We are delighted to report that our new updated website has been operating for just two months and already the number of people finding us through various search engines has exceeded 300.

Quite clearly there is a lot of interest about Divorce in the Philippines and the amount of emails we receive suggests that the service we can provide is also in great demand. Google has a system which we subscribe to which identifies exactly where in the world emails are sent from.  We receive large numbers of contacts from within the Philippines and also from Australia, UK, UAE, France, Japan, Germany, Holland and other countries around the world

We purposely require people seeking further information about our divorce service to respond using our “contact us” page and all that requires them to do is provide a few brief details about themselves.  From those details we can assess quickly if they are genuine or simply bored or malicious surfers looking to waste some other person’s time.  There are a lot web abusers and timewasters playing games and causing extra work to genuine web site operators and we get our share of them. However, we also have filters in place to weed out malicious emails and emails that are unacceptable.

We ask those who respond to the 1st stage questionnaire to fill out the 2nd stage data page which gives us most of the information we need to assess their situation and determine if we can facilitate a divorce for them and to develop a Petition to the Court.  We email back to the client if there are questions that require further information.

There are many Filipinas who have been abandoned by their husbands and who have met foreigners who want to retire to the Philippines and settle down with their beautiful Filipina. These Filipinas cannot legally marry as they already have a record of their marriage in the National Statistics Office (NSO) and that creates a problem.

There are definite advantages to a foreigner in being married to a Filipina as they can apply for a 13A visa which allows them to remain in the country as a resident.  Many foreigners reside here on a tourist visa which must be renewed every 2 months and that alone is often a frustrating time attending the Bureau of Immigration to fill out the forms and make photo copies of their documents and then have to pay the outrageous fees they demand.  But with a residents 13A visa it only requires the holder to report once each year and pay a 310 peso ($8) reporting fee.

We are often asked on what grounds can we Petition for Divorce given that most people believe that there is no Divorce in the Philippines.  Many Attorneys will also claim that there is no divorce in the Philippines.   There are numerous grounds on which to file for divorce but we utilise a particular aspect of a specific law that guarantees a successful outcome for the Petitioner, provided they meet our criteria.

Although husbands seldom file counter-claims, two did attempt to mount a robust Petition for Reconsideration and both used prominent Attorneys to represent them. They both lost the appeals which cost them more than the whole divorce process cost our clients!

Our motto is always “do it once and do it right”, there are no shortcuts, just a carefully refined process we have developed over the years.  If, having examined your documents and case history, we offer to act on your behalf – we guarantee that a divorce in the Philippines IS perfectly achievable (and legal).

Since we launched our new web site www.divorceinthephilippines.com we have been receiving an average of five new inquiries each week.

Many people do not believe or understand that divorce IS possible in the Philippines and that it is also completely legal!  Divorce is definitely possible and legal providing that some basic conditions have been met.

Just this week we completed two divorces and sent the NSO annotated papers to our clients.

We currently have three Petitions either before the Court or in the final processing stages.  A further four potential clients have been sent further information as part of our follow up procedure.

Of course not every inquiry results in a client because some applicants decide not to follow our method.  That is perfectly acceptable to us but they often come back simply because they have discovered that the alternative to a divorce is an annulment in the Philippines which can be expensive and also take a long time to complete.  They also discover (assuming they have an honest attorney) that some annulments are not granted and in those cases the client will lose their money.  An appeal is just another cost and probably another financial loss.  Few appeals for denied annulments are granted.

Despite our web site stating that divorce is possible, and testimonials from people we have already served, we still get emails from people who want to argue in highly personal and abusive terms that divorce is not possible in the Philippines. They then proceed to quote (or rather mis-quote) myths and rumours including sections of various legal statutes in order to justify their lack of ability to comprehend the Law.  Sometimes the dialogue branches out into a philosophical debate related to the morals and other implications of divorce.

If we do not respond to the personal email attacks it might appear as an admission of guilt and that we have something to hide.  On the other hand if we do respond it simply encourages the people to write more and more believing they will uncover some hidden secret.

The facts are that there are no hidden secrets and every aspect of our work is honest and above all else – legal.

Could any intelligent person really believe that we have managed to fool the Courts of this country and provide convincing evidence that would  justify them declaring a marriage terminated?  I think not!

If anyone has had the experience of opening a business, buying land or obtain a title to property through the numerous Philippine Govt departments they must immediately realise that it is next to impossible to achieve a positive legal result and reach their objective unless each step has been meticulously examined and legitimised in every detail.

Foreigners here on a tourist visa meet these bureaucratic obstacles whenever they need to attend the Bureau of Immigration for a visa extension.  Sometimes it is quick and at other times it can take several hours.

The people that have tried to claim and show evidence that divorce is impossible have encouraged me to write this brief note to add to our web pages for all to read. As we say in our web site introduction, “it costs nothing to ask our opinion”. However if you just want some philosophical debate, please express your opinions (as opposed to the facts) elsewhere?