FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS OF LIVE IN PARTNERS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS OF LIVE IN PARTNERS

When it comes to marriage and family life, the Philippines stands out, among other nations, to be firmly conservative. The prevailing State policy is fiercely protective of marriage, that divorce, has not gain a foothold to find its way in the statute books.

State policy declares marriage as an institution which is sacrosanct. Getting married is not as easy as one thinks. The first step is getting a license, and there are formal and legal requisites. Marriage provides for rights and obligations affecting family relations.  

Philippine law, defines family relations as one which includes the husband and the wife, parents and children, ascendants and descendants, brothers and sisters. These are relations within  the nucleus of marriage.

Studies reveal that while a majority men and women prefer to be bound in marriage through church-civil rites, the number of couples simply cohabiting outside the bond of marriage is increasing. The “live in” arrangement has gained a wide acceptance among adults of this generation. Many are hardly aware of the legal effects of their non-marital union.

The most frequently asked questions by live in partners who commit to a non-marital union are concerning the status of their children and their property relations.

The Family Code identifies two types of non-marital union between a man and a woman.

The first type is the cohabitation of a man and a woman, who are both in a legal position to freely marry each other, because they possess the legal capacity to enter into marriage, but they chose not to. They just live together like husband and wife, cohabiting exclusively, without benefit of marriage.

The second type is the cohabitation of a man and a woman, who, either or both, have no legal capacity to marry each other. In this situation they cannot freely marry each other even if they wanted to, because of an existing legal impediment or legal incapacity. One example would be a married man living with a woman not his wife, though the cohabitation is not exclusive.

The children born in these types of non-marital union are illegitimate. As illegitimate children they only have the rights of an illegitimate child under the law. They may establish their illegitimate filiation.

When properties are acquired, in a non-marital union, the rule which would govern the property relations of the partners would depend on which type of non-marital union they would fall.

In the first type of non-marital union where the parties live together outside the bond of marriage, though they have the legal capacity to marry each other, the rule on full co-ownership would apply in their property relations. The co-ownership would cover their wages and salaries, and the properties they acquire through their work or industry.

In the second type of non-marital union where the couple has no legal capacity to marry each other, the rule on limited co-ownership would apply in their property relations.

In this case the limited co-ownership would cover only their actual joint contribution of money; actual joint contribution of property; and actual joint contribution of industry. The salaries and wages are excluded, since only their actual and joint contribution of money, or property, or industry are included.

The situation may becomes a little  complicated when the partners decide to terminate or dissolve the relationship. This raises questions as to how the parent and child attachment relationship would be preserved, or resolved.  

The termination of the relationship would further entail the dissolution of the  of  the co-ownership of the partners’ properties. Again the question boils down to the determination of the extent of their acquisition and their respective shares in the partition.