Where does the money for spousal and child support come from while our annulment case is still pending?

The funding source while the case is pending

This rule applies across three kinds of proceedings — legal separation, annulment of marriage, and declaration of nullity of marriage — and answers exactly the question of where support money comes from during the case. Both the spouses and their children are to be supported from the properties of the absolute community or the conjugal partnership, meaning the shared marital estate is drawn upon, not just whichever spouse happens to have income or holds assets in their own name.

This funding rule stops once judgment is final

The obligation of mutual support between the spouses ceases once a final judgment grants the petition. This provision is specifically about the pendency period — while the case is still being litigated, both spouses and the children continue drawing support from the community or conjugal property, but that mutual arrangement between the spouses themselves ends when the case concludes in a final judgment.

The exception for legal separation

Legal separation carries one added feature the other two proceedings do not: after the case is final, the court may still order the guilty spouse to give support to the innocent spouse, on terms the court specifies. This exception exists only for legal separation, where the law distinguishes between a spouse found at fault and one who was not, and it does not apply to annulment or a declaration of nullity, where the marriage is treated as never having validly existed or as improperly formed rather than framed around fault.

What this does not decide

This provision fixes the source of funds and the general duration of mutual spousal support — it does not itself set the amount of support, resolve custody, or decide how the community or conjugal property is eventually divided once the case concludes. Those are separate questions governed by other rules, and the child's own right to support from a parent is likewise a separate and continuing obligation not extinguished by the end of the marital case.

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.

• Wilfredo A. Ruiz vs. AAA, G.R. No. 231619, November 15, 2021 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Simon R. Paterno vs. Dina Marie Lomongo Paterno, G.R. No. 213687, January 8, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Family Code, Article 198 — Support During Nullity, Annulment and Legal Separation