Discussion and clarification - Surnames

[EliAnon 42]

Hello,

 

     I thought it would be a substantive discussion to have a topic covering surnames of dependent minors for women in the Philippines. 

     My Fiancee has a child who is 5 years old, at the time of her birth in 2013 her and her boyfriend both signed her daughter's birth certificate. I have made a previous topic on this way back in June when I was filling out the I129f, concerned about her daughter's chances of getting approved. It was waved off as a "cultural" thing because the mother does not want the child to be bullied or looked down upon as being an illegitimate child. 

 

I have been reading some Filipino law and it seems really conflicting. The articles posted on Rapidvisa.com (https://rapidvisa.com/taking-fiances-spouses-children-philippines/) are pretty conflicting to be honest. It says on one that the mother has sole custody of illegitimate children, but on the other it says if the father is jointly recognized as a custodial parent; then he has rights. Though it is an illegitimate child through lack of marriage, I am honestly pretty confused on who has what rights and what not. The conflicting articles are confusing me even further. 

 

 

In summation, Mother and Father both jointly recognized the child out of wedlock, father does not pay child support or visitation. Daughter has Fathers last name, which means he does 'recognize her'. Mother takes care of daughter and has since birth. 

 

If you need more clarification let me know, but this scenario is weird and filipino law appears to be not written well. 

 

[payxibka 10,045]

Mother has full custody of the illegitimate child.

[EliAnon 42]

Just now, payxibka said:

Mother has full custody of the illegitimate child.

Care to go into detail, have you read both of the articles and seen the where the confusion is coming from? 

[payxibka 10,045]

Just now, EliAnon said:

Care to go into detail, have you read both of the articles and seen the where the confusion is coming from? 

Details are based on actual reported experiences with the USEM

[EliAnon 42]

4 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Details are based on actual reported experiences with the USEM

Right, and I get that. But I want know what the actual law dictates. What I have read (and i am no lawyer) it is very conflicting when applied to this "scenario"

[payxibka 10,045]

As I read it there is no conflict in th elaw

[Boiler 45,525]

All I know it is not an unusual situation and there must have been hundreds of similar posts on this subject. If there was someone who had an issue I missed it.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

9 minutes ago, EliAnon said:

Right, and I get that. But I want know what the actual law dictates. What I have read (and i am no lawyer) it is very conflicting when applied to this "scenario"

It is not conflicted in regards to "this scenario". Philippine law is quite specific in regards to this if that the mother has custody of the child then she has custody and can do as she sees fit with the child. 

 

The only problem would be if the father is still involved in the child's life. The father can cause problems for them by not allowing the child to leave the country. Usually what happens is the father is given a "gift" to help smooth things over and allow the child to leave. 

[Hank_ 9,174]

40 minutes ago, EliAnon said:

Hello,

 

     I thought it would be a substantive discussion to have a topic covering surnames of dependent minors for women in the Philippines. 

     My Fiancee has a child who is 5 years old, at the time of her birth in 2013 her and her boyfriend both signed her daughter's birth certificate. I have made a previous topic on this way back in June when I was filling out the I129f, concerned about her daughter's chances of getting approved. It was waved off as a "cultural" thing because the mother does not want the child to be bullied or looked down upon as being an illegitimate child. 

 

I have been reading some Filipino law and it seems really conflicting. The articles posted on Rapidvisa.com (https://rapidvisa.com/taking-fiances-spouses-children-philippines/) are pretty conflicting to be honest. It says on one that the mother has sole custody of illegitimate children, but on the other it says if the father is jointly recognized as a custodial parent; then he has rights. Though it is an illegitimate child through lack of marriage, I am honestly pretty confused on who has what rights and what not. The conflicting articles are confusing me even further. 

 

 

In summation, Mother and Father both jointly recognized the child out of wedlock, father does not pay child support or visitation. Daughter has Fathers last name, which means he does 'recognize her'. Mother takes care of daughter and has since birth. 

 

If you need more clarification let me know, but this scenario is weird and filipino law appears to be not written well. 

 

And that is the trouble with visa websites that are not Philippine focused.   Philippines is unique in their laws in many ways, so reading information on a website using a "wide paint brush" is not the best of ideas.

 

This is actually a common topic, I really should add this info so I don't have to keep searching it.

 

37 minutes ago, EliAnon said:

Care to go into detail, have you read both of the articles and seen the where the confusion is coming from? 

Sole custody of an illegitimate child is given to the mother by Family  Code, Article 176.    The embassy is well aware of this law.   The boyfriend has no legal rights of any type regarding the child.

 

"Parental authority over minor children is lodged by Art. 176 on the mother"

 

Here is a court case for example

http://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/2014februarydecisions.php?id=86

 

 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Hank_

[EliAnon 42]

1 minute ago, Hank_ said:

And that is the trouble with visa websites that are not Philippine focused.   Philippines is unique in their laws in many ways, so reading information on a website using a "wide paint brush" is not the best of ideas.

 

Sole custody of an illegitimate child is given to the mother by Family  Code, Article 176.    The embassy is well aware of this law.   The boyfriend has no legal rights of any type regarding the child.

 

"Parental authority over minor children is lodged by Art. 176 on the mother"

 

Here is a court case for example

http://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/2014februarydecisions.php?id=86

 

 

Cool Hank, thank you. Yeah the Philippines is really unique in that regard; that I now know haha! My Fiancee said I was reading too far into it, but what I was reading seemed poorly worded and conflicting. 

 

 

Thank you all for your answers. 

[Hank_ 9,174]

1 minute ago, EliAnon said:

Cool Hank, thank you. Yeah the Philippines is really unique in that regard; that I now know haha! My Fiancee said I was reading too far into it, but what I was reading seemed poorly worded and conflicting. 

 

 

Thank you all for your answers. 

Yes you really need to relax.

 

Remember - Never DO-DO when DO will DO.    

[Greenbaum 12,259]

Here is a situation describing what a mother had to do to get a passport for illegitimate child who took the father's name as her last.

 

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/610543-k2-visa-illegitimate-child-fathers-consent-needed-by-us-consulate/

[Hank_ 9,174]

Yes that can be an issue with DFA as Philippine laws covers this issue of using the father's name, many times DFA can force it to be corrected.

[icanbenobody 187]

if the child is a minor (below 7yr old) the mother has the full custody..when it comes into a court issue specially if the father demand for rights to the child the court will consider the child opinion(7yrs over) they will ask the child to chose which parent he/she want to be..but first the court will consider the ability of each parent to raise the child...i know it seems unfair to the mother that the child can positively chose his/her father if the child is 7yr old and older..in dfa it doesnt matter if the mother is single the father sign at the back of bc only means he recognize the child as his and the child can use his family name...if the mother live in a remote city social welfares usually said to get the father consent before a legal mother can travel abroad with their minor child"its ridiculous"..

 

i was in this situation and do our own thing and follow all instructions of every application and so far our application is doing smooth and we are now in the US..we gonna procced into adopting when we are done with our k1 journey.