Foreign divorce

Dear Atty. Maan,

My sister married an American in the Philippines. After moving to the US, their relationship turned sour and he obtained a divorce there and later remarried. My sister now wants to remarry. Does she need to file an annulment or can she benefit from the foreign divorce?

Carla

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Dear Carla,

While Philippine law does not allow absolute divorce, a divorce obtained abroad by a foreign spouse may nevertheless be recognized in our jurisdiction, provided such decree is valid according to the national law of the foreigner. The pertinent provision, Article 26 of the Family Code states:

Article 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Article 35 (1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38.

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (Emphasis supplied) Fujiki v. Marinay explains the nature of the second paragraph of Article 26 of the Family Code, thus:

The second paragraph of Article 26 is only a corrective measure to address the anomaly that results from a marriage between a Filipino, whose laws do not allow divorce, and a foreign citizen, whose laws allow divorce. The anomaly consists in the Filipino spouse being tied to the marriage while the foreign spouse is free to marry under the laws of his or her country. The correction is made by extending in the Philippines the effect of the foreign divorce decree, which is already effective in the country where it was rendered. x x x

The provision gives Philippine courts the authority “to extend the effect of a foreign divorce decree to a Filipino spouse without undergoing trial to determine the validity of the dissolution of the marriage.” It bestows upon the Filipino spouse “a substantive right to have his or her marriage considered dissolved, granting him or her the capacity to remarry.

Significantly, in the recent case of Galapon v. Republic, the Court clarified that pursuant to the majority ruling in the case of Manalo, paragraph 2, Article 26 of the Family Code applies to mixed marriages where the divorce decree is: (1) obtained by the foreign spouse; (2) obtained jointly by the Filipino and foreign spouse; and (3) obtained solely by the Filipino spouse. In the process of judicial recognition of foreign divorce decree, the rules provide that before a foreign divorce decree can be recognized by the court, the party pleading it must prove the divorce as a fact and demonstrate its conformity to the foreign law allowing it. Specifically, for Philippine courts to recognize a foreign judgment relating to the status of a marriage, a copy of the foreign judgment may be admitted in evidence and proven as a fact under Rule 132, Sections 24 and 25, in relation to Rule 39, Section 48(b) of the Revised Rules of Court. (Republic of the Philippines vs. Saito, 2022.)

Hope this helps.

Atty. Mary Antonnette Baudi