Motions
Draft a motion to dismiss — on a ground that still exists.
The 2019 Amendments abolished Rule 16 and left only three grounds on which a motion to dismiss may still be filed. Everything else is now an affirmative defence in the Answer. This is the single most common way a Philippine motion is filed into a prohibition — and it is the one BatasDB is most explicit about refusing to help with.
How to draft this
Four steps from a sentence to a Word file.
- 01
Describe the document in one sentence
Type what you need in plain language — "draft a motion to dismiss" plus the facts you already have. No template to hunt, no blank Word file to start from.
- 02
Generate the first draft
BatasDB matches the request to a motion to dismiss and writes it against the 3 required elements on this page, citing only authority retrieved from the library.
- 03
Fill the marked blanks
Names, dates, amounts and other facts you did not supply come back as marked blanks, counted at the top of the draft. Rewrite freely in the editor.
- 04
Export to Word or PDF
Export with the unfilled blanks highlighted. Editing, exporting and duplicating are free — only generating a new draft uses credits.
Drafted from
Rule 15, Sec. 12(a), Rules of Court, as amended by A.M. No. 19-10-20-SC
This is the retrieval hint BatasDB searches the library with, and the anchor for the checklist below. It is never emitted into your draft as a citation: the draft may cite only what retrieval actually returned, plus any provision you named yourself.
The checklist
What a motion to dismiss has to contain.
These are the elements BatasDB drafts against — injected into the generation itself, not checked afterwards. Where you have not supplied what an element needs, the draft leaves a marked blank instead of writing something plausible.
- 01
Which surviving ground is invoked
One of the three that survive under Rule 15, Sec. 12(a): lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, litis pendentia, or res judicata and prescription. In a case under the 2022 Expedited Rules the list is different and shorter still — only lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter and failure to comply with barangay conciliation (Rule II, Sec. 2(a)).
- 02
The facts establishing it
The facts that establish the ground, with the supporting documents.
- 03
The prayer
A WHEREFORE prayer for dismissal.
Before it drafts
It checks the ground before it drafts anything
Name one of the three surviving grounds and the draft proceeds on that ground only. Name a ground the 2019 Amendments removed and BatasDB does not draft the motion: it explains that the motion is no longer available and redirects you to an Answer raising the ground as an affirmative defence under Rule 8, Sec. 12. In an expedited case the check is stricter — litis pendentia and res judicata or prescription, which would survive in an ordinary civil action, are not available there at all, and the redirect points to an Answer filed within thirty calendar days of summons with the judicial affidavits of your witnesses attached.
Not written by the AI
The formal parts are assembled, not generated.
The scaffolding a motion to dismiss needs is appended by the app from the rule that requires it. The drafting model does not write these and is explicitly told not to, so they cannot drift, be paraphrased, or come out subtly wrong.
- the ordinary civil caption
- the prayer, "RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED", and counsel’s signature block
- copy furnished
What it leaves to you
The gaps are marked, not filled.
Facts you did not supply
Every name, date, amount, docket number and address you did not give comes out as a marked blank — [FACT NEEDED: …] — rather than as a plausible invention. They are counted at the top of the draft and highlighted in the Word and PDF exports.
Assertions it made on its own
A gate reads the drafted text for concrete assertions that trace back to nothing you said and nothing that was retrieved, and rewrites each as [CONFIRM: …] for you to check before you sign.
The judgment
Every draft carries a standing notice: AI-generated draft — review before filing or signing. Not legal advice. It is a first draft for a lawyer, not a filing-ready document.
FAQ
Motion to Dismiss: questions lawyers ask.
- Is a motion to dismiss still allowed in the Philippines?
- Only on three grounds, under Rule 15, Sec. 12(a) as amended by A.M. No. 19-10-20-SC: lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, litis pendentia, and res judicata or prescription. Every other former Rule 16 ground is now pleaded as an affirmative defence in the Answer under Rule 8, Sec. 12.
- What about a case under the 2022 Expedited Rules?
- Shorter still. Rule II, Sec. 2(a) permits a motion to dismiss only on lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter or failure to comply with barangay conciliation. Litis pendentia and res judicata or prescription — which would survive in an ordinary civil action — are not available.
- What happens if I ask BatasDB for a motion on a ground that no longer exists?
- It does not draft it. You get the correction, the reason, and the filing that is actually open to you — an Answer raising the ground as an affirmative defence. A drafting tool that produced the prohibited motion anyway would be handing you a finished-looking document you cannot file.
Start from a draft that already read the rule.
Describe your motion to dismiss in a sentence, fill in what only you know, and export it to Word or PDF.
Uses 5 credits from your monthly allowance — editing and exporting are free. See plans →
Draft this document