Report: Article 109 of Family Code of the Philippines

Article 109. 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 gratuitous title;

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

(4) That which is purchased with exclusive money of the wife or of the husband. (148a)

In Conjugal partnership of gains, properties brought in to the marriage by the contracting parties are not in the nature of conjugal property thus making them paraphernal hence all rights of dominion can be exercised by the owner spouse. The said properties cannot be encumbered, alienated nor disposed of by the other spouse without the consent of the owner spouse.

In Conjugal partnership of gains, Properties acquired through Gratuitous title are anything received by each spouse from any source by way of an act of generosity of the giver, such as a donation or a gift, shall belong exclusively to the spouse-recipient and will not belong to the conjugal partnership property. These include moderate gifts given by one spouse to another during family occasions. Also, an honorarium may be included as property acquired by gratuitous title as it has been defined as something given not as a matter of obligation but in appreciation for services rendered, a voluntary donation in consideration of services which admit no compensation in money Also, in one case it was held that, if the property were acquired by lucrative (or gratuitous) title such as by way of succession, the said property is separate property regardless of whether it was acquired before or after the marriage.

In case of Redemption, Barter or Exchange of properties, the spouse who has the right to redemption has the exclusive right to said properties provided that the said property is paraphernal in nature. Regardless if the owner spouse uses conjugal funds to redeem such property in which case the owner spouse shall reimburse the conjugal funds spent to redeem the property.

Property purchased using the exclusive money of one spouse shall belong to such spouse. However, when property is purchased using the exclusive money of one spouse but the title is taken in the spouses’ joint names, the circumstances shall determine whether it shall result in a gift from the spouse whose money was used to effect the purchase, or a trust in favor of such spouse.