Short answer. Yes. Article 154 of the Family Code lists the beneficiaries of a family home and expressly includes parents and ascendants who are living in the home and who depend on the head of the family for legal support. Your dependent parents and grandparents who live with you qualify.
What the law says
Their parents, ascendants, descendants, brothers and sisters, whether the relationship be legitimate or illegitimate, who are living in the family home and who depend upon the head of the family for legal support.
Family Code, Article 154 — Beneficiaries of the Family Home. Read the full provision →
Who counts as a beneficiary
Article 154 identifies two groups. The first is the husband and wife, or an unmarried person who is the head of the family. The second is their parents, ascendants, descendants, brothers and sisters — regardless of whether those relationships are legitimate or illegitimate — provided they are both living in the family home and dependent on the head of the family for legal support. Your parents and grandparents fall under "parents" and "ascendants" respectively. Both conditions — residence and dependence — must be present.
What 'dependence for legal support' means
Legal support under Philippine law is the obligation to provide sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical attendance, education, and transportation for those entitled to it. The family home exemption applies to ascendants who rely on the head of the family for this support — not merely relatives who happen to share the house while earning their own income. If your parents live with you and you shoulder their daily expenses and medical needs because they are no longer earning, they are dependents in the statutory sense. A grandparent in the same position qualifies as well.
What the exemption actually protects
The family home exemption shields the property from being levied on or attached to satisfy most ordinary debts of the head of the family. This protection exists for the benefit of all the beneficiaries, not just the owner. The fact that parents and grandparents are expressly included as beneficiaries means their presence in the home is legally relevant — it reinforces the exemption rather than being incidental to it. If a creditor attempts to execute on the property, the court considers whether the home is a constituted family home with beneficiaries in residence.
Limitations to keep in mind
The family home exemption is not absolute. Certain debts — such as those incurred before the home was constituted as a family home, unpaid taxes, and debts secured by a mortgage on the property — are not covered. The value ceiling for exemption also matters: properties worth more than the amount set by law may only be partially protected. If your parents or grandparents are the ones who owe a debt (rather than you), the exemption still protects the home you own as head of the family, but their personal obligations are a separate matter.
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.
- Perla G. Patricio vs. Marcelino G. Dario III, et al, G.R. No. 170829, November 20, 2006 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Mary Josephine Gomez et al., vs. Roel Sta. Ines, et al, G.R. No. 132537, October 14, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Cesar D. Taruc vs. Angelina D. Maximo, Maricel Buenaventura, George Jordan, and Jennifer Burgos, G.R. No. 227728, September 28, 2022 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Jesus Nicardo M. Falcis, III vs. Civil Registrar General, G.R. No. 217910, September 3, 2019 — read the decision on LawPhil →