divorce/marriage

[fshunk]

I am looking for help and advice. i have known a woman from the philippines for about 2 years. We have fallen in love and want to be married but there is a BIG problem. We also spent a weekend together in Hong Kong back in February of this year btw.

She is married and seperated but divorce in the Philippines is not possible. She has grounds for an anullment but we understand that could take years and neither of us is young enough to wait, or perhaps we are still too young to wait ;-))

We beleive she can get divorced in the states and then marry here as well and she is seeking a tourist visa. But if that fails we will go any where we can to get her divorce and to get married. The problem is we don't know where in the world we can do that.

If anyone has information on this i'd like to hear from them. You can email me at hook@monkey-bizness.com Thanks

Fred

[Ray]

... in response to divorce/marriage, posted by fshunk on Jun 16, 2001

Fred,

Can I ask which state you live in? Have you talked to an attorney about this?

Most states have a residency requirement or other restrictions to filing for divorce, but it may be possible for her to get an annulment here even if she has never been here.

Ray
Ray_snyder@nospam.com

[fshunk]

... in response to Re: divorce/marriage, posted by Ray on Jun 18, 2001

Thanks Ray,
Your response is the sort of help we were hoping for. The idea of annulment here hadn't really occured to us. I'm in Michigan btw.

I have contacted an attorney, Micheal J. Gurfinkel with offices in Glendale CA and in the Philippines, but I've had no response from his office yet.

for anyone interested, I can't recommend him, I paid him $200.00 for an initial consultation nearly 4 weeks ago and have not heard anything yet. I've called several times and they just keep putting me off.

In addition they required us to complete a 20 page questionare for them and apparently, judging by the questions I'm being asked on the phone, no one has bothered to even read it.

We know there are others who have been through what we are going through and I'm sure they suffered as we are. We are hoping maybe one or more of them will come forward and help us profit from their experience. Thanks again

Fred

[Ray]

... in response to Re: divorce/marriage, posted by fshunk on Jun 18, 2001

Fred,

In California, I believe there is a 6-month residency requirement to file for dissolution but no residency requirements for nullity. You can read some of the legal requirements here:

http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/FamilyLaw/dissolution.htm

I know of a case where a Filipina woman got her Philippine marriage annulled in a California court without ever leaving the Philippines. Neither her nor her husband were California residents. In fact, she had never been out of the country.

Ray

[rgg]

... in response to Re: divorce/marriage, posted by fshunk on Jun 18, 2001

Michael Gurfinkel is a bigtime lawyer here in the PI specializing on US visa approval.  He handles movie stars visa problems and recently was successful in lifting the visa ban on Regine Velasquez, a popular singer, who was charged of human smuggling sometime last year.  Guess, he must have priorities with his clients.

rgg

[outwest77]

... in response to divorce/marriage, posted by fshunk on Jun 16, 2001

I think i have heard it is very diffucult to obtain
a tourist visa , and even if you do, if you marry her
on one of those, its not easy, and the INS is not happy
and they are suspicious.
   As far as getting annulment in the phils i heard
as you know is not easy either.
   To me that is why i think its a nightmare to meet
a separated woman and try to make it work,
   Good Luck, to you