Pretending it Never Happened

Divorce in the Philippines would not be an argument without its older smaller brother, Annulment. What differentiates annulment from divorce? What advantages or disadvantages does it sport? What makes it work?

An annulment is the process of cutting marital ties by pretending that it never really happened. Annulment declares that a marriage was never really legally valid. Annulment works on erasing the cause, as a form of dealing with the problem. As compared to Divorce, that states that the marriage did not work. Divorce is a much more troubleshooting approach, discussing and dealing with everything that comes with marital conflict and separation. Unlike divorce, which is a legal binding process, Annulment isn’t recorded.

There is a choice between a Religious Annulment, which is done by the Church, or a Legal Annulment done by the court. An advantage to this is not having harmed any religious standing and belief. You can get married at a Church, and have them void it for you. It is virtually accepted by the Catholic Church, thus being more compatible to the Philippines. (At least, that’s what we all think)

Annulments usually happen much earlier than divorces, usually in a few months or a few years after marriage. But they don’t necessarily have a certain timeframe.

Having annulments take less time than Divorces, since it only deals with erasing the marriage from legal records. They require less time paid off lawyers. The way I see it, is that annulment is a lot less messy. But does quickness mean efficiency? Or practicality?

Annulments have their advantages, and they seem like a better, simpler solution as compared to divorces. But let us also consider the disadvantages of just “pretending it never happened”.

Pretending it never happened gets a lot more difficult when there are factors, which in fact steer to the direction that it really did happen. Such as joint acquisitions of properties such as land, cars, houses, clothes, dogs, you name it. Annulment doesn’t directly address this, since “this” never happened right? So Annulment’s best asset also becomes its biggest offset. There isn’t much the government can do in mediating the division of these things, on who or what goes where. It’s a lot less work, and a lot less work done? So does quickness and simplicity necessarily mean efficiency? As far as I remember, I may be wrong, but don’t you have to file separate cases for custody and property? I mean really?

Annulment provides little protection over the individuals involved. What happens to battered wives? What happens to the uncompensated damages of Adultery? What happens to the kids? Who gets them? Annulment just ensures that nothing ever really happened, but it did, and sometimes there are lots of things that come with it. And that is completely fine, for some cases, cases that have “less”.

The question is, can Annulment suffice for everything that the Philippines needs. Is Annulment enough? Or do we need something more?