Can spouses who are still together jointly ask a court to dissolve their property regime?

Voluntary dissolution is a real option

Article 136 allows the spouses to jointly file a verified petition with the court for the voluntary dissolution of the absolute community or the conjugal partnership of gains, and for the separation of their common properties. Nothing in it requires a breakdown of the marriage. Couples use it for ordinary reasons — one spouse going into a business with real exposure, an inheritance that ought to be ring-fenced, a wish to hold property separately for planning purposes — and they remain married throughout. What ends is the property regime, not the marriage. It is the one route the Code offers a couple who agree.

Why the court has to be involved at all

Because the people who did not sign the petition have the most to lose. A couple who could dissolve their regime privately could move assets out of a creditor's reach on the afternoon before a demand letter. So the article requires that all creditors of the absolute community or of the conjugal partnership of gains, as well as the personal creditors of the spouse, shall be listed in the petition and notified of the filing thereof, and that the court shall take measures to protect the creditors and other persons with pecuniary interest. The supervision is the price of the remedy.

What the list of creditors must contain

Note that the article reaches two classes: creditors of the community or partnership, and the personal creditors of a spouse. Both go in the petition. That means unpaid suppliers and personal loans as much as the mortgage on the house, and it means a spouse cannot keep his own debts out of a joint filing. Leaving a creditor off does not defeat the creditor; it undermines the petition, because the whole procedure is built on the premise that everyone with a claim has been told and given the chance to be heard, so gather the schedule before drafting.

What a joint petition needs from both of you

Prepare the two documents the court will work from: an inventory separating community or partnership property from each spouse's exclusive property, with acquisition dates and the source of the purchase money, and a complete schedule of debts with the creditors' names and addresses. The petition is verified, so both of you are attesting to its contents. And be clear about what you are asking for — dissolution changes how you hold property from that point forward; it does not undo transactions already made or release either of you from what the regime already owes.

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.

• David A. Noveras vs. Leticia T. Noveras AM. No. P-06-2227 August 19, 2014 Office of the Court Administrator vs. Atty. Mario N. Melchor, Former Clerk of Court VI, RTC, Br. 16, Naval, Biliran (now Presiding Judge, MCTC, Calubian-San Isidro, Leyte), G.R. No. 188289, August 20, 2014 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• V. Maquilan vs. D. Maquilan, G.R. No. 155409, June 8, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Family Code, Article 136 — Voluntary Dissolution on Joint Petition