Family & Property

Prenups, Wedding Gifts & Donations

• A relative verbally promised to give us property because we were getting married — is that promise enforceable?
• Are donations made because of an upcoming wedding cancelled if the marriage never happens?
• Can a donation made because of the marriage be taken back if the marriage is later annulled?
• Can a minor who is legally allowed to marry sign a prenuptial agreement?
• Can my spouse donate community property to someone else without asking me first?
• Can my spouse donate conjugal partnership property without telling me?
• Can spouses legally give each other gifts once they are already married?
• Can spouses change their prenuptial agreement after the wedding?
• Can future spouses agree in a prenuptial agreement to keep all their properties completely separate throughout the marriage?
• If future spouses choose conjugal partnership of gains in their prenuptial agreement, which chapter of the Family Code governs that property regime?
• What law governs our property if we never signed a prenuptial agreement?
• My fiancé donated me a mortgaged lot and the bank foreclosed — do I owe the shortfall?
• If I receive property as a gift during the marriage, can the donor specify that it should form part of our community property instead of being excluded?
• Can we donate property we do not own yet in our marriage settlement?
• Can my live-in partner legally donate property to me while we are together?
• What body of rules governs donations made before the wedding in consideration of the marriage?
• When both spouses in a bigamous second marriage acted in bad faith, what happens to the donations they made to each other?
• Does a gift given to us after the wedding still count as a donation by reason of marriage?
• Do I lose the gifts my second spouse gave me if that marriage is voided for bigamy?
• Is there a limit on how much my fiance can donate to me before we marry?
• Can future spouses opt for conjugal partnership of gains instead of absolute community in a prenuptial agreement?
• Can I give a moderate charitable donation from our conjugal partnership funds without my spouse's consent?
• Can one spouse make a charitable donation of community property without the other spouse's consent?
• How much can engaged couples donate to each other in their marriage settlement?
• A property donated to my spouse came with a debt attached and our conjugal funds paid it — who bears that cost?
• If I still need my parents' consent to marry, do they also have to sign our marriage settlement?
• Does a prenuptial agreement have to be in writing to be valid?
• We only signed our prenuptial agreement after the wedding — is it valid?
• Can someone serving a sentence that carries civil interdiction still sign a marriage settlement?
• Can someone under civil interdiction sign a valid prenuptial agreement?
• Are prenuptial agreements valid in the Philippines?
• After legal separation, can I revoke donations I made to the offending spouse before the decree?
• Can I take back the gifts I gave my spouse after legal separation is granted?
• The spouse I gave a wedding donation to was the guilty party in their legal separation — can I take the gift back?
• Can I take back a wedding gift if the person I gave it to committed an act of ingratitude toward me?
• Can I revoke a wedding gift if my fiance married without the parental consent the law required?
• Can I revoke a wedding gift if I attached a condition to it in writing and that condition later happened?
• Can I spend conjugal partnership money on a family celebration without asking my spouse first?
• Does our prenuptial agreement have to be registered before it can be used against a bank or creditor?
• If our prenuptial agreement is void, which property regime applies to our marriage?
• If the mortgaged property my fiance gave me as a wedding gift sells for more than what was owed when the bank forecloses, do I get to keep the extra money?
• Is a gift handed to us at the reception a 'donation by reason of marriage'?
• If my fiance gives me a mortgaged property as a wedding gift, am I responsible for the loan?
• Do wedding gifts between spouses-to-be follow the same rules as ordinary donations under the Civil Code?
• Who pays the charges on an onerous wedding gift advanced by the conjugal partnership?

