, she cant contact him anymore. No divorce in this country and annullment takes so long to be processed (u need finance to be able to do this).

Your Filipina friend can still remarry in the Philippines.

Article 26 of the Family Code says: "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."

I would assume that she needs to get a copy of the divorce decree and present that in court for the divorce to be recorded/recognized in the Philippines. I doubt that the cost for doing that would be high as it's just a matter of paper work/administrative work. In any case, she can ask around for pro bono lawyers. As a lawyer friend told me before, lawyers in the Phils are required (in order to keep bar membership) to accept a certain number of free cases (I can't remember the exact words) for public so and so (service?, again, don't remember the exact words).

Even if her ex-husband will not communicate with her, she can still get a copy of the divorce decree but writing to whichever agency it is in the USA that keeps civil records for that particular state. I would think that she would only need to include a copy of her Philippine marriage certificate to the agency to show/explain why she has a valid reason to ask for that particular civil document.

My question is..... "Is there anything she could do to make this guy pay for everything that she lost?

Unless the husband stole something physical (money, property) or did something illegal, and even then, I don't think she would be able to go after the husband (i.e., file a court case). Marriages breaking up is just a fact of life. We suffer then we move on. Even if she were in the states, if they were married for a very short period of time, I doubt that she'd be able to get anything out of the guy during the divorce proceedings.

Can she still go there to US even she still havent been there yet?" Any advice you can give will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

If it's based on her previous marriage to a US citizen, no she can't go to the US since the USC has to file a petition for her.

[LotofPatience 65]

Hi guys, I have a friend and they just got married. Her husband is a foreigner from US and shes from here in our country. The problem is after her husband went back home to US, he just suddenly stopped talking to her. One day, she received an email saying he wants a divorce. No explanation. After that, she cant contact him anymore. No divorce in this country and annullment takes so long to be processed (u need finance to be able to do this). My question is..... "Is there anything she could do to make this guy pay for everything that she lost? Can she still go there to US even she still havent been there yet?" Any advice you can give will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

I don't know the first part of the question.

But she can't go to the U.S on "spouse visa", because he "had" to petition for her.

Loto

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Well that sucks...

What she needs is for him to file for divorce in the US and then send her a copy of the Decree. She will then have to file for Recognition of Foreign Divorce in the Philippines which will have the same effect as an annulment. This is only valid if the PH citizen isn't the one who files for divorce. It will still cost her but it is less expensive and doesn't take as long.

For her to come to the US would require his cooperation so I doubt that will happen.

[-teRe- 9]

Hi guys, I have a friend and they just got married. Her husband is a foreigner from US and shes from here in our country. The problem is after her husband went back home to US, he just suddenly stopped talking to her. One day, she received an email saying he wants a divorce. No explanation. After that, she cant contact him anymore. No divorce in this country and annullment takes so long to be processed (u need finance to be able to do this). My question is..... "Is there anything she could do to make this guy pay for everything that she lost? Can she still go there to US even she still havent been there yet?" Any advice you can give will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

As your first question:

Your friend can make the american guy pay for whatever she spent in relation to their wedding here provided she should prove that her husband acted in bad faith, this will give rise to civil damages based on the Civil Code of the Philippines in its articles dealing with human relations. I tell you however, i foresee the problem of acquiring the jurisdiction of the Philippine court over the person of the american husband as the action will be a personal one, and this is through issuance of summons over his person which is difficult and costly, what i would suggest is that if the american husband has properties here in the Philippines then you can just attach the properties to satisfy the amount of damages and there's no more need to acquire the jurisdiction over his person as the action is now converted to quasi in rem from a personal action. You and your friend can go to a Public Attorneys Office in the city/municipality where your friend resides, they will help you guys at no expense at all.

Anent your second question:

If She will go to the States on the basis of her marriage to the american, NO, she cannot go there once they are divorced, there would no longer be a marriage to which the K3 or the Spouse visa would stand/depend on.

Good luck and God Bless!

[-teRe- 9]

Oh btw, no need for your friend to file an annulment here, that would be costly, it's the american husband who wants divorce then let him pay for all the expenses, after the divorce proceedings abroad is concluded, let your friend ask for the copy of it so she can use that to let the courts recognized such foreign judgment for purposes of remarriage under the Family Code of the Philippines (Art. 26) but she has to prove that under the foreign law of the husband, he is capacitated to remarry.

[Christi85 86]

Did your friend and her USC husband get married intending for him to file an I-130 and bring her over to the US on a spouse visa?

If so, could there be reasons for her husband to change his mind and back off? I.e. could there be reasons that made the USC husband suspect immigration fraud on your friend's part (regardless of whether these have grounds or not)?

If the answer to the above two questions is yes, then you have a very good explanation of why he may have asked for a divorce. So that he didn't have to petition on her behalf, pay all that money, and be bound by the affidavit of support for several years if he thought the marriage wouldn't work.

That isn't to say that your friend necessarily did something wrong or that she entered the marriage for immigration purposes. The guy may just be nuts.

Regardless, she can't go to the US on a spouse visa because her husband would have to petition for her, like others have said. She could go as a visitor if she applied and got approved for a tourist visa, but that type of visa is only to visit for a limited period of time and not to live and work there permanently.