Conflict Rules for PRIL
Legal status
CC 15
Laws relating to family rights and
duties, or to the status, condition and legal
capacity of persons are binding upon citizens
of the Philippines, even though living
abroad.
Family relations
CC 17
The forms and solemnities of
contracts, wills, and other public instruments
shall be governed by the laws of the country
in which they are executed.
When the acts referred to are
executed before the diplomatic or consular
officials of the Republic of the Philippines
in a foreign country, the solemnities
established by Philippine laws shall be
observed in their execution.
Prohibitive laws concerning persons,
their acts or property, and those which have,
for their object, public order, public
policy and good customs shall not be
rendered ineffective by laws or judgments
promulgated, or by determinations or
conventions agreed upon in a foreign
country.
CC 71
All marriages performed outside the
Philippines in accordance with the laws in
force in the country where they were
performed, and valid there as such, shall also
be valid in this country, except
bigamous, polygamous, or incestuous
marriages as determined by Philippine law.
CC 75
Marriages between Filipino citizens
abroad may be solemnized by consuls and
vice-consuls of the Republic of the
Philippines. The duties of the local civil
registrar and of a judge or justice of the
peace or mayor with regard to the
celebration of marriage shall be performed
by such consuls and vice-consuls.
FC 7.5
Marriage may be solemnized by:
(5) Any consul-general, consul or vice-consul
in the case provided in Article 10.
FC 10
Marriages between Filipino citizens
abroad may be solemnized by a consul-
general, consul or vice-consul of the
Republic of the Philippines. The issuance
of the marriage license and the duties of the
local civil registrar and of the solemnizing
officer with regard to the celebration of
marriage shall be performed by said
consular official.
FC 26
All marriages solemnized outside the
Philippines, in accordance with the laws in
force in the country where they were
solemnized, and valid there as such, shall
also be valid in this country, except those
prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5) and
(6), 3637 and 38.
Where a marriage between a Filipino
citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated
and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained
abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him
or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall
have capacity to remarry under Philippine
law.
FC 35.1, 35.4, 35.5
The following marriages shall be void
from the beginning:
(1) Those contracted by any party below
eighteen years of age even with the consent
of parents or guardians;
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(4) Those bigamous or polygamous
marriages not failing under Article 41;
(5) Those contracted through mistake of one
contracting party as to the identity of the
other;
FC 41
A marriage contracted by any person
during subsistence of a previous marriage
shall be null and void, unless before the
celebration of the subsequent marriage, the
prior spouse had been absent for four
consecutive years and the spouse
present has a well-founded belief that
the absent spouse was already dead. In case
of disappearance where there is danger of
death under the circumstances set forth in
the provisions of Article 391 of the Civil
Code, an absence of only two years shall be
sufficient.
For the purpose of contracting the
subsequent marriage under the preceding
paragraph the spouse present must institute
a summary proceeding as provided in this
Code for the declaration of presumptive
death of the absentee, without prejudice
to the effect of reappearance of the absent
spouse.
FC 36-38
Art. 36. A marriage contracted by any
party who, at the time of the celebration,
was psychologically incapacitated to comply
with the essential marital obligations of
marriage, shall likewise be void even if
such incapacity becomes manifest only
after its solemnization.
Art. 37. Marriages between the following
are incestuous and void from the
beginning, whether relationship between the
parties be legitimate or illegitimate:
(1) Between ascendants and descendants of
any degree; and
(2) Between brothers and sisters, whether of
the full or half blood.
Art. 38. The following marriages shall be
void from the beginning for reasons of
public policy:
(1) Between collateral blood relatives
whether legitimate or illegitimate, up to the
fourth civil degree;
(2) Between step-parents and step-children;
(3) Between parents-in-law and children-in-
law;
(4) Between the adopting parent and the
adopted child;
(5) Between the surviving spouse of the
adopting parent and the adopted child;
(6) Between the surviving spouse of the
adopted child and the adopter;
(7) Between an adopted child and a
legitimate child of the adopter;
(8) Between adopted children of the same
adopter; and
(9) Between parties where one, with the
intention to marry the other, killed that other
person's spouse, or his or her own spouse.
FC 80
In the absence of a contrary stipulation in a
marriage settlement, the property relations
of the spouses shall be governed by
Philippine laws, regardless of the place of
the celebration of the marriage and their
residence.
