Short answer. You acquire the right only once the condition actually happens. In a conditional obligation, the acquisition of rights depends on the happening of the event that constitutes the condition — until that event occurs, you have an expectation under the contract, not yet an acquired right to the property.
What the law says
In conditional obligations, the acquisition of rights, as well as the extinguishment or loss of those already acquired, shall depend upon the happening of the event which constitutes the condition.
Civil Code, Article 1181 — Effect of Conditions. Read the full provision →
Acquisition of the right waits for the event
Where your entitlement to the property is made to depend on a future, uncertain event, the law is explicit that the acquisition of rights under that obligation depends on the event actually happening. Before the condition is fulfilled, you do not yet hold the right the contract describes — you hold a contractual relationship that contemplates you acquiring that right if and when the condition comes to pass.
The same rule cuts the other way too
This article covers two mirror situations under one principle: it governs not only the acquisition of rights that have not yet vested, but also the extinguishment or loss of rights that were already acquired. A condition can be written so that fulfillment of the event takes a right away just as easily as it can be written so that fulfillment brings a right into existence — which of the two applies depends entirely on how your particular contract frames the condition.
What this means while you are waiting for the event
During the period before the condition happens, your position under the contract is not nothing — you have a contractual expectation that ripens into a full right once the event occurs — but it is also not yet the acquired right itself. This distinction matters if a dispute arises before the event happens: what you can currently claim is different from what you would be entitled to claim after the condition is fulfilled, because acquisition under this article is tied to the event's actual occurrence, not to the contract's signing.
Why the distinction between suspensive and resolutory conditions matters
The two mirror effects this article describes correspond to what are commonly called a suspensive condition, which holds the acquisition of a right in suspense until the event happens, and a resolutory condition, which extinguishes an already-acquired right once its event happens. Reading your contract carefully to see which kind of condition governs the property in question is essential, since the practical consequence for you — whether you are still waiting to acquire the right, or whether you already hold it subject to losing it later — is entirely different between the two.
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.
- Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, G.R. No. 172598, December 21, 2007 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Felix L. Gonzales vs. Heirs of Thomas and Paula Cruz, etc. et al, G.R. No. 131784, September 16, 1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Planters Development Bank (Now China Bank Savings, Inc.) vs. Fatima D.G. Fuerte, G.R. No. 259965, October 7, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Elenita V. Macalinao, Kenneth V. Macalinao and Kristel V. Macalinao vs. Cerina, A.K.A. Cerena N. Macalinao and Cindy N. Ma, G.R. No. 250613, April 3, 2024 — read the decision on LawPhil →