Subject: LAW RELATED STUDIES
Text:
Here in the Philippines, those who seek to end their marriage have few options for leaving or dissolving their failed relationships. One of those few options is through legal separation, which forbids remarriage but permits spouses to live apart and divide their assets. Another is through annulment, which declares the marriage null and void as if the union was never legally valid. While the latter seems favourable, it is a rather expensive and lengthy process with an anticipated overall cost between Php 200,000 and Php 800,000 — provided that it goes unopposed — and takes months to several years before promulgation.
Based on the Family Code, the grounds for annulment are lack of parental consent, insanity/psychological incapacity; fraud, force, intimidation, or undue influence; impotence; and sexually transmissible diseases. In most cases of marriage, the reasons aforementioned are rather insufficient. Infidelity or extramarital sexual relations, physical-emotional violence, abuse, marital rape, alcoholism, and abandonment, for example, are not included in the grounds for a marriage to be declared null. A petitioner seeking to leave a marriage for those reasons must prove that their spouse is suffering from psychological incapacity; hence, obtaining a legal separation is the best option for which an individual can hope.
For this reason, I believe it is time for the Philippines to push for the legalization of divorce to help those individuals who have long been in problematic/dysfunctional marriages. I believe that spouses should have the option to end their marriage without having to go through a drawn-out, torturous, and expensive court process like an annulment. While many others — especially the dominant Christian community — would insist on saving the marriage for the sake of family and their children, saving the lives of individuals who have been long in turmoil and abusive partners should be taken into consideration also. Hence, let us not discourage those Filipinos who want to dissolve their dysfunctional unions and deprive children of a better, loving, healthy home. By adopting divorce in the Family Code, a spouse who wants to end their failed union will have legal recourse through a simplified and inexpensive process.
How about you? What is your opinion on annulment?
Comments