Short answer. The surviving spouse and the children are entitled to support drawn from the common mass of property while the inventoried property is being liquidated, continuing until what belongs to each of them is actually delivered. Any support received beyond their share of the fruits or rents is later deducted from what they get.
What the law says
From the common mass of property support shall be given to the surviving spouse and to the children during the liquidation of the inventoried property and until what belongs to them is delivered; but from this shall be deducted that amount received for support which exceeds the fruits or rents pertaining to them.
Family Code, Article 133 — Support During Liquidation. Read the full provision →
Who is entitled to support during liquidation
Article 133 names two groups: the surviving spouse and the children. Both draw support from the common mass of property — the inventoried conjugal or community property as a whole — rather than waiting for their individual shares to be worked out and formally handed over first. The article treats them as a single pool of beneficiaries drawing from the same undivided mass.
Support runs until the property is actually delivered
The entitlement is not open-ended. It lasts during the liquidation of the inventoried property and until what belongs to them is delivered. Liquidation can take time — inventories to settle, debts to pay, shares to compute — and Article 133 makes sure the surviving spouse and children are not left without means while that process runs its course, rather than having to wait until every share is finally settled.
Support drawn is deducted against fruits and rents
The article builds in an accounting adjustment. If the support given to the spouse or children during liquidation exceeds the fruits or rents pertaining to them from the property, that excess is later deducted from what they ultimately receive. Support during this period is not a separate windfall on top of their eventual share — it is advanced against it.
What the article leaves unanswered
Article 133 establishes the right to support and how any excess is trued up, but it does not fix an amount, a schedule of payments, or a procedure for claiming it. How much support is reasonable, and how it is actually disbursed during a liquidation, depends on the specific estate and the process being followed — questions this provision does not resolve on its own, and the deduction it describes only becomes relevant once the shares are finally computed.
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.
- Heirs of Jose Sy Bang, Heirs of Julian Sy and Oscar Sy vs. Rolando Sy, et al, G.R. No. 114217, October 13, 2009 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Hilario M. Ruiz, et al. vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 118671, January 29, 1996 — read the decision on LawPhil →