PH courts can recognize divorce obtained abroad — SC

Divorces obtained abroad do not need to be decreed by foreign courts in order to be recognized in the Philippines, the Supreme Court (SC) announced on Friday.

In a statement, the SC said that courts in the country can recognize divorces obtained abroad, whether done through an administrative or legal process or by mutual agreement.

“The Court held that the type of divorce, whether administrative or judicial, did not matter. As long as the divorce is valid under the foreign spouse's national law, it will be recognized in the Philippines for the Filipino spouse,” the SC Public Information Office said.

The high court made the ruling as it decided on the case of a Filipina who married a Japanese citizen in Quezon City in 2004.

The couple later moved to Japan, where they obtained a “divorce decree by mutual agreement.”

According to the SC, the Filipina later filed a petition for the judicial recognition of the foreign divorce and for the declaration of her capacity to remarry before a regional trial court (RTC).

The RTC granted the petition, but the ruling was contested by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

The OSG argued that only foreign divorce decrees issued by a court can be recognized in the Philippines. 

For its part, the SC cited the Family Code, which states that Filipinos previously married to foreigners can seek judicial recognition of their divorce.

According to the Filipina, the national law of Japan recognizes divorce by agreement or judicial action.

As a result of this, the SC remanded the case back to the RTC to allow the Filipina to produce evidence as she failed to submit an authenticated copy of the relevant Japanese law on divorce. —RF, GMA Integrated News