Divorce bill, providing a remedy for women in abusive marriages

A blogger said money talks when one is seeking annulment. The blogger whose marriage is now annulled said that they shelled out P100,000 ($2,325) to pay the judge, solicitor general and initial investigator, as well as everybody involved in the case since her annulment case is not moving after one year. After paying P100,000, the case was concluded in a month’s time. Total cost of her annulment was P175, 000 ($4,069).

Thus, the GWP guarantees that if the law is passed, divorce will be cheaper than annulment.

Main features of HB 1799

In HB 1799, there are five grounds to grant a divorce;

1) When the petitioner who has been separated de facto from his/her spouse for at least 5 years and reconciliation is highly improbable;

2) When the petitioner has been legally separated from his/her spouse for at least 2 years and reconciliation is improbable;

3) When any of the grounds for legal separation under paragraph (a) of Article 55 of the Family Code has caused the irreparable breakdown of the marriage;

4) When one or both spouses are psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations; and

5) When the spouses suffer from irreconcilable differences that have caused irreparable breakdown of the marriage.

HB 1799 also has provisions to guard against possible abuses of the law. These safeguards are the same as the safeguards stipulated in the provisions for legal separation, which can be found in Articles 56, 58 to 61.

Divorce proceedings would likewise be heard by courts, like annulment cases. But GWP believes that the process would be shortened as there would be no need to prove that the grounds for the divorce had been pre-existing.

It also provides for equity between the spouses in divorce. The bill provides that the assets shall be equally divided between the spouses in order to provide for the well-being of each spouse and the children. It dissolves, in effect, the absolute community or conjugal partnership of gains since this property regime is inconsistent with divorce.

HB 1799 also leaves it to the courts to decide on the custody of minor children in accordance with their best interest and with provisions for their support.

“In proper cases, the aggrieved party can claim damages in accordance with the Civil Code provisions on damages. It also provides that the parties shall be disqualified from inheriting from each other by intestate succession and that any donation made by the innocent spouse in favor of the offending spouse may be revoked.”

A divorce obtained in foreign jurisdiction shall be considered valid in this country as long as the divorce is grounded on the circumstances enumerated in Article 55 (B).