Dear PAO,

I have been married for 10 years now. My husband and I have gone through several challenging moments during our time together. I have always been on the receiving end; if not for my love for him, I would have separated from him even during the early years of our marriage. However, his womanizing, compulsive gambling and abusive behavior toward me appear to be hopeless and are already taking a heavy toll on my overall well-being. Consequently, I am planning to file a petition to nullify our marriage on the grounds of psychological incapacity. If the court grants my petition, how will our properties be treated?

Nikki

Dear Nikki,

The answer to your query is found in Article 147 of the Family Code of the Philippines.

If your marriage will be declared void, your property relation will be treated as that of co-ownership; thus, Article 147 provides that:

“Art. 147. When a man and a woman who are capacitated to marry each other, live exclusively with each other as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage or under a void marriage, their wages and salaries shall be owned by them in equal shares, and the property acquired by both of them through their work or industry shall be governed by the rules on co-ownership.

“In the absence of proof to the contrary, properties acquired while they lived together shall be presumed to have been obtained by their joint efforts, work or industry, and shall be owned by them in equal shares. For purposes of this Article, a party who did not participate in the acquisition by the other party of any property shall be deemed to have contributed jointly in the acquisition thereof if the former’s efforts consisted in the care and maintenance of the family and of the household.

“Neither party can encumber or dispose by acts inter vivos of his or her share in the property acquired during cohabitation and owned in common, without the consent of the other, until after the termination of their cohabitation.

“When only one of the parties to a void marriage is in good faith, the share of the party in bad faith in the co-ownership shall be forfeited in favor of their common children. In case of default of or waiver by any or all of the common children or their descendants, each vacant share shall belong to the respective surviving descendants. In the absence of descendants, such share shall belong to the innocent party. In all cases, the forfeiture shall take place upon termination of the cohabitation.”

In your case, no impediment to marry has been shown to have existed on either the two of you. You both lived exclusively with each other as husband and wife for around a decade. However, your marriage may be found to be void under Article 36 of the Family Code on the grounds of psychological incapacity due to your husband being a womanizer, compulsive gambler and with abusive conduct. Should the Court so declare, the ground of psychological incapacity clearly falls under Article 147 of the Family Code. The above-quoted provision provides that your wages and salaries shall be owned by both of you in equal shares, and the property you both acquired through your work or industry shall be presumed to have been obtained by your joint efforts and thus shall be governed by the rules on co-ownership. Hence, your property relations will be under co-ownership.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected]