Text of the provision

Art. 58. An action for legal separation shall in no case be tried before six months shall have elapsed since the filing of the petition.

(103)

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 58 imposes a mandatory six-month cooling-off period. Once a petition for legal separation is filed, the case cannot be tried until six months have passed. The purpose is unmistakable: to give the spouses time and space to reconsider, and to make reconciliation possible before the court proceeds to hear evidence.

The period is a floor on trial, not on filing or on preliminary matters. The court can still act on urgent questions in the meantime — support, custody and living arrangements during the pendency of the case are governed by Articles 61 and 62 — but the substantive hearing waits.

Reconciliation is the point

Article 58 works together with Article 59, which forbids a decree unless the court has actively taken steps toward reconciliation and is satisfied it is highly improbable. The six months is the space in which those efforts happen. The Family Code treats legal separation as a last resort, and this waiting period is one of the clearest expressions of that policy.

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Cases citing this article

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.

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment. The annotation, case summaries and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. Whether this provision applies to a particular marriage depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your situation can assess.