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.
Related provisions
- Article 59 — the reconciliation effort required before any decree.
- Articles 61 and 62 — support, custody and living arrangements while the case is pending.
Cases interpreting this article
- Authorities on the mandatory nature of the Article 58 cooling-off period will be added here as each is verified against primary sources.