The Family Home

• Can a bank still foreclose on our family home if we default on the mortgage that financed it?
• Can I have more than one property recognized as our family home?
• I own a house in the city and one in the province — can both be protected as family homes?
• Can I sell our family home without everyone in the household agreeing to it?
• Can property we are still paying off in installments be declared our family home?
• Can the contractor who built our house force a sale of our family home if we do not pay them?
• Can a creditor force the sale of a family home that turns out to be worth more than the legal value limit?
• If a creditor forces the sale of our family home because it exceeds the value limit, what happens to any proceeds beyond what is allowed?
• Are my dependent parents and grandparents who live with me protected by the family home exemption from creditors?
• Do I need to file any paperwork to establish a family home, or does it happen automatically?
• Does the family home lose its protection from creditors the moment one spouse dies?
• My spouse died — how long does the family home keep its protection after that?
• Can I set up our family home on land that's only in my name, without asking my spouse first?
• Can heirs force a partition of the family home while a minor beneficiary is still living there?
• Does family home protection cover a house we have lived in since long before the Family Code took effect?
• Does the family home law apply to a house we already lived in before these rules existed?
• Can a house we are still paying for on installment be treated as a family home?
• Is there a peso limit on how expensive a family home can be and still keep its legal protection?
• Can the government seize our family home to collect unpaid real estate taxes despite the family home exemption?
• If I owed money before I set up our family home, can that old creditor still force its sale?
• My grown son lives with me but supports himself financially — is he still protected as a family home beneficiary?
• Can a single parent constitute a family home, or is that protection only for married couples?
• Can a single person who supports their parents constitute a family home?
• What legally counts as a 'family home' under Philippine law?
• Which family members are protected by the family home's exemption from creditors?
• If we have young children, who gets to keep the family home when our community property is divided?

Live-In Partners & Void Marriages

• If one spouse acted in bad faith in a presumptive-death remarriage, who receives that spouse's share of the net profits when the marriage is terminated?
• In a void marriage where one partner was in bad faith, what happens to that partner's share of the property they acquired together?
• I stayed home to care for our children while my partner worked — do I still own half the property we acquired while living together?
• My partner and I are both free to marry each other but we just never did — how is property we acquired together treated?
• Can my live-in partner sell property we acquired together while we are still living together without asking me first?
• If my live-in partner turns out to still be married to someone else, does that legal spouse get a claim on the property we built together?
• What property rights do live-in partners have in the Philippines?
• How do courts split conjugal partnership property when someone had two overlapping marriages before the Family Code?
• How is property divided if a parent had two marriages before the Family Code took effect?
• What are the property rights of a live-in partner when one of them is still married?
• If two marriages contracted before the Family Code are liquidated simultaneously and it is unclear which marriage owns a property, how is it divided?
• If our marriage is declared void rather than annulled, does the conjugal partnership of gains also come to an end?

Absent or Abandoning Spouses

• What court remedies can I seek if my spouse has abandoned me and our common properties are being neglected?
• Can I ask a court to appoint a receiver over our community property if my spouse abandoned us?
• My husband is in hiding as an accused in a criminal case — can I get court authority to manage his own property?
• My husband left years ago and I need to sell conjugal land — how do I get court authority without his consent?
• Can a court transfer control of my exclusive property to my spouse if I am declared an absentee?
• Does a wife administering her absent husband's property need court approval to sell it?
• Can I get court authority to manage my abandoning spouse's property to support our family?
• How many years must pass without any news of a missing person before a court can declare that person legally absent?
• How long does my spouse have to be gone with no word before the law presumes they've abandoned our family?
• When spouses are living apart and one spouse needs the other's consent for a transaction but cannot get it, what must they do?
• Is my spouse being judicially declared an absentee a valid ground to ask the court for separation of property?
• My husband was judicially declared an absentee and has now come home — can we restore our old property regime?
• My spouse abandoned us without cause — can I petition the court to manage the conjugal property alone or appoint a receiver?
• My spouse abandoned us — can I get court authority to use his separate property to support the children?
• If my spouse has disappeared and left no one to manage the family property, what can I ask the court to do?
• What exactly counts as failing to comply with obligations to the family that lets me petition for property remedies?
• What powers and obligations does a court-appointed representative of a missing person have over that person's property?
• When does the court-appointed administration of a missing person's property automatically come to an end?
• Once a court declares a person legally absent, when does that declaration actually take effect?
• Who is appointed to administer an absentee's property in the Philippines?
• Who is legally entitled to ask a court to declare a missing relative legally absent?
• Who does the court prefer to appoint as representative when one spouse has gone missing?

