Through all the family cases that we’ve handled, we’ve come to accept, without discounting the contrary, the sad fact that bad blood exists between the opposing parties (e.g., estranged spouses in annulment/separation/property cases, siblings and relatives in estate proceedings). In particular, with respect to custody-support cases over children, it’s easily understandable that custody is one of the more contested issues. However, the issue on child support should not be as complicated.
Well, it shouldn’t be as complicated, but reality makes it so.
Articles 195 and 196 of the Family Code enumerate the persons who are under obligation to support each other, thus: (1) The spouses; (2) Legitimate ascendants and descendants; (3) Parents and their legitimate children and the legitimate and illegitimate children of the latter; (4) Parents and their illegitimate children and the legitimate and illegitimate children of the latter; (5) Legitimate brothers and sisters, whether of full or half-blood; and (6) Brothers and sisters not legitimately related, whether of the full or half-blood, except only when the need for support of the brother or sister, being of age, is due to a cause imputable to the claimant’s fault or negligence.
On the other hand, the amount of support should be in proportion to the resources or means of the giver and the necessities of the recipient, pursuant to Articles 194, 201 and 202 of the Family Code:
Art. 194. Support comprises everything indispensable for sustenance, dwelling, clothing, medical attendance, education and transportation, in keeping with the financial capacity of the family.
The education of the person entitled to be supported referred to in the preceding paragraph shall include his schooling or training for some profession, trade or vocation, even beyond the age of majority. Transportation shall include expenses in going to and from school, or to and from place of work.
Art. 201. The amount of support, in the cases referred to in Articles 195 and 196, shall be in proportion to the resources or means of the giver and to the necessities of the recipient.
Art. 202. Support in the cases referred to in the preceding article shall be reduced or increased proportionately, according to the reduction or increase of the necessities of the recipient and the resources or means of the person obliged to furnish the same.
If you’re a parent, it is safe to assume that you would want the best for your child and you wouldn’t hesitate to provide adequate support. However, it’s unfortunate that when it comes to support for the common children (whether legitimate or illegitimate), so many fathers still fail (or worse, simply refuse) to provide adequate support. Whatever the reason is, and regardless of whether or not these reasons are correct, the problem became pervasive, so much so that Congress saw it fit to “criminalize” (only against fathers) the withholding of support in certain instances. Not everyone knows that this is covered under Republic Act No. 9262, otherwise known as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004“.
Not everyone also knows that R.A. 9262 provides for criminal sactions or penalties for failure to provide support or withholding custody, in certain cases. Well, now you know.
hi, i would like to ask for help regarding my situation right now, im a mother of 3, me and my husband married for 11 years, Recently i discovered that he cheating on me he decided to leave us and go with the new girl he is with. please help me we have been abandoned, i want him to continue his support to us even if hes not with us anymore. i already accept that he abandoned me but i will not forgive him if he also abandoned our 3 children. what will i do?
Sir,
Good evening sir. I am single mother. I have daughter 9 yrs. Old. His father is currently worked at Saudi since July 2012. Sad to say I am the second partner, she was already married. Mabait nmn po father nya coz he gave a monthly allowance. Private school po kasi anak ko atvyun din nman Gusto ng ama. We ended our relationship last 2012 dahil nahuli ko po may iba pa syang babae bukod sa amin ng Una nyang asawa. Ask ko lang po ilang percent sa salary nya dapat ibbgay nya sa anak ko. Hindi po kasi fix ang monthly allowance na pinapadala. We talked verbally na 15k monthly pero hindi nya po tinupad. Sometimes 9900 pero madalas 8900. Engineer po sya sa Saudi. Ano po pede nyo maiadvce..
Thank you
Hello,
Good day.
I’am Carie. Me and my husband are now estranged for five years. We were wed via Muslim rights and had a son who is now 12 years old. Our boy was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome , thus he is special.
My estranged husband is police official. Things started to crumble when he was assigned in the neighboring province of where he met someone. In the 7th year of being together he started a relationship with this girl and they lived as husband and wife without my knowledge until last year whom i saw them both with their second child. Even then my husband still denies her to me.
Years prior, my son’s support had been reduced. Days after the confrontation I had him in audience with a lawyer where he begged not to file any case and we just talk it over. We gave him the chance. Yet he never did what he promised. Worst this December the girl decided to have the support now in half which sends me in too much rage.
We had a chance to see my son and his dad last February and he insists that i should talk with the girl to agree on my son’s support which i find too absurd.
I’am just a ticking time bomb for he did something also to our marriage papers that may tantamount to filing fraud on his part.
I need a sound legal advise if this would be the right time to file him a case in court?
thank you so much.
carie
hi my name is arlene barlis i’m a solo parent, i have 2 kids 13 and 5 yr old. My husband filed an annulment case last 2012,but i dont know if the case pursue because I dont receive schedule of hearing from the court since 2nd quarter of 2014, Now he already in Canada he gave support but it is not enough for my kids need. what will i do?
thanks
arlene
hi ,
I want to know how can I be protected as well as my 3 children for the resources and financial state of our family…our family is not financially overwhelming thus my husband had an affair and bear a child now the estranged mistress is asking for support …ok its her childs right and im ok with that..as long as me ang my three children will be supported too after all it is my legal right and my childrens right…what the other girl is doing is she state how much should her child would be receiving and demanding right away..what can i do to make it work..i believe as the legal wife i have this conjugal right to my husbands income as well as my children ..i accept the fact that my husband have to support the kid but should be in a way that wont interfere with my our needs..is that possible?
