Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 6
1 6
1 6
Docdoc
Assignment in Legal Opinion
1. What is an affidavit?
An affidavit is statement of facts which is sworn to (or affirmed) before an
officer who has authority to administer an oath (e.g. a notary public). The person
making the signed statement (affiant) takes an oath that the contents are, to the best
of their knowledge, true. It is also signed by a notary or some other judicial officer
that can administer oaths, affirming that the person signing the affidavit was under
oath when doing so. These documents are valuable to presenting evidence in court
when a witness is unavailable to testify in person. Affidavits may preserve the
testimony of persons who are unable to appear in court due to illness,
incarceration, moving out-of-state, death, etc. Judges frequently accept an affidavit
instead of the testimony of the witness and are used in place of live testimony in
many circumstances (for example, when a motion is filed, a supporting affidavit
may be filed with it).
2. What are the parts of an affidavit? Provide a sample affidavit.
2. My source of income is from outside the Philippines and I do not derive any
income from Philippine sources. As such, I am not required to file an
Individual Income Tax Return (ITR) in the Philippines.
__________________________________________
Affiant (affix signature above printed name)
Doc. No.
Page No.
Book No.
Series of 200__.
Ms. Mel G.
Tindalo Street
Muntinlupa City
Re: The possibility of subsequent marriage to not prosper and plead guilty of
bigamy without annulment in court.
This is the legal opinion you had requested from my office. The facts,
gathered from you and your documents are as follows:
Last year, you met Mr. Jake Cyruz, the man you are planning to marry after you
fell in love with. He was a salesman back then in his uncle’s sewing machines
company then and lives in Dian Street, Makati city. In January, he confessed to you
that he had a relationship with a woman named Esther Salva five years ago. Ester
got pregnant but unfortunately Jake did not marry her. Esther registered their
daughter using his surname Lopez and told him afterwards. Both of you decided to
get married where in fact all the necessary preparations from are ready and
invitations are already out until last month, you received a letter by mail, copies of
a marriage license issued by the Civil Registrar of Imus, Cavite dated September
17, 2017 in favor of Jake and Esther together with a certificate of marriage
showing that they were married at the office of some religious pastor at the back of
Manila City Hall on August 4, 2012. He was shocked when you showed him the
documents and insisted that he never married Esther. Because of your strong belief
in him, you even had a handwriting expert examine the documents with Jake’s
specimen handwritings and signatures where the expert firmly assert that it was
definitely not those of Jake. Jake confronted Esther about it and confessed that in
2012 out of sheer desperation, she got the marriage license from Cavite with
someone’s help and paid for the marriage certificate from an office near the city
hall of Manila. Esther suspects that her father sent the letter. Her father resented
that he would be getting married and he appeared to have said that he would file
charges of bigamy against Jake. Even though those documents are forged but they
are part of the official records of the Manila Civil Registry and the National
Statistics Office (now PSA).
For the second issue, Yes, Mr. Jake Cyruz will be charged of bigamy because
under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code, it states that:
For the third issue, if you wish to pursue your marriage with Mr. Jake Cyruz,
I am afraid it will not be valid without further obtaining the decree of Absolute
Nullity of Marriage in Court. You have the burden of proof to convince the court
that Jake’s marriage to Esther is a product of forgery and that it lacks the necessary
requirement.
Under Article 40 of the Family Code, it states that:
“The absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be invoked
for purposes of remarriage on the basis solely of a final judgment
declaring such previous marriage void.”
“It is now settled that the fact that the first marriage is void
from the beginning is not a defense in a bigamy charge. As with a
voidable marriage, there must be a judicial declaration of the nullity of
a marriage. Article 40 of the Family code states that xxx. The code
commission believes that the parties to a marriage should not be
allowed to assume that their marriage is void, even if such is the fact,
but must first secure a judicial declaration of nullity of their marriage
before they should be allowed to marry again. Xxx.” (Mercado vs.
Tan, G.R. 137110, August 1, 2000, 337 SCRA 122)
As a legal practitioner, I would highly recommend and advise for Mr. Jake
Cyrus to file first a petition for an Absolute Nullity of Marriage before pursuing
with your wedding ceremony. This is to avoid further impediments that may occur
on your relationship if not well recognized.
I hope that I am able to answer your queries. For further discussion, you may
see me at my office at your most convenient time.
Respectfully yours,