Dividing Property & Liquidation

• Are the children's presumptive legitimes delivered when property is partitioned?
• How is the family home and the lot it sits on distributed between the spouses after an annulment or nullity judgment?
• When conjugal partnership property is dissolved, in what order are personal debts and conjugal debts paid off?
• Must creditors of the spouses be notified before the community property is liquidated after an annulment judgment?
• If the support I draw during estate liquidation turns out to be more than my share is worth, does the excess get deducted from what I finally receive?
• When our conjugal partnership is liquidated, will I be reimbursed for my exclusive property that the partnership used?
• If we're under a conjugal partnership of gains, do we automatically split our net gains 50-50 when the marriage ends?
• How are net profits computed when a spouse forfeits a share?
• How is community property divided once the absolute community regime ends?
• How are conjugal properties divided once the partnership is dissolved after annulment?
• How long do I have to liquidate our community property after my spouse dies?
• How soon must conjugal partnership property be liquidated after my spouse dies?
• If our shared appliances are destroyed by fire while we're winding up our conjugal partnership, does the partnership pay to replace them?
• Must community debts be paid before the property is divided between spouses?
• How is our property divided once our annulment becomes final?
• What happens to my property regime if I remarry without settling my late spouse's community property first?
• What rules apply to appraising and selling conjugal property if the Family Code does not specify?
• If I don't liquidate our community property within six months of my spouse's death, is a sale I made during that time void?
• I sold conjugal land two years after my husband died without ever liquidating — is that sale void?
• Can the widow and children draw support from the estate while the liquidation drags on for years?
• Who gets support from the conjugal property while it is still being liquidated?

Spousal Consent, Sales & Court Cases

• Do both spouses need to agree before conjugal partnership property can be sold?
• Can I appeal a court's decision on my spousal-consent petition?
• Can I claim damages against my spouse in the same case where they are refusing to consent to a transaction?
• Can I sell or mortgage property that was mine before the wedding without asking my spouse's permission?
• Can my spouse appeal the judgment in a family summary proceeding?
• Can I include a claim for damages against my spouse in the same summary court petition?
• A conjugal property was disposed of without the other spouse's consent — is the transaction void outright or can it still be ratified?
• Can the court decide my case if my spouse cannot be found or will not appear?
• Do I need a lawyer at the preliminary conference in a family summary proceeding?
• Will there be a full trial for my spousal-consent petition, or just a summary hearing?
• How is my spouse notified if I file a petition because they will not give consent to a transaction?
• What do I file in court if my spouse will not consent to a transaction that needs their signature?
• My husband sold our house without my written consent — is the sale void or can I still ratify it?
• My spouse had an accident and can no longer participate in managing our conjugal property — can I take over alone?
• If I take over as sole administrator because my spouse is incapacitated, can I sell conjugal property without court authority?
• Do I need a lawyer for the first court conference on my spousal-consent petition?
• Can I sell property I owned before the marriage without my spouse's consent?
• What happens to my spouse's authority over my property once I sell it?
• If I am managing community property alone because my spouse is incapacitated, can I sell it without their consent?
• What happens if my spouse does not show up to the hearing on my consent petition?
• My spouse had a stroke and can no longer decide anything — can I manage our community property alone?
• My spouse sold the exclusive property I let him administer — who keeps the proceeds?
• When spouses disagree about managing community property, whose decision prevails?
• If my spouse's unauthorized sale of our community property is void, can the buyer still eventually get valid title?
• What happens to a sale of community property that one spouse completed without the other's written consent?
• What happens if my spouse ignores the court notice and never appears in the summary proceeding?
• Which court do I file in when my spouse refuses to give the consent a sale requires?
• Which court has jurisdiction over a petition to get around my spouse's withheld consent?
• Who has the final say if my spouse and I disagree on managing our community property?
• Will a family summary proceeding involve a full trial, or is it decided on affidavits?

