Getting Married in Phils

[Djinva 4]

Here is my unique situation.

 

I am a US citizen and I was married in the Philippines.  We divorced in the US.  My ex is currently ready to file the paperwork in the Philippines for a recognition of foreign divorce which takes 1.5 years according to her lawyer in Phils.   I currently am very interested in marrying another Filipina.  I understand that I only need a notarized legal capacity to marry certificate when I apply there.  My exs lawyer in the Philippines said that I would be OK to get married since I am a US citizen even without having the recognition of foreign divorce.  That the recognition of foreign divorce only applies to Filipino Citizens. Just wondering if anyone out there has heard of similar cases or can provide advice.  My fear is we go through the entire process and the PSA voids the marriage. 

Thank You in Advance

[W199 333]

Your lawyer's advice sounds correct. The recognition of the US divorce decree for you is automatically recognized everywhere in the world, so you are free to marry.

 

I wonder what would happen if you got divorced with your 2nd Filipino wife before the recognition of the foreign divorce decree by your 1st Filipino ex.  Then the Filipino court would have 2 foreign divorce decree's to recognize with the same husband.  I suppose the court could just annul the 2nd one if they had a problem with that.

 

In anycase, I am sure you are going to have many replies here that will recommend you simply do the Utah zoom wedding. Then you will avoid the whole issue while your ex is getting the divorce recognized.

 

I suggest getting a 2nd and 3rd opinion with lawyers in the Philippines, or even call the Philippine embassy to see if that would have an issue with issuing a ROM to you.

[powerpuff 6,697]

Topic moved from K3 Progress Reports forum to Regional discussion: Philippines as the question is specific to PH laws.

[top_secret 2,417]

On 9/24/2023 at 4:22 PM, Djinva said:

Here is my unique situation.

 

I am a US citizen and I was married in the Philippines.  We divorced in the US.  My ex is currently ready to file the paperwork in the Philippines for a recognition of foreign divorce which takes 1.5 years according to her lawyer in Phils.   I currently am very interested in marrying another Filipina.  I understand that I only need a notarized legal capacity to marry certificate when I apply there.  My exs lawyer in the Philippines said that I would be OK to get married since I am a US citizen even without having the recognition of foreign divorce.  That the recognition of foreign divorce only applies to Filipino Citizens. Just wondering if anyone out there has heard of similar cases or can provide advice.  My fear is we go through the entire process and the PSA voids the marriage. 

Thank You in Advance

 

I would be hesitant to remarry in the Philippines until after recognition of the foreign divorce was completed and 1.5 years could be an overly optimistic time prediction on that.  Your ex's lawyer in the Philippines may be legally correct but the question is what happens when PSA goes to register the marriage but discovers the name already show up as married?  If the primary goal is to be married and for her to immigrate to the US, I would think a Utah online marriage would be a safer bet. 

 

 

On 9/24/2023 at 5:27 PM, W199 said:

In anycase, I am sure you are going to have many replies here that will recommend you simply do the Utah zoom wedding. Then you will avoid the whole issue while your ex is getting the divorce recognized.

 

I suggest getting a 2nd and 3rd opinion with lawyers in the Philippines, or even call the Philippine embassy to see if that would have an issue with issuing a ROM to you.

 

😁  My thought would be that filing the ROM would present more or less exactly the same risk with PSA registering it.  I'm sure the Philippine consulate would accept the ROM no problem and it may very well not be no problem for PSA to register it either.  But, if there was a problem, they would still be left with a marriage that is 100% valid for US Immigration purposes and the ROM issue could wait for the recognition of foreign divorce to complete or otherwise working it out with PSA.  So it seems the lower risk option if the primary goal is to be married and for her to immigrate to the US.

[RO_AH 1,659]

I agree that the Utah wedding is the best choice. Wait for the recognition of divorce to go through before doing ROM. The only issue you may possibly run into is the CFO. If they ask for CENOMAR you will receive CEMAR as long as the divorce recognition has not gone through yet. However they may still accept your divorce decree as proof of marriage 1 ending.