Recognition of foreign divorce after the death of ex-husband

[OCCmarine 2]

Hello All,

I have a question for those with experience dealing with the recognition of foreign divorce in the Philippines. My fiancee Veverly was told that she needed to either pay 200,000 Pesos or go to Manila to get her foreign divorce recognized and the annotation on her civil documents that she is single again. This was at the Davao City city hall. Here is the thing that is confusing me, while the officials were talking about the foreign divorce, Veverly has the death certificate for her ex-husband who died about a year after the divorce. Wouldn't the death certificate render the whole divorce issue moot? And why does she have to go all the way to Manila to register the death certificate for her ex-husband? Also, is she going to have to go through the whole recognition of foreign divorce court process even though her ex is dead already? The divorce certificate and death certificate were both issued by the Japanese government. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Hypnos 6,576]

If her husband died then she is not divorced, the marriage ended upon his death when she became widowed.

Edited April 22, 2013 by Hypnos

[LORIEandPHIL 123]

If her husband died then she is not divorced, the marriage ended upon his death when she became widowed.

He died after they were divorced, as stated by the OP.

[Hypnos 6,576]

Then I fail at reading comprehension.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Edited April 23, 2013 by Hank_

[Tahoma 2,292]

Did Veverly get married in the Philippines?

Does she have a fairly recent copy of her CENOMAR? If so, does it show her marriage to the Japanese guy?

[OCCmarine 2]

Did Veverly get married in the Philippines?

Does she have a fairly recent copy of her CENOMAR? If so, does it show her marriage to the Japanese guy?

Yes, she was married in the Philippines. I don't know if she has a copy of her CENOMAR but it would be dated back in 2009 when the marriage was. Would it be possible to move forward without needing to change her Philippines status back to single since she has her ex-husband's death certificate?

Edited April 24, 2013 by OCCmarine

[Hank_ 9,174]

An ex-husband dying has little to do with a divorce that is already fact. The divorce needs to be recognized/records in the Phils. If the divorce never happened then the death certificate should be recorded and her status would be changed with NSO. The death certificate means nothing in this situation.

Now with that said, I would think its possible that the embassy might accept the divorce decree from Japan (translated to English) to prove she is single for doing a K-1 visa, as she would have a cemar from NSO until the divorce is recognized in the Phils, but that is sort of a gamble.

There are some "what if" with this... but I ain't going there.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Hank_

[OCCmarine 2]

I talked with my fiancee today and she told me that her lawyer advised her to just use the death certificate to get her status adjusted back to single. Would this cause a problem with the 129f petition because I put down divorced as her marital status? Also, I sent both the death certificate and the divorce certificate to USCIS. Do you think they would send an RFE about this?

[Hank_ 9,174]

... what is that saying about a can of worms?

[OCCmarine 2]

Well, I guess we're going to just have to go for it as it is since the 129f is already filed. Depending on what USCIS says, we'll just have to send more documents to show them what they want to know. Also, I still can't imagine that USCIS or the US Embassy would deny the K-1 visa because of this because the documents provided show that she is free to marry.

[Tahoma 2,292]

From your first post, because you talked about going to Davao city hall, I thought you were planning on marrying in the Philippines. However, now I see that you filed a I-129F petition with the USCIS.

Under the circumstances, there should be no problem with the USCIS approving your petition and there should be no problem with the U.S. Embassy approving her visa. This is because the U.S. recognizes divorce, even divorces from Japan.

The only question I have is whether the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) will accept her divorce papers and/or death certificate. I say this because she will be required to attend the CFO seminar and will be required to have a CFO sticker affixed to her passport in order to be allowed to board a flight to the U.S.

For the CFO, I'm guessing it would help if she registered the death certificate with the NSO and then got an annotated copy of her marriage certificate showing that her ex-husband is deceased.

I hope someone who has been in the same situation will chime in.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Ya I see CFO as the bigger issue also, I think the embassy will no issue with her showing them the divorce decree from Japan.... but CFO maybe they can slide by with doing the death certificate with NSO ~ not quite kosher

[Tahoma 2,292]

You may have to get the divorce papers and/or the death certificate authenticated by the Philippines Consulate in Japan. I believe this is true even if she has to get a judicial recognition.

[OCCmarine 2]

That sounds like the advice her lawyer gave her. Just use the death certificate when she goes to get her status adjusted with NSO. I don't see why the CFO people would dig too deep if she has the K-1 visa in her passport and the appropriate documents from NSO based off of the death certificate. How would they even know to ask?