Short answer. Yes, partly. Family Code Article 208 lets a creditor levy or execute against support you receive under a contract or a will, but only the amount beyond what the law treats as legal support — that baseline portion stays shielded from your creditors, whoever they are.
What the law says
In case of contractual support or that given by will, the excess in amount beyond that required for legal support shall be subject to levy on attachment or execution.
Family Code, Article 208 — Contractual and Testamentary Support. Read the full provision →
What Article 208 actually exposes
Article 208 draws a line between two kinds of support: what a contract or a will promises you, and what the law itself requires. It says that in case of contractual support or that given by will, the excess in amount beyond that required for legal support shall be subject to levy on attachment or execution. So if your creditor takes you to court, the sums you receive under a support contract or a legacy of support are not automatically off-limits the way ordinary family support can be. Only the excess above the legal-support amount is exposed; the article itself does not touch anything at or below that baseline.
Why the source of the support matters
The article's title, Contractual and Testamentary Support, signals that it is aimed specifically at support that exists because someone chose to promise it — in a contract or in a will — rather than support that arises automatically between family members under the law. That distinction is why the excess can be levied at all: it is treated as an asset you own, not as a protected family obligation. Article 208 does not itself state what counts as the legal-support amount below which levy is barred; that figure is fixed elsewhere in family law, so this article only tells you how the line, once drawn, gets enforced against you.
The amount itself is not fixed forever
The same article adds that contractual support shall be subject to adjustment whenever modification is necessary due to changes of circumstances manifestly beyond the contemplation of the parties. In practice that means the figure your creditor could reach is not static: if the paying party's or your own circumstances change in a way nobody foresaw when the support arrangement was made, the amount can be revisited. A support obligation set years ago, before a job loss or a medical crisis, is not locked at its original number simply because a creditor is now looking at it.
What to check before you assume the worst
If a creditor is pursuing support you receive, the first question is what the arrangement actually pays you against what legal support in your situation would be — only the gap between the two is at risk under Article 208. Pull the contract or the will provision itself, since its exact wording sets the amount being compared. If your circumstances have shifted significantly since the support was fixed, that is a separate ground to have the amount reviewed. A lawyer who can see both the support instrument and the creditor's claim is best placed to say how much of it is genuinely exposed.
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.
- XXX vs. the Court of Appeals, People of the Philippines, and AAA, G.R. No. 261459, May 20, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →