De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde RECONSE LF1W

Divorce and Annulment

Group 3 Brubio, Fervie Jay Navera, Ian Duke Ocampo, Juan Antonio Puzon, Mary Chriszelle

March 21, 2012

Table of Contents

I.

The Case-Issue ........................................................................................................ 3

II. Documentation of the Case ...................................................................................... 3 III. The Body ............................................................................................................... 4

A. Nature.................................................................................................................... 4 B. Grounds................................................................................................................. 5 C. History ................................................................................................................... 6 D. Argument ............................................................................................................... 7 E. Studies .................................................................................................................. 9 IV. Official Catholic Church Teaching/s ...................................................................... 11

V. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 12 A. Response to the Teaching/s of the Church ......................................................... 12 B. Moral Judgement ................................................................................................. 12 C. Synthesis: Reflection, insights ............................................................................. 13 VI. List of References ............................................................................................... 14

I.

The Case-Issue

The first case that we would like people to read is this, One year after my marriage, I met someone else while I was an intern in Cavite. The whole experience was difficult. All I knew was that Cavite was a special place where all the people were beautiful and interesting, and so I thought this was it for our relationship. First of all, my marital relationship was shaky. I mean, at first, we had this basic love and passion. But as in all we were in that stage where we were hurting each other, and then feeling guilt for having been so hurtful. My girlfriend was aware that I was married and had a son, but we were so intensely in love that she did not mind my state. The second case is this, Married life was tumultuous, like one big nightmare. Incidents that I recall were times when Kevin, my husband, was drunk and would be displeased about the way I served his dinner in the bedroom. He would also wake up each of our children and beat them black and blue till their eyes would bulge from the physical abuse. In one incident, my children and I hid from my husband for fear of being

attacked. We stayed out until one oclock in the morning, not knowing if we would ever be safe again. This was the last time we escaped because we never returned to our conjugal home, in spite of the fact that I own the lot where the house was built.

II.

Documentation of the Case

The documentation of the cases that we used can be found in the book, Marriages Made on Earth. The first quotation was an excerpt from the protocol of Jose who is a male petitioner with a narcissistic personality. The second quotation was a story on physical abuse of Noras husband.

III.

The Body A. Nature

The bond of marital relationship weakens as there is any unhealthy act or misconduct by the either spouses that might be in terms of poor communication, lack of commitments, children support, money, affair, adultery and so on. And thus the relationship can be practically smoothen and aromatized by uprooting its evils. Otherwise a meaningful disassociation could be a productive termination to such unpleasant marital relationship. There are two ways a marital relationship can be ended lawfully and thats through divorce and annulment. Divorce is the legal termination of a marriage. The tax benefits of the personal exemption claimed for a child are phased out as income increases. Thus only the lower income parent benefits from the personal exemption deduction. No gain or loss is recognized on a transfer of property incident to a divorce. Such transfers are treated as gifts, with the transferee taking the transferors adjusted basis in the property. Annulment is a legal invalidation of a marriage. It announces the invalidity of a marriage that was void from its inception. It is to be distinguished from dissolution or divorce. To justify, annulment, the marriage contact must have a defect. Continued absence of one party may also justify annulment. Generally, annulment is easier if the marriage is unconsummated. Both secular law and Christina canon law have annulment procedures. Difference between a divorce and annulment: A divorce, which can only take place where there has been a valid marriage, means that the two parties are no longer husband and wife once the decree is issued. An

annulment means that the individuals were never united in a marriage as husband and wife. Various religious have different methods for obtaining a church divorce, or annulment, but these procedures have no legal force or effect upon a marriage that complied with the requirements of law. Such a marriage must be legally annulled. No fault divorce is available if the parties have lived separate and apart for two years, or for six months by agreement, and irreconcilable differences cause the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. B. Grounds

THE GROUNDS FOR AN ANNULMENT: -Consanguinity: The parties are first cousins or closer. - Bigamy - Age: One party was under the age of legal consent. - Mental incapacity: Due to intoxicating, narcotic substances or mental illness, one party was incapable of comprehending the nature and consequence of the ceremony. - Fraud: Fraudulent representations and concealment of specific facts by one party that go to the essence of the marriage. - Physical incapacity: Sexual incapacity of one party that was unknown by the other party. Fraudulent misrepresentation by the incapacitated party is unnecessary. - Duress: Factors such as age, mental attitude, physical power and alleged applications by the force must be considered in determining whether one party was forced or coerced by the other party into marriage. THE GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE -Impotency.

