SUPPORT
DEFINITION
It comprises everything indispensable for sustenance, dwelling, clothing,
medical attendance, education and transportation in keeping with the
financial capacity of the family.
KINDS (LJC)
1. Legal - one required or given by law.
2. Judicial - required by the court to be given whether pendente lite or in a
final judgment.
3. Conventional - given by agreement.
CHARACTERISTICS (MR-P2INE)
1. Mandatory
2. Reciprocal on the part of those who are by law bound to support each
other
3. Personal
4. Provisional character of support judgment
5. Intransmissible
6. Not subject to waiver or compensation; and
7. Exempt from attachment or execution
OBLIGED PERSONS
The following are obliged to support each other: (SP2L2)
1. Spouses
2. Parents and their legitimate children, and the legitimate and illegitimate
children of the latter
3. Parents and their illegitimate children, and the legitimate and illegitimate
children of the latter
4. Legitimate ascendants and descendants; and
5. Legitimate brothers and sisters whether full or half-blood.
i. Order of Liability
Whenever two or more persons are obliged to give support, the liability shall
devolve around the following in order:
1. The Spouse
2. The descendants in the nearest degree
3. The ascendants in the nearest degree
4. Brothers and sisters
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SUPPORT
ii. Support by Stranger
Under Article 206: (IN)
1. Stranger gives support to another with the Intention to be
reimbursed; and
2. Person obliged to give support to the recipient does Not
have knowledge of the stranger's act.
Under Article 207: (UFU)
1. There is an Urgent need to be supported on the part of the recipient
2. A third person Furnishes the support to the needy individual
3. The person obliged to support Unjustly refuses or fails to give the
support
Reason: to avoid unjustly enrichment of one towards the other.
iii. Support Pendente Lite
During the proceedings for legal separation or for annulment of marriage,
and for declaration of nullity of marriage, the spouses and their children shall
be supported from the properties of the absolute community or conjugal
partnership.
Mutual support between the spouses ceases after final judgment.
However, in case of legal separation, the court may order the guilty spouse
to support the innocent spouse.
PROPERTIES LIABLE
The properties liable is the absolute community or the conjugal partnership of
the marriage. However, in the absence thereof, then from the fruits and
income of their separate properties. In the absence or insufficiency thereof,
from the separate properties of the spouses.
AMOUNT/BASIS
The amount of support shall be in proportion to the resources or means of the
giver to the necessities of the recipient.
Support may be increased or decreased proportionately, according to the
increase or reduction of the necessities of the recipient and the resources or
means of the person obliged to furnish the same.
RECKONING PERIOD
The law states that support shall be paid, under the premises given, from the
date of judicial or extrajudicial demand.
Payment shall be made within the first five days of each corresponding
month or when the recipient dies, his heirs shall not be obliged to return what
he has received in advance.
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SUPPORT and PARENTAL AUTHORITY
DEMAND FOR SUPPORT
The obligation to give support is demandable from the time the person who
has a right to receive support needs it for maintenance.
Note: shall be paid when there is a judicial or extrajudicial demand.
The right to support does not arise from mere fact of relationship but from
imperative necessity without which it cannot be demanded. The law
presumes that such necessity does not exist unless support is demanded.
OPTIONS FOR SUPPORT
The person obliged to give support shall have the option to fulfill the
obligation either by paying the allowance fixed, or by receiving and
maintaining in the family dwelling the person who has a right to receive
support. The latter alternative cannot be availed of in case there is a moral or
legal obstacle thereto.
PARENTAL AUTHORITY
It is the sum of the right of the parents over the persons and property of their
unemancipated children. It is pursuant to the natural, right and duty of
parents over the same and it includes caring for and rearing of such children
for civic consciousness and efficiency and the development of their moral
and physical character and well-being.
WHO EXERCISES
The father and the mother shall jointly exercise parental authority over the
persons and property of their common children. In case of disagreement, the
father's decision shall prevail unless there is a judicial order to the contrary.
If the child is illegitimate, the mother shall have the parental authority alone.
PARENTAL PREFERENCE RULE
The natural parents, who are of good moral character and who can
reasonably provide for the child, are ordinarily entitled to custody as against
all other persons.