Separation of Property & Reconciliation

• Can spouses who are still together jointly ask a court to dissolve their property regime?
• Can spouses simply agree between themselves to separate their properties without going to court?
• Can we revive our old property regime after a court-ordered separation of property?
• Can we agree to separate only some of our property instead of all of it?
• Does a court-ordered separation of property end the absolute community of property even while the marriage continues?
• If a decree of legal separation is issued, does our conjugal partnership of gains end at that point?
• When my spouse and I jointly petition to dissolve our property regime, do we have to list all our creditors?
• Does living separately from my spouse end our conjugal partnership of gains?
• If we get a judicial separation of property, does it wipe out debts I already owed before?
• Can I get a judicial separation of property if the spouse given administration power in our marriage settlement abused it?
• Can I petition for judicial separation of property because my spouse was sentenced to a penalty carrying civil interdiction?
• We have been living apart for more than a year with no chance of reconciliation — is that enough to get judicial separation of property?
• Can I ask a court to separate our property because my spouse legally lost parental authority over our kids?
• Does the offending spouse lose their share of net profits from the community property after a decree of legal separation?
• If my spouse and I live apart without filing any court case, does that end our absolute community property?
• Do we need to record a separation-of-property court judgment anywhere?
• If we reconcile after a legal separation decree, does our property regime automatically revive?
• Can we get back our old property regime if the spouse who mismanaged our property convinces the court they won't abuse that power again?
• Can we go back to sharing property after we reconcile from legal separation?
• If a court restores my parental authority after it was taken away, can we also revive our old property regime?
• We were separated in fact for years and are back together — can we bring back our former property regime?
• What rules apply if we chose separation of property as our marriage settlement regime?
• Can our property separation agreement cover only property we'll acquire in the future, and not what we already own?
• Can we agree to separate only some of our properties and leave the rest in common?
• Under a separation of property regime, does my salary and income from my business belong to me alone?
• Under a complete separation of property regime, can I sell or manage my own property without my spouse ever agreeing?
• Who administers the community property while a legal separation case is still pending in court?
• Can the court prevent the spouse who caused the legal separation from administering the community property during the case?
• We voluntarily had our property regime dissolved by the court and now regret it — can we undo it?
• What are valid legal grounds to ask a court for judicial separation of property?
• Where do I have to register a court decree separating our properties?
• Under complete separation of property, who pays the household bills — and can a creditor sue just one spouse for all of it?
• Who pays for the family's support while a judicial property separation case is pending?

Family Support, Debts & Creditors

• If my spouse waives their share of community property during a judicial separation of property, can my spouse's creditors challenge that waiver?
• My husband was ordered to pay a fine in a criminal case — can it be taken from our conjugal property?
• My grandfather's pension arrangement was already running before the new Civil Code took effect in 1950 — does today's exemption for support still protect it, or only arrangements set up after the Code?
• Does community property cover the cost of a lawsuit between spouses?
• Does our community property pay damages my spouse owes for an accident?
• Does our community property pay for my spouse's schooling or training?
• If the community property is insufficient, what property is next used to cover family support and expenses?
• Is managing the household legally only the wife's responsibility?
• How do my spouse and I split family expenses if our incomes are different?
• Can my husband legally stop me from working?
• If community property runs out, can creditors take our separate property?
• If someone owes me money from before I got married, does the interest collected during the marriage go to me alone or to our conjugal partnership?
• Can creditors go after our community property for a debt my spouse incurred without my consent?
• Must our community property support my spouse's child from a previous marriage?
• Can a debt my spouse owed before we married be collected from our community property?
• If our conjugal property isn't enough to support our family while we're separated, can I use my spouse's own separate property instead?
• If a spouse leaves the family home without justification, do they lose the right to be supported from community property?
• Can my spouse's debt from before our marriage be collected from our conjugal partnership property?
• If conjugal assets are not enough to pay all conjugal debts, are we personally liable for the balance?
• Is it only the husband's legal duty to support the family, or are both spouses equally responsible?
• Can my husband's illegitimate child be supported out of our conjugal partnership property?
• Can I legally waive my right to receive support from a spouse or relative in the future?
• Who pays the property tax on a house my spouse owned before we married?

