Text of the provision
Art. 103. Upon the termination of the marriage by death, the community property shall be liquidated in the same proceeding for the settlement of the estate of the deceased.
If no judicial settlement proceeding is instituted, the surviving spouse shall liquidate the community property either judicially or extra-judicially within six months from the death of the deceased spouse. If upon the lapse of the six months period, no liquidation is made, any disposition or encumbrance involving the community property of the terminated marriage shall be void.
Should the surviving spouse contract a subsequent marriage without compliance with the foregoing requirements, a mandatory regime of complete separation of property shall govern the property relations of the subsequent marriage.
(n)
Family Code of the Philippines, Executive Order No. 209, approved July 6, 1987. The Code took effect on August 3, 1988 (Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005). Reproduced in full. The notation (n) indicates a new provision with no direct Civil Code antecedent.
What this article means
When a marriage ends by death, the community property is liquidated together with the estate settlement. If no estate proceeding is opened, the surviving spouse must liquidate — judicially or extrajudicially — within six months of the death.
The article has real teeth for missing the deadline. If no liquidation happens within six months, any sale or mortgage of the community property is void. And if the surviving spouse remarries without liquidating first, the new marriage is forced into a mandatory complete separation of property — the survivor cannot bring an unliquidated community into a second marriage.
Why it matters
This is a common trap for widowed spouses: selling the family property, or remarrying, before settling the first marriage's estate. Both consequences — void dispositions and forced separation of property — follow automatically. Read it with Article 102 (the liquidation steps) and the estate-tax deadlines that run in parallel.
Questions about this provision
- How long do I have to liquidate our community property after my spouse dies?
- What happens to my property regime if I remarry without settling my late spouse's community property first?
Related provisions
- Article 102 — the liquidation procedure to follow.
Cases citing this article
- Heirs of the Late Apolinario Caburnay, et al. vs. Heirs of Teodulo Sison, namely, G.R. No. 230934, December 2, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Heirs of Protacio Go and Marta Barola, namely: Leonor Go, et al. vs. Ester L. Servacio and Rito B. Go, G.R. No. 157537, September 7, 2011 — read the decision on LawPhil →
Compiled automatically from Supreme Court decisions published on LawPhil that expressly cite this article, most frequently cited first. A listing means the decision cites the provision — it is not a statement that the case is the leading authority, and it does not show whether a ruling has since been modified or abandoned. Always read the decision itself.