*The legal Wife's

[Amice]

The Legal Wife's lead characters, Adrian and Monica, may have parted ways, but for a number of Filipinos, annulment is still beyond reach.For starters, those who have gone through the process say you have to be prepared to spend at least P200,000 to get it done. Take note, that's just the minimum estimate. The cost could easily go up if the process drags on or if there are other requirements needed to prove that the marriage is indeed not working.

Nullifying a marriage, when it was valid in the beginning, is a long process that could include proving a person's psychological incapacity.
What annulment does
According to the Philippine e-Legal Forum, annulment declares a valid marriage void. This is different from a "declaration of nullity" that says a marriage is void to begin with.
Also, unlike a declaration of nullity, a person must file for an annulment within the period of time mandated by the Family Code. For example, a person must file for an annulment on the basis of fraud "within five years after the discovery of the fraud."
After a couple annuls their marriage, they both have the option to remarry.  
A person may also file for legal separation, but this maintains his or her marriage to the other party; thus, this person cannot remarry. The grounds for legal separation, which include physical violence, are also different from those of annulment.
Grounds for annulment
Based on Article 45 of the Family Code, there are six grounds for annulment:
Lack of parental consent. The person who wants an annulment was over 18 but under 21 and married without parental consent–and that person did not choose to stay with his or her partner after turning 21.
Insanity. Someone from the couple "was of unsound mind" and did not choose to stay with his or her partner after regaining sanity.
Fraud (unless the person chooses to stay after finding out about the fraud). The grounds for fraud are in Article 46 of the Family Code and include a woman not telling her husband at the time of their marriage that she was pregnant by another man, and a person concealing his or her drug addiction or alcoholism.
Force (unless the person chooses to stay after these forceful actions have stopped). The person was frightened in a way that would force him or her to agree to marriage.
Impotence. Someone was "physically incapable of consummating the marriage" and may never be able to do so.
Sexually-transmitted disease (STD). "Either party was afflicted with a sexually-transmissible disease found to be serious and appears to be incurable."

Speeding up the process
Proving these grounds for annulment involve a legal process that is "lengthy, tedious, and financially exhaustive," said Senator Loren Legarda this year.
The senator, who herself had annulled her marriage about 10 years ago, proposed Senate Bill 2225 in May. This bill, if passed, will allow a couple an annulment if they have been separated for five years–as long as they show proof of their separation.
"This amendment [to the Family Code] likewise caters to those who cannot afford legal services by making litigation as simple as possible," said Legarda in the bill's explanatory note.
As of May 19, SB 2225 is pending in the Senate Committee on Women, Family Relations and Gender Equality.
In 2011, Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares filed House Bill 3592 that, if passed, will allow a person to prove the psychological incapacity of his or her spouse with the least amount of time and money as possible.
Colmenares' bill considers a married person psychologically incapable if he or she commits "spousal violence, infidelity and abandonment."
Article 36 of the Family Code, an amendment added in 1987, says a marriage is void if someone in the union was "psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage" at the time of or after its solemnization.
For some, however, divorce may be the better option–if it were only allowed in the Philippines.
Is it time for divorce?
Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emererenciana De Jesus of the Gabriela Women's Party List tried to create this option when they filed House Bill Number 1799 in July 2010.
They wanted to introduce divorce into the Family Code "for couples in failed and irreparable marriages," but most especially for women suffering from domestic abuse.
If the bill is approved, a couple can file for divorce if they have been separated for five years or legally separated for two years with no chance of getting back together.  They may also file for divorce based on psychological incapacity, irreconcilable differences, or if the grounds for legal separation have caused the "irreparable breakdown of the marriage."
As of Jan. 26, 2011, the bill is in the Committee on Revision of Laws, moving from the Committee on Population and Family Relations where it was referred in Aug. 3, 2010.
It has met opposition from institutions such as the Catholic Church, with one priest even saying that the divorce bill was made in retaliation to some Catholics' criticism of the Aquino administration.
And though Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said in 2012 that the divorce will be the next tackled after the Reproductive Health Bill, he also said in 2013 that it is not a priority in Congress.
In July last year, Gabriela said it would file a divorce bill again after their first attempt stayed in the committee level.
Bayan Muna's Colmenares also filed last year House Bill Number 1590 or "An Act Recognizing Spousal Violence, Infidelity and Abandonment as Conclusive Presumption of Psychological Incapacity Constituting a Ground for the Declaration of Nullity of Marriage, Amending Article 36 of the Family Code for That Purpose."
The Philippines is the last country in the world to ban divorce. It had once shared the title with Malta–which allowed divorce in 2011.

Bron : yahoo news

een link naar de trailer van de film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNc4JpAZVeg