فليبين مرشدة

Legal separation is an action taken by one spouse who believes that the marriage has no more hope of working. There is no divorce in the Philippines, and so, to get out of an unhappy or failing marriage, legal separation is the only recourse.

A husband or a wife may file a petition for legal separation based on one or several of the reasons listed in the Family Code.   The first of these refers to repeated physical violence or abusive conduct. The receiver of such violence may be the petitioner, or the common child, or the child of the petitioner.

Another reason for filing a legal separation is moral pressure of physical violence to force the petitioner to change his religion or political affiliation. Another serious reason is when the respondent (the spouse of the petitioner) tries to induce or force their child (or the petitioner’s child) to be involved in prostitution.

A husband or wife may also file for legal separation if his or her spouse has been sentenced to imprisonment of more than six years.  Another reason for legal separation is when the respondents attempts to kill the petitioner, or is involved in drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, lesbianism or homosexuality, sexual infidelity or sexual perversion.  Still another reason is when the respondent has abandoned the petitioner, without justifiable cause, for more than a year.  Along with desertion, bigamy is also another good reason for filing legal separation.  This is when the respondent marries another while still married to the petitioner.

There are also grounds that will make a petition for legal separation is denied. First among these is when the petitioner (also called aggrieved party) has condoned to the offense that was being complained of. This means that when a woman marries a man, who already confessed his homosexuality before their marriage, the woman’s petition for legal separation on the grounds of homosexuality will be denied. Another reason is when the petitioner has consented to the offense of the respondent.

To exaggerate, a drug pusher’s petition for legal separation against his or her spouse who is a drug addict will be denied.  The court will also deny a petition if both parties wanted the legal separation. This will be taken as connivance between the parties.
Another thing to remember is that the petition for legal separation must be filed within five years of the occurrence of the complaint.

It is ridiculous to file a legal separation petition on the grounds of physical violence that happened ten years ago. Some would think that the process for this legal action is slow. Well, it may be slow. But Article 58 of the Family Code specifically stated that no action for a legal separation will be taken before six months have passed since the petition was filed. In the meantime, the court will attempt to reconcile the spouses.

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