Charm, the general rule is that support should be based on the needs of the person to be supported (education, medicine, etc.) and the capacity of the person who is bound to give the support (source of income, presence of other persons to support, etc.).
Hi, I’m Dexter. 31 yr. old. my wife filed a child abandonment case. We’re married last 2011 but after our wedding we never consume the marriage because it was a shotgun wedding which is I don’t want to do because we’re just caught having sex by her sister so her family demanded for a wedding, and we don’t even have a romantic relationship back then. Now I want to know what are the solid proofs needed for her to prove that I abandon our child when honestly I took off abroad 2 months after the wedding and just this year 2015 I went home and I was surprised when I received a subpoena stating the case above. Please explain me further about this case, how to win, before I take legal actions. Thank you!
Hello po isa po akong single mum with 3 kids. Hiwalay po kami ng live-in ko almost 10years na. Wala pong suporta ang ama ng mga anak ko since na iniwan namin sya dahil nalulong sya sa droga. Gusto ko na supurtahan nya mga anak nya dahil wala na akong trabaho. Ano po bang mga dapat kong gawin? Gusto ko kaseng may buwan buwan syang suporta sa mga anak namin. Please po kelangan ko tulong.
maraming salamat
1.) Saan po kaya ako makapag file nang Demand Letter para sa mistress nang husband ko? Nandito po ako sa America at nasa Philippines ang mistress. Maraming-maraming pera ang nahuthot nya kahit kinausap ko na sya na tigilan na ang asawa ko.
2.) Paano po kaya ako makakuha nang resibo nang mga padala nya sa padalahan na W.U.?
Gusto ko pong mabigyan nang leksyon ang babaeng yon na singer sa bar.
Please help!
Good day sir! I’m elisa and I’m planning to file a case against my father. My dad is a seafarer (marine engineer) he and my mom got separated for 3 or 4 years now because he was having an affair. I have 2 siblings and we are all in college but we stopped because our father doesn’t support us anymore. We’ve tried to reach him thru facebook and email but he doesn’t reply to our messages and phone calls. He abandoned us and his obligations and now we are struggling. We can’t even file a case against him because we don’t have enough money, and according to my mom he’s paying our lawyer to los he case. What should we do? Thank you very much
Hello im sabel ,,33 yrs old..i was 16 yrs old nong nakilala ko ang ama nga anak ko,at that time his 32 yrs old,nag-sama kame at ngka-anak kame, after 1 yr old na ang anak ko ngpa-alam lng siya na mg-apply nga abroad at mula noon naglaho cy na parang bula,,after few month bumalik siya sa amin at my kasama na ibang babae ,at pinakilala nya aswa,at mula noon umalis din ako sa amin pra hindi na ako mgpa-usapan pa kung ano nagyari, kc kahet ako hindi ko talaga alam kung ano nagawa ko sa kanya,, anyway mula noon ako na tumayo at ngtaguyod sa anak ko,, until now,, my daughter is 14 yrs old this july,,ng-abroad ako pra mabuhay ko anak ko,, at mabigyan nga buhay at mabuti ang pang-aaral nya..now last Feb. 2015 saka lang ako ngfile or ask ng-suporta sa kanya..pro dhil hndi cy nka prema sa birth certificate nga anak ko..ginamet nya na rason , ask cy nga Dna test,, at ibibigay ko na mn, ang ask ko lng ano mga legal rights nga anak ko? At pwde ba akp mgdimanda din sa kanya?
Sir, my dad hates us and over the years we had bad blood. I don’t want to dwell on the details but basically we are the illegitimate family and he doesn’t give us ample financial support. My dad is a lawyer. Does his denial to give us support (especially educational support) be enough grounds for us to kick him out of his profession? I believe as someone who talks about the law should practice what he preaches so can it be a strong factor to file a case against him?
Thank you so much. More power.
Hi,,im a single parent,,i hve 1 daughter,,her father is an army.,my daughter was acknowledged by her father,,the time po n kmi ng army guy,he is stil single,,but he took a 2 gf at the same time and got pregnant at the same year,but ny daughter born first,,ang problema ko po,,hndi nia naibbgay ung tama para sa anak namin,,hndi po regular ng pdla niya sa anak ko,,halos ako n po lahat,.mgbbgy lng po pg ssbihin ko n mgpdala,pero palagi po niya sinsabi na w5ala pa cia pera,,gusto ko po sana n maibigay niya kng anu ang pra s anak ko,gusto ko po siyanb report,,,anu po ba ang karapatan ng anak ko sa ama,niya????san po ba ako pwedng mgfile ng reklamo against hi,?????may benefits po bng mkukuha ang anak ko pg ngretire siya or mamatay??financial support po ang gusto ko ibigay niya til sa education po,,,
Lubos n ngpapasalamat at umaasa po sa inyong tugon
Donna liberato
Good day Attorney,
I’m a single mom who have a 1 yr old child to my ex.we are not married
Nor he did not sign on my daughter’s birth certificate all I want is to ask a financial support from him but every time I do that he always denied that
He is the father…Attorney aside from DNA test what else evidence that I can show to him in the court because DNA test is too much expensive…what the
Best thing that I can do?thank you and God bless
Hi Attorney,
I am married to a british guy and we have 1 year old son. We got married here in Philippines. My husband is living right now in Uk. We are not legally separated but we are having problems that as of now we rae no longer communicating. I want to ask as a wife, what support i can get for me and for my son since we are not legally separated?