Bill seeks 360-day deadline for resolution of annulment cases

A lawmaker is pushing for a measure requiring the country’s family and appellate courts to resolve all marital annulments, dissolutions of marriages, and other cases involving Family Law within 360 working days.

Quirino Rep. Midy Cua’s House Bill No. 10715, or the proposed Family Law Reform Act of 2024, has been referred to the House of Representatives Committee on Population and Family Relations for scrutiny.

According to Cua, while Executive Order No 209, or the Family Code of the Philippines, provides different remedies that could be granted by family courts, “In practice, annulment and other Family Law issues and cases undergo lengthy court or administrative processes.”

In particular annulment and dissolution of marriage proceedings, including the appeal, usually took years to be resolved.

She pointed out that HB 10715 would set a timeline of up to 360 working days for the conduct of hearings and the resolution of Family Court cases and their appeal.

The draft measure asserts as a state policy to ensure the “equitable, efficient and effective delivery of public services, including the operations, maintenance, processes of administrative, civil, and criminal actions and proceedings affecting the civil registry of the local government units and the Philippine Statistics Authority, especially those involving annulment, dissolution of marriage, legal separation, marriage, birth registration, adoption, foundling registration, and death registration.”

Deadline for appeals

HB 10715 mandates the Family Court and appellate courts to ensure the resolution and continuous trial of every case brought before them.

It provides that at “the level of the Family Court, a deadline of 180 working days is hereby set for hearings and judgment of each case. On appeal, a deadline of another 180 working days is hereby set for hearings and judgment of each case.”

The proposed measure would task the Supreme Court, upon the recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator, to craft the implementing guidelines.

Under Republic Act 8369, or the Family Courts Act of 1997, a Family Court has jurisdiction over criminal cases involving minors; petitions for guardianship, custody, and adoption of children; complaints for annulment of marriage, declaration of nullity of marriage and those relating to marital status and property relations of spouses or those living together; as well as petitions for dissolution of conjugal partnership of gains as well as for support or acknowledgment; summary judicial proceedings under EO 209.

Family courts also take cognizance of petitions for the declaration of a child as abandoned, dependent, or neglected and for a child’s voluntary or involuntary commitment; the suspension, termination, or restoration of parental authority; petitions for the constitution of the family home; and cases of domestic violence against women and children.