Understanding Marital Status Changes: Legal Separation, Annulment, and Divorce

When a marriage encounters irreconcilable differences, couples may consider changing their marital status. The terms "legal separation," "annulment," and "divorce" often come up, but they are not interchangeable. Each represents a different legal process with distinct implications for the couple's relationship and obligations. Let's explore these differences.

Legal Separation

Legal separation allows a married couple to live apart without ending the marriage legally. It's a court-approved arrangement where the couple remains legally married but may live separate lives. The grounds for legal separation can include physical abuse, drug addiction, infidelity, and other severe issues that render cohabitation impossible.

Key Points:

•  The marriage bond is not dissolved.

•  Couples cannot remarry.

•  Children born during the separation are considered legitimate.

Annulment

An annulment is a legal decree that a marriage is null and void, essentially declaring that the marriage never legally existed. This can be granted on several grounds, such as psychological incapacity, fraud, coercion, or impotence that existed at the time of the marriage and persists.

Key Points:

•  The marriage is considered void from the beginning.

•  Parties may return to single status and can remarry.

•  Division of property, child custody, and alimony may be involved.

Divorce

Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court. It acknowledges that a valid marriage existed but has been irretrievably broken. However, in the Philippines, divorce is generally not permitted, with an exception for Filipino Muslim citizens under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws.

Key Points:

•  The marriage is legally ended.

•  Parties can remarry.

•  Division of marital assets and child custody arrangements are settled.

Philippine Absolute Divorce Bill

The Philippine House of Representatives recently passed the Absolute Divorce Bill (House Bill No. 9349) on its third and final reading. This bill aims to reinstitute absolute divorce as an alternative mode for the dissolution of marriage, providing a legal option for couples in irreparably broken marriages.

The bill received 131 affirmative votes, 109 negative votes, and 20 abstentions. It now awaits approval from the Senate before it can be sent to the President for final approval or veto.

If passed, the bill will allow divorce on grounds such as physical violence, moral pressure, and attempts to corrupt or induce the petitioner or their children into prostitution.

Key Provisions:

1. Grounds for Divorce: The bill outlines several grounds for divorce, including physical violence, moral pressure, attempts to induce the petitioner or their children into prostitution, and irreconcilable differences.

2. Legal Process: It establishes a legal process for filing and obtaining a divorce, including mandatory counseling and a cooling-off period.

3. Support and Custody: Provisions for spousal support, child custody, and property division are included to ensure fair treatment of both parties.

4. Protection Orders: The bill allows for the issuance of protection orders to safeguard individuals from domestic violence during the divorce process.

Conclusion

Understanding the nuances between legal separation, annulment, and divorce is crucial for couples considering changes in their marital status. Each option carries different legal and personal implications that can significantly impact one's life. It's advisable to consult with legal counsel to navigate these complex processes and make informed decisions.

Legal Separation, Annulment and Divorce..

 

     Approval for RH Bill is not yet done and here comes the fuss on the Divorce Bill. After the Malta referendum on legalizing divorce, the Philippines is the only country without a divorce law. Following the referendum on Malta, the Philippine House Committee on the revision of laws announced it would begin a discussion on legalizing divorce in our country. Of course, the Catholic Church will vehemently oppose such a bill as in the case of the RH Bill. The Divorce Bill is a very complicated matter and maybe a referendum will echo the real voice of the people.

     When I was teaching Ethics, under the topic of marriage our lessons were only limited to legal separation and divorce. I had asked some students then to research annulment and how it differs between the two.

Legal Separation gives the spouses the right to live separately from each other, dissolves the conjugal partnership, awards the minor children to the innocent spouse, and disqualifies the offending spouse from inheriting from the estate of the innocent spouse.

Grounds for Legal Separation:

1 – Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner.

2 – Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious or political affiliation.

3 – Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such corruption or inducement.

4 – Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned.

5 – Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent.

6 – Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent.

7 – Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines or abroad.

8 – Sexual infidelity or perversion.

9 – Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner.

10- Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year.

Divorce is a dissolution of marriage that seeks a judicial ruling to dissolve a valid marriage.

Grounds for divorce are almost the same as in legal separation and vary from one country to another. Legal Separation, however, cannot remarry unlike in Divorce.

Annulment refers to a marriage that is considered valid but there are grounds to nullify the marriage. However, a Declaration of Nullity of Marriage refers to a marriage that is void or invalid from the very beginning as if no marriage ever existed.

Grounds for Annulment:

1. Absence of Parental Consent. A marriage was solemnized and one or the other party was eighteen (18) years of age or over but below twenty-one (21) and consent was not given by the parents, guardian, or person having substitute parental authority. The Petition of Annulment must be filed within five (5) years of having attained the age of twenty-one. However, if the parties freely cohabited with each other as husband and wife after having reached the age of twenty-one (21) a Petition of Annulment can no longer be filed.

2. Mental Illness. One of either party was of unsound mind at the moment of the marriage. But if the parties freely cohabited with each other after he or she came to a reason the law prohibits the filing of a Petition.

3. Fraud. That the consent of either party was obtained by fraud unless such party once having knowledge of the fraud freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife. The petition must be filed within five (5) of finding out the facts of the fraud.

4. That the consent of either party was obtained by force, intimidation, or undue influence. Except when the same has ceased and the party filing the petition freely cohabited with the other as husband and wife. The injured party must file within five (5) years from the point in time the force, intimidation or undue influence disappeared or came to an end.

5. One of the other parties was physically incapable of consummating the marriage, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable. The filing of the Petition of Annulment must be filed within five (5) years after the marriage.

6. Either party was at the time of marriage afflicted with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) found to be serious and seems to be incurable. This may also constitute fraud. The filing of the Petition of Annulment must be filed within five (5) years after the marriage.

SEPARATION: being separated from your spouse with or without communication is not grounds for annulment. It does not matter how many years you are separated. No law annuls or voids a marriage automatically. Only a judge in a court of law can annul, void, or nullify a marriage.

INFIDELITY: is not grounds for annulment.

Grounds for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage:

A – Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the consent of parents or guardians; (lack of legal capacity to marry).

B – Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to perform marriages unless such marriages were contracted with either or both parties believing in good faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to do so;

C – Those solemnized without a license except if otherwise covered by other laws.

D – Those bigamous or polygamous marriages except those covered by the laws of presumption of death of the absent spouse.

E -Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other;

F –   A remarriage shall be null and void if the partition and distribution of the proprieties of the spouses, the children's presumptive legitimacy, and the judgment of absolute nullity of the marriage are not recorded in the necessary civil registry and registries of property.

G – Any psychological incapacity at the time of the marriage celebration, which prevents either the husband or wife from fulfilling the essential marital obligations of marriage, shall also be void even if such incapacity becomes manifest only after the solemnization.

(Psychological incapacity is not automatically lunacy but it does mean that one or both spouses have abnormal interpersonal behavior or a psychological characteristic that inhibits the spouse to fulfill the essential obligations of marriage.)

H – Marriages between ascendants and descendants of any degree; between brothers and sisters whether full- or half-blood are incestuous and void from the beginning.