Short answer. In two sets of registries: the proper local civil registries and the registries of property. And it is not only the final judgment that is recorded — the petition itself must be too, so the requirement begins when the case is filed rather than when it is won.
What the law says
The petition for separation of property and the final judgment granting the same shall be recorded in the proper local civil registries and registries of property.
Family Code, Article 139 — Recording the Petition and Judgment. Read the full provision →
Two documents, two kinds of registry
The sentence is short and every part of it is a requirement. Two documents are covered — the petition and the final judgment granting the same — and each goes into two kinds of registry. The civil registry is where the status side is recorded, alongside the marriage itself; the registry of property is where the asset side is, and there the recording attaches to the land. The plural in registries of property is deliberate. Property in several places means a filing in each place, not one central lodgement that covers everything the couple own.
Why the petition is recorded at all
Recording a case that has not yet been decided strikes people as premature, and it is the most useful part of the provision. A separation of property changes who may deal with which assets, and the change is of obvious interest to anyone extending credit to either spouse or buying from them. Recording the petition puts the world on notice that the question is live, from the moment it is raised rather than years later when judgment comes. It is the same instinct behind the rule that an unregistered marriage settlement cannot prejudice third persons: arrangements between spouses bind strangers only when strangers can find out about them.
What the registrar needs to see
Recording is a step someone has to take; a decree does not file itself. Expect to present a certified copy of the judgment bearing the court's certification that it is final, together with the titles or property records for each affected property so that the annotation lands on the right ones. Identify every property early — including any held under a tax declaration rather than a title, and any registered in one spouse's name alone — because the list you hand over is the list that gets annotated, and anything omitted stays looking exactly as it did before.
Check that it was actually done
Some months after the decree, get fresh certified copies of the titles and read them for the annotation, and get a certificate from the civil registry. This is worth doing even where a lawyer handled the filings, because the failure mode is silent: nothing goes wrong until a buyer or a bank pulls the title, finds no trace of the separation, and treats the property as still governed by the old regime. A missing annotation found now is a clerical errand. Found at closing, it is a collapsed transaction.
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.
- Jose Lam vs. Adriana Chua, G.R. No. 131286, March 18, 2004 — read the decision on LawPhil →