Short answer. Yes, generally. Once the final judgment granting annulment or declaring nullity is issued, the obligation of mutual support between the former spouses ceases. The main exception is legal separation, where a court may still order the guilty spouse to support the innocent one afterward.
What the law says
After the final judgment granting the petition, the obligation of mutual support between the spouses ceases.
Family Code, Article 198 — Support During Nullity, Annulment and Legal Separation. Read the full provision →
Finality ends mutual support between spouses
Once the court's judgment granting the petition — whether for annulment or for declaration of nullity — becomes final, the mutual support obligation between the spouses comes to an end. Up until that point, while the case was pending, the spouses and their children were supported from the properties of the absolute community or the conjugal partnership; finality is the specific event the law treats as cutting off that spouse-to-spouse obligation.
The exception applies only to legal separation
The one exception the statute carves out is for legal separation, not annulment or nullity: even after that judgment is final, a court may still order the guilty spouse to give support to the innocent spouse, on terms the court specifies. This distinction exists because legal separation keeps the marriage bond intact while separating the spouses' lives, and it assigns fault between them — a framework annulment and nullity proceedings do not share, since those proceedings instead determine whether a valid marriage existed at all.
What does not end: support for the children
This provision addresses mutual support between the spouses specifically — it does not touch a parent's separate and ongoing obligation to support the children of the marriage. That duty continues after the decree becomes final regardless of which type of proceeding was involved, because it rests on the parent-child relationship rather than on the marriage between the spouses, and nothing in this provision limits or terminates it.
Why the cutoff is tied to finality, not filing
The law does not end mutual support the moment a petition is filed, or while the case is still working through the courts — support continues throughout the proceedings themselves, funded from the community or conjugal property. It is specifically the final judgment that triggers the end of that mutual obligation. This matters practically: if a decision is appealed or otherwise not yet final, the support obligation between the spouses generally continues until that finality is actually reached, not merely from the date the trial court first ruled.
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 →