TRYING TO PROVE A BIGAMOUS MARRIAGE HOWEVER JUST FOUND OUT HUSBAND IS DEAD SINCE 2008

Good day,

Was hoping you can give an advise on our case.


My mom is trying to clear her marriage record. She got married before and is trying to prove that her marriage is null and void as it was a bigamous marriage. The guy was already married before he and my mom got married.

In process na however we are having a hard time locating the "husband". The sheriff who brought the summons letter to "husband's" house claimed that he doesn't live there anymore which left us hanging. Our next option was to publish in the newspaper (publishing summons if I got that right). The publishing company was already able to publish once and the next also the last was scheduled to be published soon but we had it held up 'coz we just found out that the "husband" we were looking for was already dead. Dead since 2008.

Now our dilemma is..now that the "husband" is dead, would it be better to let the court know that he is dead? Would that somehow shorten the process (also saving us a bit of money since we wont have to complete the publishing)? Or per our attorney's advise, if the court finds out that the "husband" is already dead then the court would just move to have the file dropped not caring about my mom being able to clear her name since the "husband" is already dead? Is that true? It is important that my mom proves that her previous marriage is null and void and we want that in the records.

Please advise as we don't know how to move forward.


Looking forward to your response.
Thank you.

imho, since the court cannot charge anyone since the husband is already dead, it will just be a waste of time and resources to pursue the case.

can you clarify why is it so important to prove that your mom was not initially married?

What case did your mother file anyway? A petition for declaration of nullity?

She filed for declaration of nullity of a bigamous marriage.
She wants her Cenomar annotated, the Japanese immigration keeps on pulling up her Cenomar and her previous marriage is always being questioned.


Please advise.

You can still continue with the Petition. The fact that the husband who had a first marriage is dead is immaterial. The bigamous nature of the marriage can still be proven, and it is important to your mother's status (and the status of her children under that marriage, and the status of their properties). So I don't see any problem here that the husband died.

But then again your mother's lawyer might now something else you haven't revealed here.

Thank you for the advise. The lawyer just said, the court would most likely drop the case if they find out and advises that we continue with the publishing and all that and best not let the court know husband is dead.
Will speak with the lawyer and ask again if we can continue whilst declaring husband is dead and without having to complete the publishing summons.

You should still continue with the publication by summons.