- Bigamy. - Adultery. - Desertion for one year. - Habitual drunkenness or drug addiction for two years. - An attempt to take the life of the other. - Physical or mental cruelty. - Conviction of a felony or other infamous crime. - Infecting the other with a sexually transmitted disease. C. History

Divorce is not recognized under Philippine laws. If youre a Filipino, it doesnt matter where you get a divorce: such divorce is invalid/void in the Philippines. This is because under the nationality principle (Art. 15, Civil Code), all Filipinos where they may be in the world are bound by Philippine laws on family rights and duties, status, condition, and legal capacity. Nevertheless, divorce decrees secured outside the Philippines are recognized in certain instances. This is provided in Article 26 (Paragraph 2) of the Family Code. Marriage is supposed to be forever. From an idealistic non-legal standpoint, the sole reason for marriage should be love; the kind of love that transcends time and withstands any impediments that life throws our way. From a legal perspective, the Philippine Constitution (Art. XV, Sec. 2) and the Family Code (Art. 1) expressly characterized marriage as the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution. The law states that it is a special contract of a permanent union between a man and a woman. It is inviolable. It is permanent. In short, you dont think of divorce when you get married.

History of Article 26, Family Code: 6 July 1987: President Corazon Aquino signed Executive Order No. 209, otherwise known as the Family Code. The law, which took effect on 3 August 1988, reads: All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35, 37, and 38. 17 July 1987: Executive Order No. 227 was signed into law, amending Article 26 of the Family Code, among others. Article 26 now reads: ART. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35(1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38. Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. D. Argument

Divorce vs. Annulment We all know that divorce and annulment are related to dissolution of marriage. Then what is the difference between annulment and divorce? Once the married couple has decided to separate, they can either initiate an annulment proceeding or a divorce proceeding. (There are two types of annulment proceedings, one is the civil annulment, which is conducted by the state and the other is the religious annulment, which is

conducted by the church. The annulment, explained in this article is strictly civil annulment, as religious annulment is different for each religious authority.) A basic idea about the various aspects of both legal proceedings can help in choosing the right one, which is best suited for your circumstances (some married couples opt for legal separation, without divorce, wherein the court decides on every other aspect, like, division of property, alimony, child support, custody and visitation). Coming to annulment vs. divorce, the basic difference between the two lies in the fact that the former is a legal proceeding to obtain a decree that the marriage was invalid from the very beginning, whereas a divorce proceeding is initiated to end a valid marriage. In short, in a divorce, the court relies on the fact that there is a valid marriage, but through a divorce decree, stops the valid marriage from continuing. In case of annulment, the court assumes that whatever happened was not a legal marriage and there is no need of termination of marriage. All that is required is to declare the union of the couple as invalid. As far as the legal procedures are concerned, annulment proceedings are considered to be less messy, as compared to divorce proceedings, which can be lengthy too. Most of the annulment proceedings do not take into consideration, other factors, like, alimony, division of property, child custody, etc., whereas in a divorce proceeding, usually, the court rules on most of these factors. Even though, the rules of annulment and divorce vary from one state to another, the basics are more or less the same. As an annulment results in declaring a marriage invalid from the beginning itself, there is no question of maintenance or alimony, which is granted in divorce. When it comes to distribution of property, the court tries to restore the original financial state of the parties (before the

marriage), but in a divorce proceeding, the court tries to divide marital property equitably. In divorce, child support and custody are matters, which are taken into consideration, whereas this is not the case in annulment, with exception to some states. It has been observed that annulment proceeding is also treated like a divorce proceeding and all factors are taken into consideration, in case of very long-standing relation between the parties. In general, it has been seen that marriages of short duration are qualified for annulment, while long-standing marriages qualify for divorce proceeding. While grounds for divorce include cruelty, adultery, desertion, physical inability to consummate marriage, infidelity, abandonment, bigamy, etc., the grounds for annulment include misrepresentation or fraud, concealment, inability to consummate the marriage, misunderstanding, etc. Any of the parties can initiate an annulment or a divorce proceeding. But, it is always better to consult an attorney or divorce lawyer, regarding dissolution of marriage. The lawyer will be in a better position to give you guidance regarding the selection of an appropriate procedure, which is best suited for you. E. Studies

