Quote Originally Posted by ginapeterb View Post
DIVORCE OBTAINED BY FORMER FILIPINO CITIZENS ABROAD

Q. I am a former Filipino citizen. I got married, also to a Filipino Citizen, in a church wedding in Manila on April 09, 1995. I migrated to the United Kingdom sometime in October 1996. I became a naturalized British Citizen in 2004. I divorced my Filipino wife after I became a British citizen. Do I still need to file a Petition for Annulment of Marriage before Philippine Courts?

No. There is no need to file the Petition. The Divorce that you obtained in UK was valid and recognized in Philippine jurisdiction. This is so because you are no longer a Filipino citizen when the Divorce Decree was issued. This issue was already settled by the Supreme Court in LLORENTE versus Court of Appeals G.R. No. 124371. November 23, 2000. This will also entitle your ex-wife to marry again.

Q: What if my ex-wife, who is a Filipina, was the one who a obtained a Divorce before UK Courts Is the Divorce valid? Is she entitled to remarry under Philippine Law?

No. The Divorce obtained by your Filipina wife is not valid. She
is not entitled to remarry because the Divorce which was obtained by her before UK Courts is not recognized under Philippine Law. As a Filipino citizen, the Family Code of the Philippines should be followed on how her marriage will be dissolved.

Q: I am a Filipino Citizen residing in the Philippines, I found out that my wife who went to work in the United Kingdom has a British man with whom she is conducting an affair, she has recently acquired indefinate leave to remain and is a UK Resident, recently, she obtained a Divorce in Britain. Is the Divorce valid under Philippine Law?

No. The Divorce is not valid under Philippine Law. Your Wife is still a Filipino citizen even though she has a legal permanent status in the United Kingdom,. As a Filipino citizen, the Family Code of the Philippines should be followed on how your marriage will be dissolved.


Petes Commentary

We can see from the above E mails that I responded to on advice of a anulment attorney are typical of some of the e mails that I receive on a daily basis, as far as the Philippines authorities are concerned, the key ingredient here is citizenship.
I think I have just found the answer I have been looking for, for so long

My partner had already lost her Philippine citizenship when she and her Korean husband got divorced in Korea in 1997 but the divorce was not filed at the Philippine embassy in Seoul at that time.

She returned to Manila in 2000 but as a stateless person, somehow they let her in. She regained her Philippine nationality in 2007 under the repatriation law that allows a Filipino who lost citizenship through marriage to regain their citizenship REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8171

Now that she is back in Korea and has submitted her divorce details through the Philippine embassy in Seoul, I think when she gets her annotated marriage certificate issued by the NSO in a few months back in Manila that she will be free at last!

My reasoning stems from the example you post above - at the time of the divorce she was not a Filipino!

This is a great find, thank you so much, I found this just in time to get Ana to ask some very specific questions on Monday when she visits the Philippine embassy in Seoul

Often the problem is that if you don't know what to ask you don't know what people are actually doing for you.

Ana had already asked what the requirements were for divorce at the Philippine embassy in Seoul and they said something about it being no problem for her but we had not made it completely clear to them what we were trying to achieve. They might have just meant it was no problem for her in Korea so she is going back on Monday to ask some detailed questions.

Reading this post has come at exactly the right time as I now know exactly what she needs to ask the Philippine Embassy in Seoul.


Jim