QUESTION

[Angelyn_01 0]

I am asking this question for a co-worker.

She is worried about a relative who wanted to marry a filipina. Her relative (let's pretend his name is Homer) is originally from Guam hence legally a US citizen. The filipina (I'll name her Katie) I'm assuming has been living in USA for more than 5 years. Katie and Homer have a kid together who's about a year old now. They decided to get married but Katie wanted to do it in the Philippines. By the way, Katie is legally married to a filipino in the Philippines. They didn't have any kids together.

Now here's where the concern started. My co-worker had seen a documentary on TV about a dude from London who was imprisoned in the Philippines, for 5 years, for adultery. The dude went to the Philippines to meet a filipina. This filipina is actually married to a filipino when she meet up with the dude from London. The dude didn't know about it. After his stay in the Philippines, he posted pictures of him with the filipina in facebook. The filipina's husband found out about the pictures and to make matters worst, after a couple or few months the filipina found out she's pregnant with the other dude's kid. The husband filed for adultery. And according to the documentary, by law the kid is legally the husband's kid (although not biologically) since Katie is still married to him when the affair happened.

The main concern is pretty apparent. Homer doesn't want to go to jail. They wanted to take their kid with them to the Philippines but didn't want to have any problems should husband in the Phillippines file for anything. I told my co-worker that divorce is not legal in the Philippines. And that there's only annulment which could be expensive.

Answers (legal or not) are really appreciated. Thanks!

[Angelyn_01 0]

--TYPOS' CORRECTED--

I am asking this question for a co-worker.

She is worried about a relative who wanted to marry a filipina. Her relative (let's pretend his name is Homer) is originally from Guam hence legally a US citizen. The filipina (I'll name her Katie) I'm assuming has been living in USA for more than 5 years. Katie and Homer have a kid together who's about a year old now. They decided to get married but Katie wanted to do it in the Philippines because most of her relatives are there. By the way, Katie is legally married to a filipino in the Philippines but they didn't have any kids together.

Now here's where the concern started. My co-worker had seen a documentary on TV about a dude from London who was imprisoned in the Philippines, for 5 years, for adultery. The dude went to the Philippines to meet a filipina. This filipina is actually married to a filipino when she hook up with the dude from London. The dude didn't know about it. After his stay in the Philippines, he posted pictures of him with the filipina in facebook. The filipina's husband found out about the pictures and to make matters worst, after a couple or few months the filipina found out she's pregnant with the other dude's kid. The husband filed for adultery.

According to the documentary, by law the kid is legally the husband's kid (although not biologically) since the filipina is still married to him when the affair happened.

The main concern is pretty apparent. Homer doesn't want to go to jail. They wanted to take their kid with them to the Philippines but didn't want to have any problems should husband in the Phillippines file for anything. I told my co-worker that divorce is not legal in the Philippines. And that there's only annulment which could be expensive.

Answers (legal or not) are really appreciated. Thanks!

[rsn 135]

Moving from off topic to the appropriate regional forum

[Thunderstruck 1]

If Katie is legally married to another man in the Philippines, I don't see how can she legally marry any man anywhere except a country where polygamy is legal and that does not include the USA or the Philippines. I think the first step is to get an annulment before they can get married even here in the USA. They certainly can't get married in the Philippines if she is already legally married there, so I wouldn't bother going there. The risk of him getting thrown in jail is real.

Work on the annulment first which is a long and possibly expensive process from what I have heard.

[happyblessedme 12]

--TYPOS' CORRECTED--

I am asking this question for a co-worker.

She is worried about a relative who wanted to marry a filipina. Her relative (let's pretend his name is Homer) is originally from Guam hence legally a US citizen. The filipina (I'll name her Katie) I'm assuming has been living in USA for more than 5 years. Katie and Homer have a kid together who's about a year old now. They decided to get married but Katie wanted to do it in the Philippines because most of her relatives are there. By the way, Katie is legally married to a filipino in the Philippines but they didn't have any kids together.

Now here's where the concern started. My co-worker had seen a documentary on TV about a dude from London who was imprisoned in the Philippines, for 5 years, for adultery. The dude went to the Philippines to meet a filipina. This filipina is actually married to a filipino when she hook up with the dude from London. The dude didn't know about it. After his stay in the Philippines, he posted pictures of him with the filipina in facebook. The filipina's husband found out about the pictures and to make matters worst, after a couple or few months the filipina found out she's pregnant with the other dude's kid. The husband filed for adultery.

According to the documentary, by law the kid is legally the husband's kid (although not biologically) since the filipina is still married to him when the affair happened.

The main concern is pretty apparent. Homer doesn't want to go to jail. They wanted to take their kid with them to the Philippines but didn't want to have any problems should husband in the Phillippines file for anything. I told my co-worker that divorce is not legal in the Philippines. And that there's only annulment which could be expensive.

Answers (legal or not) are really appreciated. Thanks!

As long as Katie is still legally married with her ex,,there is no way she can marry again unless she will have an annullment first.

Annullment in the Philippines is kinda long and expensive but that is the only legal way.I have friends who got married here eventhough they are still married in their country and they are now suffering the consequences.

Edited August 10, 2011 by happyblessedme

[pasaway na angel 2]

Annulment is the only legal route they can take at this point. It might be a long and expensive process but definitely worth the Peace of Mind. Besides, they won't be able to get married in the Philippines without Katie's Certificate of No Marriage from the NSO and when Katie applies for that, her previous marriage is gonna come up and she won't be issued the CENOMAR.

There might be other legal options IF Katie is already a US Citizen because the Philippines would recognize divorce if one party to the marriage is a citizen of another country where divorce is legal. The following is quoted from Wikipedia:

Philippine law, in general, does not provide for divorce inside the Philippines. The only exception is with respect to Muslims, who are allowed to divorce in certain circumstances. For those not of the Muslim faith, the law only allows annulment of marriages. Article 26 of the Family Code of the Philippines does provide that

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.[11]

This would seem to apply only if the spouse obtaining the foreign divorce is an alien.[according to whom?] However, the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared in the case of RP vs. Orbecidio

[..] we are unanimous in our holding that Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code (E.O. No. 209, as amended by E.O. No. 227), should be interpreted to allow a Filipino citizen, who has been divorced by a spouse who had acquired foreign citizenship and remarried, also to remarry.[12]

[Tahoma 2,292]

Is Katie is a U.S. citizen?

If she's a U.S. citizen, why not get a divorce here in the U.S. from her Filipino husband? Then she can take her divorce decree to the U.S. Embassy Manila and get a "Legal Capacity to Marry" document that's required for an American to get married in the Philippines.

However, I'm wondering if two U.S. citizens can get a marriage license in 'Pinas.

On the other hand, Katie could get a divorce in the U.S. Then she and Homer could get legally married in a civil ceremony in the U.S. Then they could have a ceremonial wedding in the Philippines.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Tahoma