Divorce costs employers $8K each, communities 30K, couples 19K studies A divorce hurts the couple and the community financially. The couple will have about a $19,000 loss and the community another $30,000 per divorce. According to Dr. John Curtis, author of "Happily Un-Married," an average employee making $20 per hour would cost the company more than $8,000. One survey, "The effect of marital dissolution on the labor supply of males and females," for the Journal of SocioEconomics (Mueller, 2005) found that employees lost an average of more than 168

hours of work time, equivalent to being fully absent for four weeks in one calendar year. Military divorce rate keeps climbing; USAF worst, responds with Marriage Care The divorce rate among airmen today is almost 64 percent higher than in 2001, and is the highest in the military, according to a recent Defense Department report. A decade ago, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the rate stood at 2.5 divorces per 100 marriages. In 2011, the number jumped to 3.9. The rate has climbed steadily in the past decade except in 2005 and in 2008, when it dropped ever so slightly, according to Air Force statistics obtained by Air Force Times. The divorce rate military-wide is the highest its been since 1999; 30,000 marriages ended in divorce by the end of fiscal 2011. Of those, 7,534 were in the Air Force. Most of them 6,743 were enlisted airmen, for a divorce rate of 4.6 percent. Divorce hurts health more at earlier ages Divorce at a younger age hurts peoples health more than divorce later in life, according to a new study by Michigan State University sociologist Hui Liu in the research journal Social Science & Medicine. Its clear to me that we need more social and family support divorce counseling to help people handle the stress, or offering marital therapy or prevention programs to maintain marital satisfaction. Liu analyzed the self-reported health of 1,282 participants in Americans Changing Lives, a long-term national survey. She measured the gap in health status between those who remained married during the 15-year study period and those who

transitioned from marriage to divorce, at certain ages and among different birth cohorts, or generations. Liu found the gap was wider at younger ages.

IV.

Official Catholic Church Teaching/s

Among Catholics, one of the most sensitive and often-avoided topics is the stinging reality of divorce and its consequences. While there must be a pastoral response to assist those parties who seek counselling when their failed marriage ends in divorce, one must never compromise the truth of Christs teachings for the sake of the pastoral response. The words and teachings of Jesus Christ on divorce are clear, and it is the responsibility of the Church and its pastors to safeguard, proclaim, and defend them. Let us, therefore, turn our attention to the words of Christ Himself recorded in the Gospel of Matthew: And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? He answered, Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. They said to him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away? He said to them, for your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman, commits adultery. Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the spouses freely consented, to live with each other until death. Sacramental

marriage is the sign of the covenant of salvation, to which divorce does incredible injury. Contracting a new union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery. Furthermore, the Catechism states that divorce is immoral because it introduces disorder into the family and into society. This disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse, to children traumatized by the separation of their parents and often torn between them, and because of its contagious effect which makes it truly a plague on society nowadays.

V.

Conclusion A. Response to the Teaching/s of the Church

In our perspective, we are in favour with the teachings of the Church to not allow the Divorce because it has so many disadvantages. their financial needs, and many more. As Catholics, people should have a better understanding with the things that they want to do. All people were given freedom, which should always be used in the best right way that we can. B. Moral Judgement It can affect the life of the children,

In our research, we can say that divorce is morally bad. As it was said a while ago, there are many disadvantages if this will be continued. But there are also some consequences if some places will not implement this. Well, we think that it really depends on the situation. But as much as possible, divorce should not be done so that

families will not be broken. We can say that everything can be settled if there would be a talk and if promises that were made will be fulfilled. As for the Annulment, we can say that it is morally right because there is something wrong at the first place and the marriage should not be continued. C. Synthesis: Reflection, insights

Divorce has become very common--ordinary, in fact. We all know people who have divorced, some of us are divorced, members of our family divorce, and our children hang out with kids whose parents have divorced. Newlyweds divorce and aged adults divorce. With so much of it going around, one would think that it must be easy or at the very least, not that bad. Not True. Divorce is hard. Divorce is still a major crisis in the life of an individual and the life of a family. Consequently, it is a decision to be made thoughtfully, carefully, and compassionately. According to some people marriage is everlasting in it is an unbreakable bond but why do we have divorce and annulment? We have them because if you dont want to be with the person or the person abuses you for his/her liking then that is the solution to your answer so that you can be free from your torture. Therefore for me Annulment and Divorce for me is to escape from the bad things that the husband or wife has done and also if they do not love each other so that is there last resolution. It is not wise to continue your husband and wife if you dont love each other, it would just be a fake and not reality. We cannot survive without love and i believe that because if you love someone then he/she will be your inspiration to do the most impossible things or maybe do the impossible and also it gives us purpose to live.

VI.

List of References

Published Books: Shehan, Constance. Marriages and Families. USA: Pearson Education, Inc. 2003. Dayan, Natividad, et. al. Marriages Made on Earth. Manila, Philippines: De La Salle University Press, Inc. 2001. Young, James. Ministering to the Divorced Catholic. New York, USA: Paulist Press. 1979.

Online: http://familyinequality.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/divorce-divorce-studies/ http://familylaw.typepad.com/stats/ http://jlp-law.com/blog/divorce-annulment-philippines/ http://www.archden.org/tribunal/documents/divorce.htm http://www.buzzle.com/articles/annulment-vs-divorce.html