Marriage formalities

Hi and welcome on Expat.com Jonathan

A new thread has been created on the Philippines forum for better visibility. I hope other members will give you useful advices soon.

Regards
Armand

Jona3300 wrote:

Hello all, I have a unique problem that I would like advise on. I was married to my wife in April 2010 in IloIlo, upon my return to the U.S.A I learn that my divorce from a previous marriage did not officially finalize until 2 weeks after my marriage in the Philippines. My lawyer here in the US tells me that I need to remarry in the Philippines so that my current marriage will be valid. My question is this, should we remarry in the Philippines and since we are the same 2 persons,is it necessary to get an annullment for the first marriage? How long would it take? Can we just remarry and carry on with our lives without getting an anullment? If I get the marriage anulled here in the US would that be accepted in the Philippines?
Thanks
Jonathan

Sorry to hear about your predicament. I wish you could be more detailed about the date of your marriage.

Before you got married, I presumed that you went to US embassy in Manila to sign a waiver that you are not married and that US Embassy issued you a "Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage". That legal paperpwork you signed could land you a felony case of bigamy if you re-married prior to your previous marriage was finalized.

On the other hand, with applicable Philippine laws, your marriage is not legal if either spouses has not submitted the marriage certificate signed by both of you. The Agency that can save you this legal mess is NSO (National Statistics Office).

Also, most Americans who are intending to get married in PH must stay 2 weeks prior to contracting a marriage. For example, if you landed April 01, acquired legal capacity from US embassy dated Apr 05, the date of actual marriage is Apr 07, your legal marriage date must be April 20, not April 07.

The person who conducted your marriage must know this legal dates of marriage, otherwise your marriage may still be null and void.

Please note that I am no person to advise you any legal opinion.

a) If your marriage contract is already registered at NSO, it may not have to be annulled but you can request an attorney to make the marriage

null and void, if in fact, your marriage was already registered with the NSO ( National Statistics Office).

You can do this by checking at NSO certified copies of your marriage contract. NSO will provide you copies of marriage contract if its has been registered.

b) If your marriage is NOT yet registered, then you can do the whole legal paperwork process of getting married and re-marry again.

Date of marriage is crucial to when you were allowed to re-marry.

I hope the above helps.......

To specifically answer your question:

should we remarry in the Philippines and since we are the same 2 persons,is it necessary to get an annullment for the first marriage?

Your US Attorneys were wrong about advising of going to re-marry. The original date of marriage would still appear.

How long would it take?

Depends but the date of your final divorce should suffice that your marriage is null and void. It should not take long..

Can we just remarry and carry on with our lives without getting an anullment?

It doesn't work that way. Also if you plan to petition your wife to move to the US then the USCIS are actually checking these facts and could jeopardize your petition approval.

USCIS may prosecute you for fraud and bigamy.

USCIS checks the date of when your divorced was finalized and when you remarried again. It has nothing to do with Philippine laws here but US laws are so strict about following the rules of contracting a marriage.


If I get the marriage anulled here in the US would that be accepted in the Philippines?

You are playing with fire. Firstly, before you even petition for annulment, you must submit a copy of your marriage certificate (which in turn it must be registered in the country where your marriage took place).

The Prosecutors Office in the US will see that it is indeed void marriage but that does not illicit the fact that you committed fraud and bigamy. Therefore the legal people may jump into prosecuting your case as the person who committed wrong here is you. Once the court decide about the bigamy case, it is only then that your marriage would be annulled.

Annulment is a tough case to win in the US. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place. There must be a reason why it is being annulled. But without proving fraud and bigamy, your case will not be annuled.

Going this route can be more complicated than what you may think.

In addition, if indeed annulment is granted in US courts it will still have to go through the Philippine courts for annulment.

My first response above is a better route. So you may check that your marriage is already registered at NSO offices or not.

HI IN PHILIPINPINES YOU MARRIED BY CONSELOR OR BY AMBASSY

Hi defre,

Please avoid using your caps lock on the forum. Thank you very much.

hi. i am about to get married here in new york. she has been here since 2006 with single papers. she went back to the phils and married her bf. the thing is, he failed to authenticate it at the national statistics office (census). does this mean that the marriage is null and void? or does she have to apply for cenomar (certificate of no marriage) so we could marry here in new york? thank you!

hi. i am about to get married here in new york. she has been here since 2006 with single papers. she went back to the phils and married her bf. the thing is, he failed to authenticate it at the national statistics office (census). does this mean that the marriage is null and void? or does she have to apply for cenomar (certificate of no marriage) so we could marry here in new york? thank you!
if there is no records of her married certificate to the NSO or {national statics office} then easy to her to get a cenomar {certificate of no married found at her name}

if there is no married certificate found in her name at NSO or {national statistic office} verry easy to her to get cenomar {certificate of no marrieds found at her name}

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Flying Fox wrote:

if there is no married certificate found in her name at NSO or {national statistic office} verry easy to her to get cenomar {certificate of no marrieds found at her name}

I would tread very carefully here....all because the husband didn't authenticate the marriage with the NSO (it costs money) doesn't mean he can't at a later date....especially when the husband finds out his wife is about to commit bigamy with a 'rich' westerner....i can hear that song now..'.we're in the money, we're in the money'

Best appoint an appropriate attorney.

Hello All!

I would like to kindly ask about a certain case in our marriage certificate.

My husband is also a Filipino, but he is now a permanent resident of Canada. We got married (church wedding) last Dec. 28, 2013 here in the Philippines. However, the date of marriage stated in our NSO Marriage Certificate  (local civil registrar and NSO copy) is dated January 8, 2014 instead of the actual date of marriage (which is Dec. 28, 2013).

The explanation of the local civil registrar to us was this:
The local civil registrar requires at least 10 days (after our personal appearance - because my husband just got home in the Philippines by Dec. 25, 2014 and our personal appearance to local civil registrar was Dec. 26, 2013) before the issuance of marriage license.  So the date of issuance of marriage license is dated January 6, 2013.

My question is: Is it ok or will I not be having a problem about this in the future like for example if I will be petitioned by my husband to Canada or other issues?

Thank you very much!

liz.garcia wrote:

Hello All!

I would like to kindly ask about a certain case in our marriage certificate.

My husband is also a Filipino, but he is now a permanent resident of Canada. We got married (church wedding) last Dec. 28, 2013 here in the Philippines. However, the date of marriage stated in our NSO Marriage Certificate  (local civil registrar and NSO copy) is dated January 8, 2014 instead of the actual date of marriage (which is Dec. 28, 2013).

The explanation of the local civil registrar to us was this:
The local civil registrar requires at least 10 days (after our personal appearance - because my husband just got home in the Philippines by Dec. 25, 2014 and our personal appearance to local civil registrar was Dec. 26, 2013) before the issuance of marriage license.  So the date of issuance of marriage license is dated January 6, 2013.

My question is: Is it ok or will I not be having a problem about this in the future like for example if I will be petitioned by my husband to Canada or other issues?

Thank you very much!

you need not to worry about this. if indeed there was a mistake, it was just a clerical error which can be corrected summarily via administrative proceedings. rest back and enjoy your stay in canada