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Divorce is the legal process of dissolving a marital union or marriage. The dissolution of marriages involves the reorganizing or canceling of all legal responsibilities and duties of the marital union, thus terminating the bond of wedlock. The divorce law varies, but in most nations, this process requires the authorization of the court in the legal process. A divorce hearing might include various issues like child support, alimony, child custody, and distribution of properties among others. All the countries on earth allow its citizens to divorce under numerous conditions except Vatican City and the Philippines.

Countries Where Divorce is Illegal

The Philippines

The Philippines is the only United Nation member state where divorce is illegal. The Philippines has no legal provision for divorce, and the only people who are allowed to get divorced in the Philippines are Muslims. Muslims can only get divorced under certain conditions as per their religion. The Filipino law is binding even to its citizens living abroad. If Filipino citizens who are legally married get divorced while abroad, the divorce is never recognized in the Philippines. The only time a divorce is lawfully acknowledged in the Philippines is when a non-Filipino divorces a Filipino spouse while abroad. The Filipino can remarry, even if the non-Filipino spouse gets foreign citizenship after they get divorced.

The non-Muslims can only annul their marriage, but the annulment process is quite expensive and costly in the Philippines. The annulment process can take up to 10 years, and the couple will have to undergo numerous mental health tests. Divorce is still illegal in the Philippines, but a divorce bill passed its third stage on March 20, 2018. However for divorce to be legalized in the Philippines, the bill must pass in the Senate and also be signed by the President.

Vatican City

The Vatican is an enclaved independent-city state that was established in 1929 by the Luteran Treaty. It is an ecclesiastical city that is ruled by the pope; therefore all Catholic doctrines and laws apply in the Vatican. Catholics have a strong belief in the sanctity of marriage, and they believe that it’s a permanent union. The Vatican has no legal provision for divorce – instead, couples can only annul their marriage.

Grounds For Divorce

The grounds for divorce are the set of laws that specify the conditions under which a couple can be allowed to divorce in any given country. Some states in the United States only accept fault divorce while others accept both no-fault and fault grounds for divorce. No-fault divorces are granted after a long separation period or because of an irreconcilable difference, depending on the state.