Text of the provision
Art. 207. When the person obliged to support another unjustly refuses or fails to give support when urgently needed by the latter, any third person may furnish support to the needy individual, with right of reimbursement from the person obliged to give support. This Article shall particularly apply when the father or mother of a child under the age of majority unjustly refuses to support or fails to give support to the child when urgently needed.
(2166a)
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
This is the urgent-need companion to Article 206. When the person obliged to give support unjustly refuses or fails to when it is urgently needed, any third person may step in and supply it — and then recover the amount from the obligor. Unlike Article 206, the obligor's knowledge is not the point; their unjust refusal is.
The article singles out parents: it applies "particularly" when a father or mother unjustly refuses to support a minor child who urgently needs it. Anyone who feeds or shelters that child in the emergency can look to the parent for reimbursement.
Related provisions
- Article 206 — reimbursement where support was given without the obligor's knowledge.
- Article 195 — the parent-child support obligation.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on Article 207 will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.