Short answer. Usually yes. Under the absolute community, the community property consists of all property owned by the spouses at the time of the marriage as well as everything acquired afterwards. Only a marriage settlement or one of the Family Code's listed exclusions keeps a pre-wedding asset separate.
What the law says
Unless otherwise provided in this Chapter or in the marriage settlements, the community property shall consist of all the property owned by the spouses at the time of the celebration of the marriage or acquired thereafter.
Family Code, Article 91 — What the Community Property Consists Of. Read the full provision →
The default rule is much wider than most people assume
The common assumption is that marriage pools what the couple builds together and leaves each side's earlier assets alone. Under the absolute community the opposite is true. The community property consists of all the property owned by the spouses at the time of the celebration of the marriage or acquired thereafter. The house bought years before the engagement, the inherited lot titled in one name alone, the savings accumulated during a decade of overseas work: absent an exception, all of it goes into the community when the marriage is celebrated, and the name on the title does not change that.
The two doors out of the default
The rule applies unless otherwise provided in this Chapter or in the marriage settlements. That is the whole of the escape route. A settlement executed before the wedding can adopt a different regime or carve particular assets out, which is the reliable way to keep a pre-marriage asset separate. Failing that, the property must fall within one of the exclusions the Code itself sets out, most commonly property acquired by gratuitous title during the marriage, property for the personal and exclusive use of a spouse, and property brought in by a spouse who has legitimate descendants from a former marriage.
What a private agreement after the wedding cannot do
Couples sometimes sign something years into the marriage declaring a particular asset to be one spouse's alone, or simply agree to treat it that way. That is not the same as a marriage settlement, which is made before the wedding, and it does not by itself pull an asset out of the community. Nor does keeping an account in one name, paying the amortisation from one salary, or the fact that the other spouse never contributed a peso. Under this regime, the source of the money is largely beside the point once the community has begun.
Work out which regime you are actually under
Everything above assumes the absolute community applies, which is the default only for marriages governed by the Family Code where no settlement was made. Marriages celebrated under the earlier law, or with a valid settlement, may sit under the conjugal partnership or under complete separation, and the answer to this question changes with the regime. Find the marriage certificate, any pre-wedding settlement and the titles or deeds for the assets in question, and have a lawyer identify the regime first. Most disputes about a single house begin as an argument about the wrong regime.
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.
- Heirs of the Late Apolinario Caburnay, et al. vs. Heirs of Teodulo Sison, namely, G.R. No. 230934, December 2, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Republic of the Philippines vs. Hon. Sandiganbayan, Romeo G. Panganiban, et al, G.R. No. 189590, April 23, 2018 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Emilio, G.R. No. 183053, October 10, 2012 — read the decision on LawPhil →