JOINT PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Rules in case cannot be exercised jointly:
1. Absence or death of either parent - parent present shall continue
exercising parental authority.
2. Remarriage of either parent - it shall not affect the parental authority
over the children, unless the court appoints another person to be the
guardian of the person or property of the children.
3. Separation by fact - the parent designated by the court.
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PARENTAL AUTHORITY
RULE ON FILIAL PRIVILEGE
General Rule: No person may be compelled to testify against his parents,
other direct ascendants, children or other direct descendants.
Exception: when such testimony is indispensable in a crime against the
descendant or by one parent against the other.
MARITAL PRIVILEGE
The husband or the wife, during or after the marriage, cannot be examined
without the consent of the other as to any communication received in
confidence by one from the other during the marriage except in a civil case
or in a criminal case by one against the other or the latter's direct
descendants or ascendants.
MATERNAL PREFERENCE/TENDER YEARS RULE
General rule: No child under 7 years of age shall be separated from the
mother.
Exception: when the court finds compelling reason to order otherwise.
The welfare and well-being of the child is the paramount consideration in
awarding custody.
SUBSTITUTE PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Persons who will exercise parental authority in the default of parents or a
judicially appointed guardian, in the order indicated: (SOC)
1. Surviving grandparent
2. Oldest brother or sister, over 21 years of age, unless unfit or
disqualified; and
3. Actual Custodial, over 21 years of age, unless unfit or disqualified.
In the absence of a legitimate mother, the legitimate father is still preferred
over the grandparents.
Exercised in case of death, absence or unsuitability of parents.
SPECIAL PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Can only be exercised by the school, its administrators and teachers, or the
individual entity or institution engaged in child are over minors while under
their supervision, instruction or custody. The authority and responsibility also
attach to all authorized activities whether inside or outside the premises of
the school, entity or institution.
The following shall be held principally and solidarily liable for damages
caused by the acts or omissions of the unemancipated minor: (SAC)
1. School: no distinction between academic or non-academic
2. Administrators and teachers
3. Individual entity or institution engaged in Child care
Note: persons exercising special parental authority shall in no case inflict
corporal punishment to the child.
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PARENTAL AUTHORITY
As held in the case of Palisoc v. Brillantes, the phrase "so long as the students
remain in their custody", means the protective and supervisory custody that
the school and its heads and teachers exercise over the pupils and students
for as long as they are at attendance in the school, including recess time. In
view of the Court, the student is in the custody of the school authorities as
long he is under the control and influence of the school and within its
premises.
Rests on the theory that while the child is in the care and custody of the
person/s exercising SPA, the parents temporarily relinquish parental authority.
EFFECTS OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Upon the person of the child: (KeG-PEF-DRIP)
1. To Keep them in their company, to support, educate and instruct
them by right precept and good example, and to provide for their
upbringing in keeping with their means.
2. To Give them love and affection, advice and counsel,
companionship, and understanding.
3. To Provide them with moral and spiritual guidance, inculcate in them
honesty, integrity, self-discipline, self-reliance, industry and thrift,
stimulate their interest in civic affairs, and inspire them compliance
with the duties of citizenship.
4. To Enhance, protect, preserve, and maintain their physical and
mental health at all times.
5. To Furnish them with good and wholesome educational materials,
supervise their activities, recreation and association with others,
protect them from bad company, and prevent them from acquiring
habits detrimental to their health, studies and morals.
6. To Demand from them respect and obedience.
7. To Represent them in all matters affecting their interests.
8. To Impose discipline on them as may be required under the
circumstances.
9. To Perform such other duties as are imposed by law upon parents
and guardians.
RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF PARENTS
Procedure for imposing discipline
The parents, the individual, entity or institution exercising parental
authority, may petition the court of the place where the child resides, for
an order providing for disciplinary measures over the child:
i. Commitment of the child for not more than thirty days in entities
or institutions engaged in child care or in children's homes duly
accredited by the proper government agency.
ii. The parent exercising parental authority shall not interfere with
the care of the child whenever committed but shall provide for
his support.
The child shall be entitled to the assistance of counsel, either of his choice
or appointed by the court, and a summary hearing shall be conducted
wherein the petitioner and the child shall be heard.
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PARENTAL AUTHORITY
If in the same proceeding, the court finds the petitioner at fault,
irrespective of the merits of the petition, or when the circumstances so
warrant, the court may also order the deprivation or suspension of
parental authority or adopt such other measures as it may deem just and
proper.
Child Abuse Law
Section 10 - Other Acts of Neglect, Abuse, Cruelty or Exploitation and
Other Conditions Prejudicial to the Child’s Development.
(a) Any person who shall commit any other acts of child abuse,
cruelty or exploitation or to be responsible for other conditions
prejudicial to the child’s development including those covered by
Article 59 of Presidential Decree No. 603, as amended, but not
covered by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, shall suffer the
penalty of prision mayor in its minimum period.
(b) Any person who shall keep or have in his company a minor,
twelve (12) years or under or who in ten (10) years or more his junior in
any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque,
cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor, beach and/or
other tourist resort or similar places shall suffer the penalty of prision
mayor in its maximum period and a fine of not less than Fifty
thousand pesos (P50,000.00): Provided, That this provision shall not
apply to any person who is related within the fourth degree of
consanguinity or affinity or any bond recognized by law, local
custom and tradition or acts in the performance of a social, moral or
legal duty.
(c) Any person who shall induce, deliver or offer a minor to any one
prohibited by this Act to keep or have in his company a minor as
provided in the preceding paragraph shall suffer the penalty of
prision mayor in its medium period and a fine of not less than Forty
thousand pesos (P40,000.00); Provided, however, That should the
perpetrator be an ascendant, stepparent or guardian of the minor,
the penalty to be imposed shall be prision mayor in its maximum
period, a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00), and
the loss of parental authority over the minor.
(d) Any person, owner, manager or one entrusted with the operation
of any public or private place of accommodation, whether for
occupancy, food, drink or otherwise, including residential places,
who allows any person to take along with him to such place or
places any minor herein described shall be imposed a penalty of
prision mayor in its medium period and a fine of not less than Fifty
thousand pesos (P50,000.00), and the loss of the license to operate
such a place or establishment.
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PARENTAL AUTHORITY
(e) Any person who shall use, coerce, force or intimidate a street
child or any other child to:
(1) Beg or use begging as a means of living;
(2) Act as conduit or middlemen in drug trafficking or pushing; or
(3) Conduct any illegal activities, shall suffer the penalty of
prision correccional in its medium period to reclusion perpetua.
For purposes of this Act, the penalty for the commission of acts
punishable under Articles 248, 249, 262, paragraph 2, and 263,
paragraph 1 of Act No. 3815, as amended, the Revised Penal Code,
for the crimes of murder, homicide, other intentional mutilation, and
serious physical injuries, respectively, shall be reclusion perpetua
when the victim is under twelve (12) years of age.
The penalty for the commission of acts punishable under Articles
337, 339, 340 and 341 of Act No. 3815, as amended, the Revised
Penal Code, for the crimes of qualified seduction, acts of
lasciviousness with the consent of the offended party, corruption of
minors, and white slave trade, respectively, shall be one (1) degree
higher than that imposed by law when the victim is under twelve (12)
years age.
The victim of the acts committed under this section shall be
entrusted to the care of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development.
ADMINISTRATION OF CHILD'S PROPERTY
The father and the mother shall jointly exercise legal guardianship over the
property of the unemancipated common child without the necessity of a
court appointment. In case of disagreement, The father's decision shall
prevail, unless there is a judicial order to the contrary.
The parents are required to file a bond where the market value of the annual
income of the child exceeds P50,000. The bond shall not be less than 10% of
the value of the property or annual income to guarantee the performance
of the obligations prescribed for general guardians.
PARENTAL LIABILITY
Vicarious Liability
Parents and other persons exercising parental authority shall be civilly
liable for the injuries and damages caused by the acts or omissions of
their unemancipated children living in their company and under their
parental authority subject to the appropriate defenses provided by law.
Subsidiary Liability
Parents, judicial guardians or those exercising substitute parental
authority over the minor are subsidiary liable for said acts and omissions
of the minor.
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PARENTAL AUTHORITY
SUSPENSION OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY (CEO-BAN)
1. Conviction of a crime with the penalty of civil interdiction.
2. Excessively harsh or cruel treatment against the child.
3. Orders, counsel or example which are corrupting, given by the person
exercising parental authority.
4. Child is compelled to Beg.
5. Subjecting child or allowing child to be subjected to Acts of lasciviousness.
6. Negligence, which is culpable, committed by the person exercising parental
authority.
TERMINATION OF PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Permanent: (DEDS)
1. Death of the parents
2. Emancipation of the child
3. Death of the child
4. If the person is exercising parental authority has subjected the child
or allowed him to be subjected to Sexual abuse
Temporary: (I-DAGA)
1. Upon Adoption of the child
2. Upon appointment of a General guardian
3. Upon judicial declaration of Abandonment of the child in a case
filed for the purpose
4. Upon final judgment of a competent court Divesting the party
concerned of parental authority
5. Upon judicial declaration of absence or Incapacity of the person
exercising parental authority
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Week 14 cases
ALMACEN v. BALTAZAR
• The law on support contains no provision squarely applicable to the
present case in which both parties had committed infidelity, neither is
there any provision to the effect that both spouses committed marital
offenses against one another, one can no longer ask support from the
other.
• There is the general principle that when two persons acted in bad faith,
they should be considered as having acted in good faith, which principle
may be applied to the instant case to the effect that plaintiff and
defendant being in pari delicto (mutual guilt), the latter cannot claim the
adultery of the former as defense to evade the obligation to give her
support.
PABLO-GUALBERTO v. GUALBERTO and GUALBERTO v. COURT OF APPEALS
and PABLO-GUALBERTO
Provisions:
Article 211 of the Family Code: The father and the mother shall jointly
exercise parental authority over their children. In the case of
disagreement, the father’s decision shall prevail, unless there is a judicial
order to the contrary. A mother's authority is subordinated to the father's. In
all controversies regarding the custody of minors, the sole and foremost
consideration is the physical, educational, social and moral welfare of the
child, taking into account the respective resources and social and moral
situations of the contending parties.
Article 213 of the Family Code: No child under seven years of age shall be
separated from his mother unless the Court finds compelling reasons to
order otherwise.
• The ground of having lesbian relations is immoral is not sufficient enough to
take the custody of the child from the mother. Even a prostitute mother or
an unfaithful wife does not necessarily mean incompetent mother.
• It has not been shown that the lesbian relations of the mother affects the
welfare of the child.
LEE v. COURT OF APPEALS
Provision : Section 25, Rule 130 of the Rules of Evidence states that:
Parental and filial privilege - No person may be compelled to
testify against his parents, other direct ascendants, children or
other direct descendants.
• Tiu, who invokes the filial privilege, claims that she is the stepmother of
the petitioner. The privilege cannot apply to them because the rule
applies only to "direct" ascendants and descendants, a family tie
connected by a common ancestry. A stepdaughter has no common
ancestry by her stepmother.
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Week 14 cases
SAGALA-ESLAO v. COURT OF APPEALS and CORDERO-OUYE
• The child's welfare is always the paramount consideration in all questions
concerning his care and custody.
• If the children will be with their mother, the probability is that they will be
afforded a bright future.
• Parental authority and responsibility are inalienable and may not be
transferred or renounced except in cases authorized by law. The right
attached to parental authority, being purely personal, the law allows a
waiver of parental authority only in cases of adoption, guardianship and
surrender to a children's home or an orphan institution.
• When a parent entrusts the custody of a minor to another, what is given is
merely temporary custody and it does not constitute a renunciation of
parental authority.
• Also, under the law, the father and the mother, being the natural guardians
of unemancipated children, are duty-bound and entitled to keep them in
their custody and company.
PALISOC v. BRILLANTES
• the phrase "so long as the students remain in their custody", means the
protective and supervisory custody that the school and its heads and
teachers exercise over the pupils and students for as long as they are at
attendance in the school, including recess time.
The observance of diligence of a good father of a family may be
invoked, however, it must be properly established.
• The unfortunate death resulting from the fight between the students could
have been avoided, had said defendants complied with their duty of
providing adequate supervision over the activities of the students in the
school premises to protect their students from harm.
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