Sale between common-law spouses

Dear Atty. Angela,

I have been physically separated from my husband and we have three children. He already has a new partner and I just recently found out that he sold a property we own to his girlfriend.

When I confronted him about this, he said that he received a fair and reasonable price for the sale of the property and he was not violating any law. He also promised to give me a portion of the sale payment.

Is the sale agreement between them acceptable given the supposed receipt of payment?

Jenny

Dear Jenny,

The sale of property between your husband and his partner, despite having received payment for it, is void.

The subject property having been acquired during the existence of your valid marriage is presumed to belong to the conjugal partnership. Also, since there has not been a judicial decree declaring the dissolution of your marriage, the property belongs to the conjugal partnership. Even if we are to assume that the property is not conjugal, the sale of the property is not valid, as they are living as common-law husband and wife.

In Ching v. Goyanko Jr., G.R. 165879 (2006), the Supreme Court held that the contract of sale was null and void for being contrary to morals and public policy. The sale was made by a husband in favor of a concubine after he had abandoned his family and left the conjugal home where his wife and children lived and from whence they derived their support. The sale was subversive of the stability of the family, a basic social institution that public policy cherishes and protects.

Article 1409 of the Civil Code states that: contracts whose cause, object, or purposes are contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order, or public policy are void and inexistent from the very beginning.

The prohibition of the law on spouses from selling property to each other likewise applies to a couple living as husband and wife without benefit of marriage, otherwise, "the condition of those who incurred guilt would turn out to be better than those in legal union."

Atty. Angela Antonio