Daily Serving of Legal Matters

image grabbed from www.rappler.com In the previous posts, the differences between Adultery and Concubinage were discussed. In this post, what will be tackled is how to prosecute the aforementioned crimes.  One shall observe and must follow it, otherwise, his or her case will be doomed. taken from  knowledgeisking.ning.com As stated in Article 344 of the The Revised Penal Code , the prosecution of the crimes of adultery and concubinage shall be: 1.  The crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon complaint filed by the offended spouse. It is clear that only the offended spouse can file the complaint of the crimes of adultery and concubinage.  In the case of adultery, the complaint shall be filed by the offended husband and by the offended wife in the case of concubinage. No other person shall file the complaint.  Not even the parents of the spouses nor the children of the parties. 2.  The offended party canno...

This a repost from the website of abs-cbnNEWS.com.  Said article was originally posted on 04/21/2010 4:17 PM | Updated as of 04/22/2010 4:44 PM. MANILA, Philippines - "Life is short, have an affair." That is the slogan of  AshleyMadison.com , an online dating service that provides a platform for those who wish to cheat on their partners. The Toronto-based website, which takes its name from the 2 most popular female names in 2001, claims to have some 5.7 million members worldwide. It seems to be attracting more males than females, though -- Ashley Madison said about 70% of their members are men. Just like most social networking sites, members of Ashley Madison can send and receive messages, gifts and photos, among others. They need "credits," which are purchased by real money, to initiate contact. A 30-minute chat session, for instance, costs 30 credits while a teddy bear web gift is worth 20 credits. "To purchase credits and upgrade your account so you can star...

This image is taken from google.com. Before providing any legal advice, below is the situation where this post is basically anchored upon. Mr. and Mrs. T are lawfully married.  One day, Mr. T, without any valid reason, left their conjugal dwelling.  Mrs. T, a loving and understanding wife, searched every nook and corner to find her husband.  After 2 years of searching, Mrs. T found out that Mr. T and their best friend Lady L have lived as husband and wife in a remote barangay of the south. When Mrs. T discovered the relationship of her husband and Lady L, she got furious and almost killed the two.  Despite such discovery, Mrs. T did not file any criminal case against Mr. T and Lady L. One year after, Mr. L went back to their conjugal dwelling and sought the forgiveness of Mrs. T.  As loving as she was, Mrs. T forgave Mr. T and they lived again under the same roof.  However, after how many months, their relationship was tested again. A...

A photo of the TV series The Legal Wife taken from google.com Since the local channel started airing the series The Legal Wife, a lot of viewers  have been glued to watch every episode of this series.  In fact the social media, like Facebook and Twitter, would be flooded with posts and comments written and interacted by its loyal viewers. In the said series, Monica, who is the legal wife of Adrian, caught her husband having an extra-marital affair with her best friend Nicole.  Based on the story, what would be the legal options for Monica if she would like to  fight in court? Option 1: Monica may file a criminal case of CONCUBINAGE.  This criminal case of concubinage shall be filed against both Adrian and Nicole.  Nicole is to be indicted with this crime also because she has full knowledge that Adrian is a married man before she had sexual intercourse with him. As what is stated in the Revised Penal Code: "Any husband who shall k...

Considering that we have no DIVORCE in our country, we could not file any petition to that effect.  However, the Family Code of the Philippines provides instances on which the spouses may file an action in court when it comes to matters affecting their marriages. Specifically, the same Family Code discusses the grounds on which the contracting parties may invoke either for Declaration of Nullity or Annulment of Marriage or for Legal Separation as the case may be. In my previous posts, what were discussed are the grounds for declaration of nullity and the annulment of marriage. In this post, what would be discussed is the differences between legal separation and the declaration of nullity or annulment of marriage. 1.  In Legal Separation, the bond of marriage is not severed.  The spouses remain married to each other, however, they may be separated from bed and board.  While it permits the partial suspension of marital relations, the marriage bond sti...

These are crimes of infidelity.  Both crimes are committed when the parties are lawfully married, meaning they have celebrated their marriage under the Philippine laws.  Thus, if the parties are not married, regardless of multiple partners the other party may have, or regardless of how infidel the other party may be in the eyes of the other party, the aggrieved party cannot file adultery or concubinage as the case may be.