Text of the provision
Art. 168. If the marriage is terminated and the mother contracted another marriage within three hundred days after such termination of the former marriage, these rules shall govern in the absence of proof to the contrary:
(1) A child born before one hundred eighty days after the solemnization of the subsequent marriage is considered to have been conceived during the former marriage, provided it be born within three hundred days after the termination of the former marriage;
(2) A child born after one hundred eighty days following the celebration of the subsequent marriage is considered to have been conceived during such marriage, even though it be born within the three hundred days after the termination of the former marriage.
(259a)
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 woman's marriage ends and she remarries within 300 days, a child born soon after can plausibly belong to either marriage. This article supplies default presumptions — each rebuttable "in the absence of proof to the contrary" — using the 180-day mark of the new marriage:
- Born before 180 days into the new marriage (and within 300 days of the old one ending) → presumed conceived during the former marriage.
- Born after 180 days into the new marriage → presumed conceived during the new marriage, even if within 300 days of the old one ending.
The rule sorts out paternity between two husbands so the child is not left in limbo.
Related provisions
- Article 164 — conception or birth during marriage means legitimacy.
- Article 169 — children born beyond 300 days after termination.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on Article 168 will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.