By: Hannah L. Torregoza
Sen. Nancy Binay has filed Senate Bill No. 1547 that would make it easier for separated or abandoned women to revert back to their maiden names.
Binay said under the proposed Reversion to Maiden Name Act, women need not go to the courts but to the local registry where their marital records are kept and file a verified petition for reversion.
“In accordance with the Constitution, this measure removes the difficult, costly, and unnecessary court processes that women have to endure in order to revert to their maiden name,” Binay said in the bill’s explanatory note.
Under the bill, the petition for reversion may be allowed in the event a marriage has been judicially declared null and void or after its annulment; a judicial declaration of legal separation, provided, that there has been no manifestation or reconciliation filed with the court; and a judicial declaration of separation of property.
The proposal also allows women to revert back to their maiden names if there has been no subsequent decree reviving the old property regime between the spouses.