This rule shall not apply:
(1) Where both spouses are aliens;
(2) With respect to the extrinsic validity of
contracts affecting property not situated in
the Philippines and executed in the country
where the property is located; and
(3) With respect to the extrinsic validity of
contracts entered into in the Philippines but
affecting property situated in a foreign
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country whose laws require different
formalities for its extrinsic validity.
CC 66
When either or both of the
contracting parties are citizens or subjects of
a foreign country, it shall be necessary,
before a marriage license can be obtained, to
provide themselves with a certificate of legal
capacity to contract marriage, to be issued by
their respective diplomatic or consular
officials.
CC 124
If the marriage is between a citizen of
the Philippines and a foreigner, whether
celebrated in the Philippines or abroad, the
following rules shall prevail:
(1) If the husband is a citizen of the
Philippines while the wife is a foreigner, the
provisions of this Code shall govern their
relations;
(2) If the husband is a foreigner and the wife
is a citizen of the Philippines, the laws of the
husband's country shall be followed, without
prejudice to the provisions of this Code with
regard to immovable property.
Succession / Property
CC 16
Real property as well as personal
property is subject to the law of the country
where it is stipulated.
However, intestate and testamentary
successions, both with respect to the order
of succession and to the amount of
successional rights and to the intrinsic
validity of testamentary provisions, shall be
regulated by the national law of the person
whose succession is under consideration,
whatever may be the nature of the property
and regardless of the country wherein said
property may be found.
CC 815-819
Art. 815. When a Filipino is in a foreign
country, he is authorized to make a will in
any of the forms established by the law of
the country in which he may be. Such will,
may be probated in the Philippines.
Art. 816. The will of an alien who is abroad
produces effect in the Philippines if made
with the formalities prescribed by the law of
the place in which he resides, or according to
the formalities observed in his country, or in
conformity with those which this Code
prescribes.
Art. 817. A will made in the Philippines by a
citizen or subject of another country, which
is executed in accordance with the law of the
country of which he is a citizen or subject,
and which might be proved and allowed by
the law of his own country, shall have the
same effect as if executed according to the
laws of the Philippines.
Art. 818. Two or more persons cannot make
a will jointly, or in the same instrument,
either for their reciprocal benefit or for the
benefit of a third person.
Art. 819. Wills, prohibited by the preceding
article, executed by Filipinos in a foreign
country shall not be valid in the Philippines,
even though authorized by the laws of the
country where they may have been executed.
CC 829
A revocation done outside the
Philippines, by a person who does not have
his domicile in this country, is valid when it
is done according to the law of the place
where the will was made, or according to the
law of the place in which the testator had his
domicile at the time; and if the revocation
takes place in this country, when it is in
accordance with the provisions of this Code.
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CC 1039
Capacity to succeed is governed by
the law of the nation of the decedent.
Contract
CC 17.1
The forms and solemnities of
contracts, wills, and other public instruments
shall be governed by the laws of the country
in which they are executed.
CC 1306
The contracting parties may establish
such stipulations, clauses, terms and
conditions as they may deem convenient,
provided they are not contrary to law,
morals, good customs, public order, or
public policy.
CC 1753
The law of the country to which the
goods are to be transported shall govern the
liability of the common carrier for their loss,
destruction or deterioration.
Property
CC 16.1
Real property as well as personal
property is subject to the law of the country
where it is stipulated.
CC 118
The property relations between
husband and wife shall be governed in the
following order:
(1) By contract executed before the marriage;
(2) By the provisions of this Code; and
(3) By custom.
CC 124
If the marriage is between a citizen of
the Philippines and a foreigner, whether
celebrated in the Philippines or abroad, the
following rules shall prevail:
(1) If the husband is a citizen of the
Philippines while the wife is a foreigner, the
provisions of this Code shall govern their
relations;
(2) If the husband is a foreigner and the wife
is a citizen of the Philippines, the laws of the
husband's country shall be followed, without
prejudice to the provisions of this Code with
regard to immovable property.
FC 74-75
Art. 74. The property relationship between
husband and wife shall be governed in the
following order:
(1) By marriage settlements executed before
the marriage;
(2) By the provisions of this Code; and
(3) By the local custom. (118)
Art. 75. The future spouses may, in the
marriage settlements, agree upon the regime
of absolute community, conjugal partnership
of gains, complete separation of property, or
any other regime. In the absence of a
marriage settlement, or when the regime
agreed upon is void, the system of absolute
community of property as established in this
Code shall govern.
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