CHAPTER 3

Paraphernal Property

ARTICLE 135. All property brought by the wife to the marriage, as well as all property she acquires during the marriage, in accordance with article 148, is paraphernal. (1381a)

ARTICLE 136. The wife retains the ownership of the paraphernal property. (1382)

ARTICLE 137. The wife shall have the administration of the paraphernal property, unless she delivers the same to the husband by means of a public instrument empowering him to administer it.

In this case, the public instrument shall be recorded in the Registry of Property. As for the movables, the husband shall give adequate security. (1384a)

ARTICLE 138. The fruits of the paraphernal property form part of the assets of the conjugal partnership, and shall be subject to the payment of the expenses of the marriage.

The property itself shall also be subject to the daily expenses of the family, if the property of the conjugal partnership and the husband’s capital are not sufficient therefor. (1385a)

ARTICLE 139. The personal obligations of the husband can not be enforced against the fruits of the paraphernal property, unless it be proved that they redounded to the benefit of the family. (1386)

ARTICLE 140. A married woman of age may mortgage, encumber, alienate or otherwise dispose of her paraphernal property, without the permission of the husband, and appear alone in court to litigate with regard to the same. (n)

ARTICLE 141. The alienation of any paraphernal property administered by the husband gives a right to the wife to require the constitution of a mortgage or any other security for the amount of the price which the husband may have received. (1390a)

The property itself shall also be subject to the daily expenses of the family, if the property of the conjugal partnership and the husband’s capital are not sufficient therefor. (1385a)

ARTICLE 139. The personal obligations of the husband can not be enforced against the fruits of the paraphernal property, unless it be proved that they redounded to the benefit of the family. (1386)

ARTICLE 140. A married woman of age may mortgage, encumber, alienate or otherwise dispose of her paraphernal property, without the permission of the husband, and appear alone in court to litigate with regard to the same. (n)

ARTICLE 141. The alienation of any paraphernal property administered by the husband gives a right to the wife to require the constitution of a mortgage or any other security for the amount of the price which the husband may have received. (1390a)

 

 

CHAPTER 4

Conjugal Partnership of Gains

SECTION 1

General Provisions

ARTICLE 142. By means of the conjugal partnership of gains, the husband and wife place in a common fund the fruits of their separate property and the income from their work or industry, and divide equally, upon the dissolution of the marriage or of the partnership, the net gains or benefits obtained indiscriminately by either spouse during the marriage. (1392a)

ARTICLE 143. All property of the conjugal partnership of gains is owned in common by the husband and wife. (n)

ARTICLE 144. When a man and a woman live together as husband and wife, but they are not married, or their marriage is void from the beginning, the property acquired by either or both of them through their work or industry or their wages and salaries shall be governed by the rules on co-ownership. (n) PaEeui

ARTICLE 145. The conjugal partnership shall commence precisely on the date of the celebration of the marriage. Any stipulation to the contrary shall be void. (1393)

ARTICLE 146. Waiver of the gains or of the effects of this partnership during marriage cannot be made except in case of judicial separation.

When the waiver takes place by reason of separation, or after the marriage has been dissolved or annulled, the same shall appear in a public instrument, and the creditors shall have the right which article 1052 grants them. (1394a)

ARTICLE 147. The conjugal partnership shall be governed by the rules on the contract of partnership in all that is not in conflict with what is expressly determined in this Chapter. (1395)

SECTION 2

Exclusive Property of Each Spouse

ARTICLE 148. The following shall be the exclusive property of each spouse:

(1) That which is brought to the marriage as his or her own;

(2) That which each acquires, during the marriage, by lucrative title;

(3) That which is acquired by right of redemption or by exchange with other property belonging to only one of the spouses;

(4) That which is purchased with exclusive money of the wife or of the husband. (1396)

ARTICLE 149. Whoever gives or promises capital to the husband shall not be subject to warranty against eviction, except in case of fraud. (1397)

ARTICLE 150. Property donated or left by will to the spouses, jointly and with designation of determinate shares, shall pertain to the wife as paraphernal property, and to the husband as capital, in the proportion specified by the donor or testator, and in the absence of designation, share and share alike, without prejudice to what is provided in article 753. (1398a)

ARTICLE 151. If the donations are onerous, the amount of the charges shall be deducted from the paraphernal property or from the husband’s capital, whenever they have been borne by the conjugal partnership. (1399a)

ARTICLE 152. If some credit payable in a certain number of years, or a life pension, should pertain to one of the spouses, the provisions of articles 156 and 157 shall be observed to determine what constitutes the paraphernal property and what forms the capital of the husband. (1400a)

SECTION 3

Conjugal Partnership Property

ARTICLE 153. The following are conjugal partnership property:

(1) That which is acquired by onerous title during the marriage at the expense of the common fund, whether the acquisition be for the partnership, or for only one of the spouses;

(2) That which is obtained by the industry, or work, or as salary of the spouses, or of either of them;

(3) The fruits, rents or interests received or due during the marriage, coming from the common property or from the exclusive property of each spouse. (1401)

ARTICLE 154. That share of the hidden treasure which the law awards to the finder or the proprietor belongs to the conjugal partnership.

ARTICLE 155. Things acquired by occupation, such as fishing and hunting, pertain to the conjugal partnership of gains. (n)

ARTICLE 156. Whenever an amount or credit payable in a certain number of years belongs to one of the spouses, the sums which may be collected by installments due during the marriage shall not pertain to the conjugal partnership, but shall be considered capital of the husband or of the wife, as the credit may belong to one or the other spouse. (1402)

ARTICLE 157. The right to an annuity, whether perpetual or for life, and the right of usufruct, belonging to one of the spouses shall form a part of his or her separate property, but the fruits, pensions and interests due during the marriage shall belong to the partnership.

The usufruct which the spouses have over the property of their children, though of another marriage, shall be included in this provision. (1403a)

ARTICLE 158. Improvements, whether for utility or adornment, made on the separate property of the spouses through advancements from the partnership or through the industry of either the husband or the wife, belong to the conjugal partnership.

Buildings constructed, at the expense of the partnership, during the marriage on land belonging to one of the spouses, also pertain to the partnership, but the value of the land shall be reimbursed to the spouse who owns the same. (1404a)

ARTICLE 159. Whenever the paraphernal property or the husband’s capital consists, in whole or in part, of livestock existing upon the dissolution of the partnership, the number of animals exceeding that brought to the marriage shall be deemed to be of the conjugal partnership. (1405a)

ARTICLE 160. All property of the marriage is presumed to belong to the conjugal partnership, unless it be proved that it pertains exclusively to the husband or to the wife. (1407)

SECTION 4

Charges Upon and Obligations of the Conjugal Partnership

ARTICLE 161. The conjugal partnership shall be liable for:

(1) All debts and obligations contracted by the husband for the benefit of the conjugal partnership, and those contracted by the wife, also for the same purpose, in the cases where she may legally bind the partnership;

(2) Arrears or income due, during the marriage, from obligations which constitute a charge upon property of either spouse or of the partnership;

(3) Minor repairs or for mere preservation made during the marriage upon the separate property of either the husband or the wife; major repairs shall not be charged to the partnership;

(4) Major or minor repairs upon the conjugal partnership property;

(5) The maintenance of the family and the education of the children of both husband and wife, and of legitimate children of one of the spouses;

(6) Expenses to permit the spouses to complete a professional, vocational or other course. (1408a)

ARTICLE 162. The value of what is donated or promised to the common children by the husband, only for securing their future or the finishing of a career, or by both spouses through a common agreement, shall also be charged to the conjugal partnership, when they have not stipulated that it is to be satisfied from the property of one of them, in whole or in part. (1409)

ARTICLE 163. The payment of debts contracted by the husband or the wife before the marriage shall not be charged to the conjugal partnership.

