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. 373. A widow may use the deceased husband's surname as though he were still living, in accordance with article 370.
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
A widow may go on using her deceased husband’s surname as though he were still living, in any of the forms allowed by article 370.
The word may makes this an option for the widow rather than a rule that automatically strips her of her married name upon her husband’s death — she is free to continue signing and being known by his surname, or to use another form allowed under Article 370. Because the article treats this as a continuation of an existing name rather than the adoption of a new one, it does not require the judicial authority that Article 376 otherwise demands for a change of name.
Questions about this provision
Related provisions
- Article 372 — Name After Legal Separation.
- Article 374 — Identical Names: Younger Adds.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on this article will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.