Read with care. Read these with Article 370, which gives a married woman options and imposes no duty. No provision of this chapter requires a woman to take her husband’s surname on marriage, and a woman who has always used her maiden name is under no obligation to change it. What the article below settles is which of those options remains open after annulment, legal separation or the husband’s death — not whether the husband’s surname had to be adopted in the first place.
Text of the provision
Art. 372. When legal separation has been granted, the wife shall continue using her name and surname employed before the legal separation.
Civil Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 386, approved June 18, 1949, effective August 30, 1950. Reproduced in full; verified verbatim against the LawPhil and ChanRobles official-text renderings.
What this article means
Where legal separation has been granted, the wife continues using the name and surname she employed before the separation. Unlike annulment, legal separation brings no change of name.
Legal separation differs fundamentally from annulment: it does not dissolve the marriage or declare it invalid, it only permits the spouses to live apart and adjusts certain of their legal relations, while the marriage bond itself continues to exist. Because the marriage remains intact, there is no legal basis for treating the wife’s name as if her civil status had changed, which is why the article simply directs her to continue using the name she already carried.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 371 — Wife’s Name After Annulment.
- Article 373 — A Widow’s Use of the Surname.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.