Neither shall the fines and pecuniary indemnities imposed upon them be charged to the partnership.

However, the payment of debts contracted by the husband or the wife before the marriage, and that of fines and indemnities imposed upon them, may be enforced against the partnership assets after the responsibilities enumerated in article 161 have been covered, if the spouse who is bound should have no exclusive property or if it should be insufficient; but at the time of the liquidation of the partnership such spouse shall be charged for what has been paid for the purposes above-mentioned. (1410)

ARTICLE 164. Whatever may be lost during the marriage in any kind of gambling, betting or game, whether permitted or prohibited by law, shall be borne by the loser, and shall not be charged to the conjugal partnership. (1411a)

SECTION 5

Administration of the Conjugal Partnership

ARTICLE 165. The husband is the administrator of the conjugal partnership. (1412a)

ARTICLE 166. Unless the wife has been declared a non compos mentis or a spendthrift, or is under civil interdiction or is confined in a leprosarium, the husband cannot alienate or encumber any real property of the conjugal partnership without the wife’s consent. If she refuses unreasonably to give her consent, the court may compel her to grant the same.

This article shall not apply to property acquired by the conjugal partnership before the effective date of this Code. (1413a)

ARTICLE 167. In case of abuse of powers of administration of the conjugal partnership property by the husband, the courts, on petition of the wife, may provide for receivership, or administration by the wife, or separation of property. (n)

ARTICLE 168. The wife may, by express authority of the husband embodied in a public instrument, administer the conjugal partnership property. (n)

ARTICLE 169. The wife may also by express authority of the husband appearing in a public instrument, administer the latter’s estate. (n)

ARTICLE 170. The husband or the wife may dispose by will of his or her half of the conjugal partnership profits. (1414a)

ARTICLE 171. The husband may dispose of the conjugal partnership property for the purposes specified in articles 161 and 162. (1415a)

ARTICLE 172. The wife cannot bind the conjugal partnership without the husband’s consent, except in cases provided by law. (1416a)

ARTICLE 173. The wife may, during the marriage, and within ten years from the transaction questioned, ask the courts for the annulment of any contract of the husband entered into without her consent, when such consent is required, or any act or contract of the husband which tends to defraud her or impair her interest in the conjugal partnership property. Should the wife fail to exercise this right, she or her heirs, after the dissolution of the marriage, may demand the value of property fraudulently alienated by the husband. (n)

ARTICLE 174. With the exception of moderate donations for charity, neither husband nor wife can donate any property of the conjugal partnership without the consent of the other. (n)

SECTION 6

Dissolution of the Conjugal Partnership

ARTICLE 175. e The conjugal partnership of gains terminates:

(1) Upon the death of either spouse;

(2) When there is a decree of legal separation;

(3) When the marriage is annulled;

(4) In case of judicial separation of property under article 191. (1417a)

ARTICLE 176. In case of legal separation, the guilty spouse shall forfeit his or her share of the conjugal partnership profits, which shall be awarded to the children of both, and the children of the guilty spouse had by a prior marriage. However, if the conjugal partnership property came mostly or entirely from the work or industry, or from the wages and salaries, or from the fruits of the separate property of the guilty spouse, this forfeiture shall not apply.

In case there are no children, the innocent spouse shall be entitled to all the net profits. (n)

ARTICLE 177. In case of annulment of the marriage, the spouse who acted in bad faith or gave cause for annulment shall forfeit his or her share of the conjugal partnership profits. The provisions of the preceding article shall govern. (n)

ARTICLE 178. The separation in fact between husband and wife without judicial approval, shall not affect the conjugal partnership, except that:

(1) The spouse who leaves the conjugal home or refuses to live therein, without just cause, shall not have a right to be supported;

(2) When the consent of one spouse to any transaction of the other is required by law, judicial authorization shall be necessary;

(3) If the husband has abandoned the wife without just cause for at least one year, she may petition the court for a receivership, or administration by her of the conjugal partnership property, or separation of property. (n)