Short answer. Partly. Article 108 of the Family Code says the conjugal partnership is governed by the rules on the contract of partnership in everything not expressly settled by the Family Code chapter on conjugal partnership, or by your own marriage settlement. So ordinary partnership law fills the gaps; it does not replace the Family Code's specific rules.
What the law says
The conjugal partnership shall be governed by the rules on the contract of partnership in all that is not in conflict with what is expressly determined in this Chapter or by the spouses in their marriage settlements.
Family Code, Article 108 — CPG Governed by Partnership Rules. Read the full provision →
A suppletory reference, not a full substitution
Article 108 provides that the conjugal partnership shall be governed by the rules on the contract of partnership in all that is not in conflict with what is expressly determined in this Chapter or by the spouses in their marriage settlements. The Civil Code rules on ordinary business partnerships apply, but only where the Family Code chapter on conjugal partnership and your own marriage settlement have not already spoken. Where they have, those specific rules control.
Why the law borrows from partnership rules at all
A conjugal partnership shares a basic structure with an ordinary partnership: two parties contribute and share in gains generated during the arrangement. That structural resemblance is why the Family Code points to partnership law to fill gaps, rather than writing an entirely separate and self-contained body of rules to cover every situation two spouses under this property regime might encounter over a marriage.
The limits of the comparison
Marriage is not itself a business partnership, and the Family Code's own provisions — on what property enters the conjugal partnership, how it is managed, and what it answers for — take priority whenever they address a point directly. A marriage settlement the spouses signed can also fix terms that displace the general partnership rules for the same matter. Article 108 supplies a fallback, not a wholesale importation of commercial partnership law into marriage.
Why this distinction matters practically
Whether a specific question about your conjugal partnership is answered by the Family Code's own conjugal-partnership rules, by your marriage settlement, or by the general law on partnerships depends on exactly which gap you have run into. Because the layering can be technical, especially when money is at stake, bring the specific facts to a lawyer rather than assuming either body of rules applies by default.
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.
- Roger V. Navarro vs. Hon. Jose L. Escobido, Presiding Judge, RTC, Branch 37, Cagayan de Oro City, and Karen T. Go, doing business under the name Kargo Enterprises, G.R. No. 153788, November 27, 2009 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Arcadio and Maria Luisa Carandang vs. Heirs of Quirino A. De Guzman, et al, G.R. No. 160347, November 29, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →