Text of the provision
Art. 147. When a man and a woman who are capacitated to marry each other, live exclusively with each other as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage or under a void marriage, their wages and salaries shall be owned by them in equal shares and the property acquired by both of them through their work or industry shall be governed by the rules on co-ownership.
In the absence of proof to the contrary, properties acquired while they lived together shall be presumed to have been obtained by their joint efforts, work or industry, and shall be owned by them in equal shares. For purposes of this Article, a party who did not participate in the acquisition by the other party of any property shall be deemed to have contributed jointly in the acquisition thereof if the former's efforts consisted in the care and maintenance of the family and of the household.
Neither party can encumber or dispose by acts inter vivos of his or her share in the property acquired during cohabitation and owned in common, without the consent of the other, until after the termination of their cohabitation.
When only one of the parties to a void marriage is in good faith, the share of the party in bad faith in the co-ownership shall be forfeited in favor of their common children. In case of default of or waiver by any or all of the common children or their descendants, each vacant share shall belong to the respective surviving descendants. In the absence of descendants, such share shall belong to the innocent party. In all cases, the forfeiture shall take place upon termination of the cohabitation.
(144a)
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
Article 147 governs property when two people who are legally free to marry each other live together as husband and wife but without a valid marriage — either with no marriage at all, or under a marriage that is void (for example, void under Article 36 for psychological incapacity). It is one of the most practically important provisions in the Code, because it decides who owns what when such a relationship ends.
The rule is a special co-ownership. Wages and salaries earned during the cohabitation are owned in equal shares, and property acquired through the parties' work or industry is governed by the rules on co-ownership. In the absence of contrary proof, everything acquired while they lived together is presumed to have been acquired by joint effort and owned equally.
The homemaker clause
The provision's most consequential sentence protects the partner who did not earn the income: a party who did not directly help acquire a property is still deemed to have contributed jointly if their effort went into the care and maintenance of the family and the household. Unpaid domestic work counts as contribution. This is why a homemaker in a void marriage or an unmarried union is not left empty-handed.
Two further limits: neither party may sell or encumber their share during the cohabitation without the other's consent; and where the marriage is void and only one party acted in good faith, the bad-faith party's share is forfeited — to the common children, then their descendants, then the innocent party.
Article 147 vs Article 148
The dividing line is capacity. Article 147 applies when both partners were free to marry each other. When they were not — for instance, one was already married to someone else — the stricter regime of Article 148 applies instead, and only property from actual joint contribution is shared.
Related provisions
- Article 148 — the regime for cohabitation where the parties were not capacitated to marry each other.
- Article 36 — a common source of the "void marriage" this article addresses.
Cases interpreting this article
- The leading authorities applying Article 147 to void marriages and to the homemaker-contribution rule will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.