Dear Atty. Angela,

I married a widower and ever since we plan to have our separate home. We decided to build a house in a land that he owns but he told me that he bought this at the time when his first wife was still alive. Since I am the one who is working, I will be the one spending for the construction. Is this safe? As the new legal wife, do I also now own the land?

Felicia

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Dear Felicia,

Article 130 of the Family Code requires the liquidation of the conjugal partnership upon death of a spouse and prohibits any disposition or encumbrance of the conjugal property prior to the conjugal partnership liquidation. Article 130 provides that “(u)pon the termination of the marriage by death, the conjugal partnership property shall be liquidated in the same proceeding for the settlement of the estate of the deceased.”

Now, if there was no settlement proceeding instituted by your husband after the death of the first wife, any disposition or use of the land will be invalidated. Your husband as the surviving spouse, has one-half undivided share of the property which may or may not include the remaining half, until final liquidation to the heirs.

As such, you as the new spouse does not automatically own the property of a widower. Again, property from a previous marriage is separate from the new one, and if it was conjugal property, it first needs to be liquidated and partitioned between the surviving spouse and the heirs of the deceased first spouse.

The new spouse only acquires rights to assets acquired during their new marriage, not those from the widower’s prior life. In other words, the land purchased by them is their exclusive property and not part of your conjugal property. You may build a house but the you cannot be the owner of the land.

The best way to go about it is to either purchase a different lot which you and your husband will own or make your husband process the estate settlement to ensure rightful ownership.

Atty. Angela Antonio