TODA JR. VS.

COURT OF APPEALS

FACTS:

Benigno Toda, Jr. (Benigno for brevity) and Rose Marie Tuason-
Toda (Rose Marie for brevity) were married on June 9, 1951 and were
blessed with two children. Individual differences and the alleged
infidelity of Benigno, however, marred the conjugal union thereby
prompting Rose Marie to file on December 18, 1979 in the former
Court of First Instance of Rizal, 2 as Civil Case No. 35566, a petition for
termination of conjugal partnership for alleged mismanagement and
dissipation of conjugal funds against Benigno.

After hearings were held, the parties in order to avoid further

"disagreeable proceedings," filed on April 1, 1981 a joint petition
forjudicial approval of dissolution of conjugal partnership under Article
191 of the Civil Code, docketed as Special Proceeding No. 9478, 3
which was consolidated with the aforesaid civil case. This petition
which was signed by the parties on March 30, 1981, embodied a
compromise agreement allocating to the spouses their respective
shares in the conjugal partnership assets and dismissing with prejudice
the said Civil Case No. 35566, CA-G.R. No. 11123-SP of the Court of
Appeals and G.R. No. 56121 of this Court. The said petition and the
compromise agreement therein were approved by the trial court in its
order of June 9, 1981. 4

Thereafter, several orders were issued by the lower court

pertaining to the interpretation and implementation of the compromise
agreement

ISSUE: When does the compromise agreement became effective?

HELD:
We are in agreement with the holding of the Court of Appeals
that the compromise agreement became effective only on June 9,
1981, the date it was approved by the trial court, and not on March 30,
1981 when it was signed by the parties. Under Article 134 of the
Family Code “in the absence of express declaration in the marriage
settlements, the separation of property between the spouses during
the marriage shall not take place save in virtue of a judicial order ”
hence, the separation of property is not effected by mere execution of
the contract or agreement of the parties, but by the decree of the
court approving the same. It, therefore, becomes effective only upon
judicial approval, without which it is void. Furthermore, Article 137 of
the said code explicitly pro-vides that the conjugal partnership is
dissolved only upon the issuance of a decree of separation of property.