Short answer. More than one year, and the absence must be without justifiable cause. The Family Code makes abandonment of the petitioner by the respondent for more than a year a ground for legal separation. Time alone is not enough — the reason for the absence matters as much as its length.
What the law says
(10) Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year.
Family Code, Article 55 — Grounds for Legal Separation. Read the full provision →
Counting the year
The clause requires abandonment for more than one year, so a full twelve months has to have passed and been exceeded. It runs from the point the abandonment began, which is not always the day your spouse walked out — a departure agreed to at the time, or one for work, becomes abandonment when the intention behind it changes. Brief returns complicate the count and are often the point a respondent will press, which is why the dates and the circumstances of each return are worth recording as precisely as you can.
“Without justifiable cause” is the harder half
Length is easy to prove; the reason is not. A spouse who left because of violence at home, or who is working abroad and supporting the family, has not abandoned you within the meaning of the clause, and a court will look at why the household separated. What the provision describes is a spouse who has walked away from the marriage without reason — no support sent, no contact, no intention of returning. That is what the evidence has to show, not merely that you have been living in different places.
Abandonment does not only mean leaving the house
The conduct can exist without a change of address. A spouse who remains under the same roof but has withdrawn entirely from the marriage — no support, no shared life, no communication — may be abandoning you in substance. Conversely, a spouse who left but continues to send money and remains in contact will usually be held not to have abandoned you at all. Courts look at whether the marital relationship was genuinely forsaken rather than at the geography.
Support may not have to wait a year
This matters most to the people who ask this question, because the year is often being counted while a household has no money coming in. The obligation to support a spouse and children does not disappear when a spouse leaves, and claims for support are pursued on their own footing rather than as part of this ground. Ask about that first. Meanwhile keep the record the petition will need: remittance and bank history, messages, and anyone who can say when contact stopped.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Aiko Yokogawa-Tan vs. Jonnell Tan and the Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 254646, October 23, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Maria Vicia Carullo-Padua vs. Joselito Padua, G.R. No. 208258, April 27, 2022 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Arabelle J. Mendoza vs. Republic of the Philippines, et al, G.R. No. 157649, November 12, 2012 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Lucita Estrella Hernandez vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 126010, December 8,1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →