Text of the provision
Art. 128. If a spouse without just cause abandons the other or fails to comply with his or her obligation to the family, the aggrieved spouse may petition the court for receivership, for judicial separation of property, or for authority to be the sole administrator of the conjugal partnership property, subject to such precautionary conditions as the court may impose.
The obligations to the family mentioned in the preceding paragraph refer to marital, parental or property relations.
A spouse is deemed to have abandoned the other when he or she has left the conjugal dwelling without intention of returning. The spouse who has left the conjugal dwelling for a period of three months or has failed within the same period to give any information as to his or her whereabouts shall be prima facie presumed to have no intention of returning to the conjugal dwelling.
(167a, 191a)
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.
What this article means
When a spouse abandons the family without just cause, or fails its obligations, the aggrieved spouse is not helpless. They may ask the court for receivership, for judicial separation of property, or to be made sole administrator of the conjugal partnership.
The article defines the terms so they cannot be argued away. "Obligations to the family" means marital, parental or property relations. Abandonment means leaving the home with no intention of returning — and the law supplies a presumption: a spouse gone for three months, or who gives no word of their whereabouts for that long, is presumed to have no intention of returning.
Related provisions
- Article 101 — the parallel abandonment remedy for the absolute community.
- Article 127 — the milder case of mere separation in fact.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on Article 128 will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.