Conjugal Partnership of Gains

• Are retirement benefits and pensions considered conjugal property?
• If I trade property I owned before the wedding for a different piece of property during the marriage, is the new property still mine alone?
• Can I appear in court alone to defend property I owned exclusively before the marriage?
• We spent conjugal partnership money improving the land I owned before the wedding — who ends up owning the whole lot?
• Does our conjugal partnership of gains follow the same legal rules as an ordinary business partnership?
• Under a conjugal partnership of gains, does each spouse's separate property remain theirs alone during the marriage?
• What rules apply to our property if we chose conjugal partnership of gains in our marriage settlement?
• The conjugal partnership advanced some of the installments on property that turned out to be exclusively mine — does it get paid back?
• If my spouse is convicted and sentenced with civil interdiction, can I ask the court to take over managing their property?
• Can I let my spouse manage the property I own exclusively under our conjugal partnership?
• Do the same rules on when community property begins also apply to conjugal partnership of gains?
• If I catch fish or hunt for a living during our marriage, does what I catch belong to me alone or to our conjugal partnership?
• If I become my incapacitated spouse's legal guardian, can I also take over managing their separate property?
• We built a house with conjugal money on land I owned before the marriage — who ends up owning it?
• If I'm owed money in installments, do the payments collected during marriage become conjugal property?
• I am collecting installments on a loan I made before the wedding — is that money mine alone or conjugal?
• Are the fruits and income I receive during the marriage from property I already owned before the wedding conjugal property?
• Is my salary from work considered conjugal property?
• Under a conjugal partnership of gains, do I keep ownership of property I already had before the wedding?
• Can I let my spouse manage the land I inherited, and how is that made official?
• We both brought cattle to the marriage — is all our livestock at dissolution conjugal or only the excess?
• My parents married under conjugal partnership before the Family Code took effect — do this chapter's rules still apply to their marriage?
• I started paying for property in installments before the wedding but finished paying after — is it conjugal?
• Under conjugal partnership of gains, is property I bought during the marriage with my own exclusive money mine alone?
• If a relative leaves property to both of us in a will, is it ours jointly or exclusive to each?
• My in-laws left a lot to my spouse and me jointly without saying how much each gets — how is it split?
• If a property bought during the marriage is only in my name, is it still conjugal property?
• If my spouse loses money gambling, does it come out of our conjugal partnership funds?
• If my spouse wins money gambling during our marriage, is it conjugal partnership property under our prenup?
• If hidden treasure is found on land belonging to our conjugal partnership, does the spouse who found it get to keep the finder's share?
• Can a spouse waive their share of conjugal partnership property while the marriage is ongoing without a court order?
• When does a conjugal partnership of gains legally come to an end?
• If the court finds the other spouse unfit to administer, who takes over the exclusive property?
• Who owns improvements built on my exclusive property using conjugal partnership money?
• My husband overruled me on managing our conjugal property — how long do I have to bring the matter to court?

Absolute Community of Property

• Can spouses agree in their prenuptial contract that the absolute community of property will start only one year after the wedding?
• What rules govern situations that the Family Code's chapter on absolute community of property does not specifically address?
• Can I leave my share of our community property to someone else in my will?
• Can a spouse give up their share of the community property while the marriage is still intact?
• What law fills the gaps if the absolute community rules do not cover our situation?
• Does our absolute community of property terminate immediately upon the death of one spouse?
• If my spouse loses money gambling, does the loss come out of our community property?
• If my spouse wins money from a sweepstakes or bet, does the winnings form part of our community property?
• If I inherit money or property during the marriage, does it become community property?
• Is property I already owned before the wedding automatically part of our community property?
• My spouse owns expensive jewelry bought for personal use during the marriage — is it excluded from the community property?
• If we cannot trace when or how a piece of property was acquired, is it presumed to be community property or separate property?
• Does property a spouse brought into the marriage remain excluded from community property when that spouse has legitimate children from a prior marriage?
• Does property I owned years before we married automatically become part of our absolute community of property?
• What property regime applies to us after our absolute community of property is dissolved?
• Can a spouse leave their interest in the community property to a person of their choice through a will?
• When exactly does the absolute community of property begin between spouses?
• When does the absolute community of property between spouses end?
• If my spouse and I disagree on whether something we own is community property, who has to prove it isn't?
• How long does a wife have to go to court to challenge a community property decision her husband made over her objection?

More Family & Property Questions

• If I sign a contract in the Philippines affecting property I own abroad, does Philippine law or the foreign country's law decide whether it's validly executed?
• We are both foreigners living in the Philippines — does Philippine law govern our marital property?
• My siblings and I have been fighting in court over our parents' estate — can the court order us to suspend the case and try to reach a compromise?
• If a foreigner marries a Filipino, which country's property law governs their marriage?
• Can a guardian mortgage a minor's property without going to court first?
• If I'm legally separated from my missing spouse, do I still get priority to be appointed as their property representative?
• I was married before the new Civil Code took effect — does the new code govern my capacity to enter contracts and manage property, even if my old marriage predates it?
• Can a usufruct arise automatically by operation of law, without anyone creating it on purpose?