Conjugal Property Among Spouses: Absolute Community of Property and Other Provisions in Philippine Law
Couples engaged to be wed consider many things leading up to their lives as a married couple. After all, marriage doesn’t only signify the union of two people. It is also the merging together of two separate lives into one and everything that comes with them. This includes their estates, including any lands or homes they own.
When a couple determines ownership over their properties for when they are married, it’s important to know that property relations are different from when they are single. There are policies that affect the properties they own before the marriage and those they could possibly acquire afterwards like when they buy a home.
Within the bounds of marriage, the couple immediately owns conjugal property.
Conjugal property is any property that is legally recognised to be the ownership of both spouses. Some examples of conjugal properties include the combined income earned while the marriage is active and a family home acquired as husband and wife.
In the Philippines, a marriage settlement, such as a prenuptial agreement, can determine conjugal property. In case they do not have a prenup, Philippine Law can cover property ownership among spouses by default depending on the date of their marriage. There are three structured set of policies, also known as regimes, that can be found in the Family Code of the Philippines. These regimes provide straightforward policies over what falls within conjugal property.
Marriages before August 3, 1988 will fall within the Conjugal Partnership of Gains. Those after August 3, 1988 will follow the Absolute Community of Property. The third regime is the Complete Separation of Properties, which is another option for married couples who think they would benefit from it.
Absolute Community of Property
The Absolute Community of Property (ACP) is the default regime that oversees the estate of spouses who are married after 1988. The system of ACP begins at the precise moment of marriage. Through ACP, a couple’s properties are now shared as one estate. This common fund, called the absolute community, includes properties each of them had brought into the marriage like the husband’s car or the wife’s furniture. It also includes any properties they may purchase or acquire in the future as a married couple, such as a condominium.
If the married couple files for a legal separation or annulment, their conjugal properties are divided equally among them.
There are several exclusions, however, in the system of ACP. First, any property acquired by either the husband or wife during their marriage through a donation is not part of the absolute community. Donations include inheritance from parents as well its fruits, unless the donor expressly states to include them.
The second exclusion is any property for the personal use of either spouse such as clothing or personal gifts given to only one of them. Though articles of clothing as exempt, there is an exception for jewelry even if one spouse wears them.
Lastly, properties acquired by either the husband or wife from a prior marriage where they had children are also excluded.
Conjugal Partnership of Gains
Conjugal Partnership of Gains (CPG) focuses on the properties acquired by the husband and wife within the bounds of marriage. These properties, whether gained through their efforts or by chance, fall under their conjugal property. Thus, the fruits of those properties in the form of income or products should also be conjugal to them.
If either the husband or wife has a property under his or her name before their marriage, they will remain its exclusive owner.
But their individual properties join together as one estate when they get married. Simply put, what the man owns is still his, and what the woman owns is still hers. What has changed are the ownership of its fruits. Any new income or products gained from either spouse’s properties are now shared evenly between them.
If the couple files for legal separation or annulment, their individual properties and their fruits return to them only. For properties acquired during their marriage, the fruits remain conjugal to the couple. Thus, if it continues to generate revenue or increase in value, they are equally entitled to its fruits.
Complete Separation of Properties
The Complete Separation of Properties is a property regime that requires an agreement between the spouses to be in place, or else ACP will automatically apply. This allows each spouse to enjoy his or her own separate estate and all its fruits or earnings while still happily married.
In this regime, each spouse does not only retain ownership of their properties from before marriage; if they acquire new ones individually while married, they enjoy ownership of it as well.
The separation of property may refer to present or future property or both, and it may be total or partial separation. In case the couple decides for partial separation, any properties not agreed upon to be separate must pertain to ACP.
Should Couples Engage in Prenuptial Agreements?
Husbands and wives to-be can exercise their right to maintain ownership over their properties by way of a prenup. Though it is not as common practice in the Philippines than in other Western countries, having a prenup allows couples to identify which of their properties they want to be conjugal. For couples intending to marry in the near future, it is recommended to discuss the possibility of having a prenup as soon as possible in the presence of a lawyer. However, if couples can agree to the regime of ACP, which is automatic now in this decade, then it will simply apply on the date of their marriage.
Sources:
lawyerphilippines.org | divinalaw.com | chanrobles.com | business.inquirer.net/179649/marriage-who-owns-what
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