Decedent is a Divorcee Filipino

Someone asked me, "I have a friend who... 

was a Filipino citizen married to Anna, his longtime girlfriend, also a Filipino citizen, in the Philippines. Later on, they moved to Spain where after two years they separated and were able to obtain a divorce because Anna was already a Spanish Citizen and resident. They had no child. 

After this, he married another Filipina in Spain and bore two children with her, then he decided to come home. Anna remained in Spain. When he returned to the Philippines on vacation, he succumbed to a heart attack and passed away. In the process of his new wife and children claiming their inheritance, his former wife, Anna, objected because she has a better right to the estate. Is she correct? I


My answer is Anna is no longer entitled to inherit from the estate.

While divorce is generally not recognized in the Philippines, the exception is provided by Republic v. Orbecido, where divorce granted to former Filipino, now naturalized as alien, will be recognized in the Philippines if it capacitates the former Filipino to remarry.

In this case, Anna was already a Spanish citizen when divorced was applied and granted. She is no longer the surviving spouse contemplated by law.

The second marriage would however not be valid because pursuant also to Republic v. Orbecido, the Filipino should have secured first a recognition of his foreign divorce before he can remarry.

The estate of the friend would then all go to his children in the absence of parent or spouse.

/BB