Dewagacor99
The Absolute Divorce Bill got the final nod of the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
The lower chamber approved House Bill 9349 on third and final reading, with 126 yes votes, 109 no votes, and 20 abstentions.
Under the measure, the grounds for absolute divorce include the same grounds for legal separation and annulment.
The divorce process is expected to be faster and cheaper, unlike annulment.
Grounds for divorce include physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner or a child of the petitioner, drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, or chronic gambling, homosexuality, marital infidelity, and abandonment without justifiable cause for more than one year.
House OKs Divorce Bill on second reading
Other grounds include irreconcilable differences, other forms of domestic abuse, and when one of the spouses undergoes sex reassignment surgery or transition from one sex to another.
The Family Court shall waive the payment of filing fees and other costs of litigation for court-assisted petitioners, and shall appoint a counsel de oficio for them. In petitions with no court-assisted petitioner, the bill provides that attorneyโs fees, inclusive of acceptance, appearance and success fees, shall not exceed P50,000 for the entire proceedings. But petitioner and counsel can mutually agree on a higher rate of attorneyโs fees.
