The Law Firm of CULVERA, CULVERA & Associates

21/05/2023

(a) Before a foreign divorce decree can be recognized by our own courts, the party pleading it must prove the divorce as a fact and demonstrate its conformity to the foreign law allowing it;
Garcia vs. Recio, G.R. No. 138322, October 2, 2001

(b) Such foreign law, like other fact, must be alleged and proved as our courts cannot take judicial notice of foreign laws;

The presentation solely of the divorce decree is insufficient; both the divorce decree and the governing personal law of the alien spouse who obtained the divorce must be proven. Because our courts do not take judicial notice of foreign laws and judgment, our law on evidence requires that both the divorce decree and the national law of the alien must be alleged and proven and like any other fact.

(c) It must be shown that the divorce decree allows the spouse who obtained such divorce decree to remarry as specifically required in Article 26.

As a general rule, divorce decrees obtained by foreigners in other countries are recognizable in our jurisdiction, but the legal effects thereof, e.g. on custody, care and support of the children, must still be determined by our courts. Before our courts can give the effect of res judicata to a foreign judgment, such as the award of custody to petitioner by the German court, it must be shown that the parties opposed to the judgment had been given ample opportunity to do so on grounds allowed under Rule 39, Section 50 of the Rules of Court (now Rule 39, Section 48, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure)

Under the principles of comity, our jurisdiction recognizes a valid divorce obtained by the spouse of foreign nationality, but the legal effects thereof, e.g., on custody, care and support of the children or property relations of the spouses, must still be determined by our courts.

FROM THIS POINT, WE HAVE TO PAUSE...LET US COLLATE SOME FAQs.

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16/05/2023

Article 26(2) applies to mixed marriages where the divorce decree is: (i) obtained by the foreign spouse; (ii) obtained jointly by the Filipino and foreign spouse; and (iii) obtained solely by the Filipino spouse.

(a) between parties who, at the time of the celebration of the marriage were Filipino citizens, but later on, one of them becomes naturalized as a foreign citizen and obtains a divorce decree.

(b) A Filipino who initiated a foreign divorce proceeding is in the same place and in "like circumstance as a Filipino who is at the receiving end of an alien initiated proceeding.

Paragraph 2 of Article 26 confers jurisdiction on Philippine courts 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 authorizes our courts to adopt the effects of a foreign divorce decree precisely because the Philippines does not allow divorce. Philippine courts cannot try the case on the merits because it is tantamount to trying a divorce case. (to be continued)

14/05/2023

We all know that there is no law in the Philippines that may sever marital relationship by divorce.

However, a divorce obtained abroad by an alien may be recognized in our jurisdiction, provided such decree is valid according to the national law of the foreigner.

This is in consonance with Article 26 (2nd par.) of our Family Code which provides:

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.

Hence, this "recognition of foreign divorce".

But before it can be recognized by our courts, the party pleading it must prove the divorce as a fact and demonstrate its conformity to the foreign law allowing it, which must be proved considering that our courts cannot take judicial notice of foreign laws. (to be continued)

08/04/2023

Abangan!!!

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23/11/2018

We will be posting soon. Just bear with us!

13/06/2018

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