Judicial Recognition of Judgement Issued by Foreign Courts
A Judgment/Decree/Order (such as a divorce decree or adoption order) issued by UK/Irish Courts needs to be recognized by Philippine courts for it to be enforceable in the Philippines and by Philippine agencies.
The judicial recognition will proceed as follows:
- Foreign court order duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consulate (please check separate section on the authentication of foreign-issued documents for use in the Philippines) shall be submitted to a Regional Trial Court (RTC) in the Philippines, which shall issue a decision on the matter
- The RTC confirmation/decision shall be registered with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Local Civil Registry officer of the city/municipality where the RTC has jurisdiction
- The PSA shall cause the annotation of the appropriate civil registry document affected by the court order (such as the Marriage Certificate/Report of Marriage of a Filipino divorced by the foreign spouse or the Birth Certificate of a Filipino adopted by a foreign national)
- The applicant applies for an authenticated and security paper copy of the annotated Marriage Certificate of the previous marriage or Birth Certificate of the adopted child from the PSA.