a possibility of an estafa case-will it go unpunished?

My husband (arab-Lebanese) had an ex gf who is filipina.since she is filipino, they put everything in her name-land & building title.they became business partners in setting up a 4 storey condo style building in bicol.it cost him 6M Php (100K USD) for just 2 storeys; however the initial bill of statement was for 4M only (this was back in 2007)-she said she made things "appear" smaller so as to pay lesser in the annual tax declaration. He has constantly asking her for papers like the final summary of expenses and all but she always promises to give and never delivers.
It hasn't sold since then-and in it's unfinished state it looks old and worn out already.She lived like a queen-she is living in one of the unit there.The bad thing is that she was also given the 'freedom' to use SOME of the 6M for her living allowances while she was 'supervising' the construction,while they were still in relationship as "salary".my husband feels that she really padded the expenses.if we hire a lawyer, can we demand to see her bank account? also-if she will not provide the detailed summary of expenses-can we file an estafa case agaisnt her? I've been reading a lot on this lately and I've found out estafa cases never go to jail.How true is that?
Also, can we have her evicted from the premises, as that was never in the agreement? It's hard for us to pursue this matter as we are always abroad.

In a more personal light-he also got infected of gonorrhea from her, although she denies it.That STD could have rendered my husband infertile thus ruining the chance of us having kids.Can we sue for that?
Please enlighten us.thanks.

is there any document covering their deal?

it will be difficult to see her bank account. what you can do is to file a civil case for accounting of the business and collection of his share. if you win, then the property or part of it can be awarded to you.

from the facts, i am concerned whether a criminal charge will prosper but it may be possible if it can be clearly shown that she was receiving money for your husband but failed to deliver. it will be difficult if there is no clear contract.

again, you can file a case about the std, but you will have to provide medical evidence that it came from her. even if you were able to prove that she has the disease, it may be argued that he got it from him.

Sir,
They have an agreement contract-that they agreed everything shall be in her name-land titles & all-but the problem is,the bank account they used for wiring money was solely in her name.He still has some (he lost a lot of it during his frequent moves from country to country) of the money sending transactions receipts.Will he need to present those even though it's only partial of the said involved amount? Another thing-in paper they re 50-50 partnership whereas it was never like that-it was more like 80-20 shares, my husband having invested more into it than her.

even if we file for civil case, as we are planning, we fear she might have dummied up some receipts to make it all look lie the real deal-this all happened 3 years back and we're aware it can be meddlesome to prove each and every document she will give is truly authentic.

My worries now is that since everything is in her name, she has the rights to stay in the building for as long as she likes.That was never in their cintract but since technically speaking, it;s all in her name-means she has the right to be there.Will we be able to evict her from it, no matter what?

In the case of the STD-she never got tested for it that time wen it happened when it did, but my husband did.we have proof they were together too, and he wasn't with anyone else.Will that be proof enough and what case can we file against her?

I'm truly sorry if I am asking so many questions but it's really hard on me-specially on the STD account coz he cheated on me-I might have been infected too, and it could have rendered both of us infertile.Since I learned of this, I insisted we have to be tested for ALL things (HIV, Herpes, etc...) and I am overly worried about the pending results because I am 8 weeks pregnant.

Thank you for replying and God bless.

wait, if they were in an affair while he was married and all these transactions happened while you were already married, that changes everything.

you can file civil case against her for (1) annulment of title and to declare the property as conjugal property being that conjugal funds were used (do you have a prenup?) 2) a return of the funds given to her as improper donations being that she is a paramour 3) damages for alienation of your husband' affections

you will need all the documentary evidence you can get that the funds came from your husband. you can also try to show that she has no capability to fund her share of the construction.

Dear Atty.,

To clarify matters, this business was set-up before we were even bf-gf, as she was his gf then.when we got married, i didn't want any part of this mess so i said it's ok for him to continue with her coz she was the one he started the business with.

what i didn't know was during the time we were married, he sent her money again-and again when she was with him in our home.She walked away with money that was supposedly to finishone other unit in it so they cna rent it out-we hired people to take pictures of the building last may 2010 and found out no work has been done-meaning she again misappropriated funds!

As for a prenup, no I don't have one.I never knew I would need it.Besides, we keep our finances separately, as that was what we got used to eversince.As for conjugal properties, we don't have any yet-we are constantly travelling and never had the need for a permanent home yet.It's hard living like a refugee-but one gets used to it.Is it too late for a post-nup?is there even such a thing, and can i still demand for it?

so essentially, for the STD case, I can bring her to court personally?a civil case? that cheating took effect after we got married.can i sue her for adultery? what's the punishment for that, if ever?is it also bailable?

by the way, for estafa cases, are they bailable? how much of an amount is needed to have been defrauded before it's considered large-scale and non-bailable? is there a prison sentence for it?

if we filed a complaint in her own town (baranggay), will that help our formal case or will it be debilitating to our case?

thanks so much for the enlightenment.I hope to get further info so as how to properly go about filing the case.

if you got married without a prenup agreement then all your properties, by law, are all one in an absolute community regardless if you maintain separate bank accounts. post nup is possible only with judicial approval

having sexual relations with a married man, by itself, is not considered a crime. i don't suggest you go there because you have to file the case against your husband also. and if you've had sexual relations with your husband after you found out about them then it will be considered forgiveness on your part.

i do not wish to give advice regarding whether estafa was committed because there is no opportunity to see the whole situation as a whole. again, much depends on what is written on the contract.

nevertheless, if she fails to account for your rightful share of the income of the property then a case for estafa possibly may be established.

while indeed a civil case is only about money and damages, the case will go to trial because there is no prosecutor determining whether there is proper cause to file the case.

bgy is applicable if you live in the same city or municipality. required for civil case; for crim case only for crimes with punishment of 1 yr and above.