Part One
IT costs to say “Good-bye to ‘Forever.’”
That is true for some married couples in the country who are in the process of securing annulment of their marriage or legal separation.
Liza, for instance, was married for almost seven years before she finally decided to leave her husband in 2012 and eventually filed an annulment petition.
“It was because of his psychological incapacity to handle responsibilities of a husband,” she told the BusinessMirror.
“It took me a while to realize it since, as a wife, I tried to understand his shortcomings. But, I guess it was just too grave that I decided I couldn’t take it and hence, I left him,” she narrated.
She added that she filed an annulment after realizing that there was no longer a chance for them to reconcile.
However, she was not able to file the annulment petition right away because the process was so tedious, aside from being costly.
Fees
LAWYER Marjorie de Castro, who is handling several annulment cases, agreed that seeking an annulment of marriage is physically and mentally exhausting. It also takes a long period of time and would eat up a lot of resources of the petitioner, a person who makes a formal application to a court for a writ, judicial action in a lawsuit.
“The first step, of course, is to consult a lawyer if a married person is thinking of having his or her marriage annulled,” de Castro said.
De Castro noted that some lawyers would charge their client per hour, while others would prefer a package. The package includes attorney’s fees, appearance fees and other legal fees.
“It depends on the lawyer or the law firm how much they would charge,” the lawyer said. “Some would charge the petitioner at least P150,000, others would ask for P200,000 to P500,00.”
Psychological assessment
WELL-KNOWN family lawyer Lorna Kapunan said some psychologists would charge as much as P120,000, which include examination and court appearance.
On the other hand, Kapunan said single practitioner lawyers would charge at least P100,000 package fee for annulment, while those with law firms usually charge per hour of appearance.
After consultation, de Castro said she would ask her client to come up with a detailed narration of his or married life and the circumstances that pushed him to seek dissolution of the marriage.
“Nire-require ko ’yung client to submit a detailed narration para madaling ma-determine ’yung mga points that needed clarification,” she said.
Once the detailed narration is submitted, de Castro said she would refer the petition to a psychologist for assessment.
The psychologist would interview the petitioner, as well as the respondent, to establish whether the ground of psychological incapacity exists.
The findings of the psychologist would form part of the evidence of the petitioner.
Court proceedings
ONCE the petition is filed before the court, the respondent will be given 15 days from service of summons to answer, based on Supreme Court AM 02-11-10 or the “Rule on Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages.”
If the respondent fails to file an answer, the court shall not declare him or her in default.
The court then will order the public prosecutor to investigate whether collusion exists between the parties.
Within one month, the public prosecutor is required to submit a report to the court stating whether the parties are in collusion.
If the public prosecutor finds that collusion exists, the court will set the report for hearing and, if convinced that the parties are in collusion, the petition will be dismissed.
However, if the public prosecutor reports that no collusion exists, the court shall set the case for pre-trial.
The court may require a social worker to conduct a case study and submit the corresponding report at least three days before the pretrial.
Pretrial
AT the pretrial, the court would determine whether the parties are willing to enter into agreements, their respective claims disputed factual and legal issues, as well as all the evidence to be presented, including the expert opinion, if any.
At the pretrial, the court may also refer the issues to a mediator who shall assist the parties in reaching an agreement on matters not prohibited by law.
The mediator is mandated to come up with report within one month from referral.
Afterwhich, a trial may ensue if no agreement is reached by the parties.
De Castro said the entire process of annulling a marriage may go beyond one year depending on many factors, such as the availability of the judge, parties, the counsels and other unforeseen events.
New chapter
LIZA described her annulment process as “very tedious”.
“From going back to how everything has started, to writing and reliving each moment, is both an emotional and mental challenge to go through,” she told the BusinessMirror. “It was not easy to go back and think about the past and the good and bad memories I’ve once shared with my ex-husband. Also, it was not easy sharing your intimate and private moments with other people, especially as you go through the process of talking with psychiatrist and during the court hearing.”
Liza said she considered the process as one of the toughest challenges she has so far faced.
To be continued