Legal Separation: Meaning in Philippine Law

The main effect is in Article 63:

This is the big difference from annulment and declaration of nullity. Those cases end the marriage or confirm that there was never a valid one. Legal separation does not. See Annulment vs legal separation for a side-by-side view.

Article 55 lists ten grounds. They include:

• repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct against the petitioner, a common child or a child of the petitioner;
• drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent;
• a bigamous marriage contracted by the respondent, in the Philippines or abroad;
• sexual infidelity or perversion;
• an attempt by the respondent against the petitioner's life;
• abandonment without justifiable cause for more than one year.

The full list is explained in Grounds for legal separation. Under Article 56, the court denies the petition if, for example, the aggrieved spouse forgave or consented to the act, both spouses gave ground, or the spouses acted in collusion.

Yes. The petition must be filed within five years from the time the cause happened (Article 57). The case cannot be tried until six months have passed since the filing (Article 58).

Under Article 63:

• the absolute community or conjugal partnership is dissolved and liquidated, and the offending spouse loses his or her share of the net profits;
• custody of the minor children goes to the innocent spouse, subject to the tender-age presumption of Article 213;
• the offending spouse cannot inherit from the innocent spouse by intestate succession, and provisions in his or her favor in the innocent spouse's will are revoked by law.

If the spouses reconcile, they file a joint sworn statement with the court (Article 65). A pending case then ends, and a final decree is set aside, but the separation of property (and any forfeiture already made) stays unless they agree to revive their old regime (Article 66).

Made-up illustration: Gina's husband, Rod, has hit her many times. She files for legal separation within five years, on the ground of repeated physical violence. If the court grants it, they live apart and their property is divided. But they are still married. If Gina later wants to marry someone else, legal separation does not allow it, and a new marriage could be bigamy.