Persons & Family Relations (Final Exams) Name: ___________________________

March 29, 2019

Instructions:
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overrite with one straight line the words or phrases or sentence/s you want to erase.

A. Effects of Simultaneous Death: 10%

1. Father (F) and Son (S) died on a plane crash. There is no proof of who died first. W, wife of F is the
only surviving heir of F, who is also S’s mother. On the other hand, S is married to X. Can X now
claim that it was her husband, S, who survived ahead of his father considering that S is younger and
therefore, S inherited from his father, F? 5%
Answer:
Since there is no proof as to who died first, Art. 43 of the Civil Code will apply. Both F & S are heirs of
each other but since there is no proof who died first, the law will presume that both died at the same time and
therefore succession will not pertain to either of them. This being the case, X nor W cannot claim to have inherited
from either F or S. What will happen will be is that W will be the heir of F and X will be an heir of S.

2. Prescinding from the above, assume that F had a life insurance policy with W and S as his beneficiary,
can X now claim the insurance proceeds for the estate of S? 5%
Answer:
Yes, X can invoke the presumption of survivorship under Sec 3 (ii) par. 5 Rule 131. Under this
presumption, S, being younger than his father can be presumed to have survived over F. Therefore when F is
presumed to have died first, S benefited from the proceeds of the insurance policy. Hence the estate of S will get the
half of the insurance proceeds with W and X as wife of S will inherit from the estate of S.

B. Marriage: 15%
3. What are the acts that constitute fraud that would warrant annulment of a marriage? 5%
4. H and W’s marriage was declared a nullity. As a result, H was ready and eager to fall in love again.
He did and wanted to marry a younger woman, X, aged 25.
a) Assume that all the requisites of a valid marriage are already prepared and complied with, what
further preparatory step/s or procedure must H must undertake before he marries X? 5%
Answer:
H must comply with the provisions of Article 52 of the Family Code which is there must be a partition and
distribution of the properties of the spouse H & W and the delivery of the children’s presumptive legitimes, which
should be recorded in the appropriate civil registry of the property.

b) Suppose 3 children were born during the marriage of H & W and another child was born to them
after the decree of annulment, what are the status of the children? 2%
Answer:
The children of H & W are legitimate even if conceived or born before the decree of annulment or even
when the same became final and executory.

c) What are the rights of the children of H & W? 3%

Answer:
The children have the right to bear the surnames of the father and mother, to receive support from their
parents and ascendants, their brothers and sisters and to be entitled to legitime and other successional rights under
the Civil Code and the Family Code.

C. Property Relations: 20%

5. X and Y, both Filipinos, got married in the U.S.A. What law shall govern their property relationship?
5%
Answer:
In the absence of a contrary stipulation in the marriage settlements, 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.
6. Prescinding from no. 5, supposed X & Y acquired properties in the US but while in the Philippines,
they executed a contract of sale respecting a property in the US, what law will govern the formality of
the contract of the sale? 5%
Answer:
With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts entered into the Philippines but affecting property situated
in a foreign country whose laws require different formalities for its extrinsic validity. (Art. 80, F.C.). Therefore the
formalities that will govern the contracts of sale will be the law of the foreign country.

7. X and Y are married. A, father of X, donated a parcel of land to him. Is the property a part of the
absolute community of property or the conjugal partnership? Explain. 5%
Answer:
It is, as a general rule, an exclusive property of X, except if the donor, A, has provided in the deed of
donation that such property shall from part of the absolute community of property. (Art. 92[1], F.C.).

8. X is engaged in the business of lending money with interest. He lent P1,000,00.00 to Y in October 1990,
payable within one (1) year commencing on January 1, 1991. He, however, got married on December
30, 1990. Who owns the principal? How about the interest? Why? 5%
Answer:
X owns the principal. The interest is owned by the community property or conjugal property as the case may be. The
law provides that whenever an amount or credit payable within a period of time belongs to one of the spouses, the
sums which may be collected during the marriage in partial payments or by installments on the principal shall be the
exclusive property of the spouse. However, interests falling due during the marriage on the principal shall belong to
the community property or conjugal property. (Art. 119, F.C.).

D. Adoption 20%
9. H and W, married, have two children aged 14 and 8. During the subsistence of their marriage, H begot
a child by another woman. He is now 10 years of age. When W discovered H’s fathering a child by
another woman, she filed a petition for legal separation which was granted. H now wants to adopt his
illegitimate child. (A) Whose consent is needed for H’s adoption of his illegitimate child? 5%
Answer:
The consent of the 14-year-old legitimate child, of the 10- year -old illegitimate child and of the biological
mother of the illegitimate child are needed for the adoption (Section 7 and 9, RA 8552). The consent of Lea is no
longer required because there was already a final decree of legal separation.

10. Prescinding from the above, if there was no legal separation, can H still adopt his illegitimate child?
Explain. 5%
Answer:
The consent of his wife, W, is needed along with the consent of the legitimate child, the illegitimate child
and the biological mother of the illegitimate child . Sections 7 & 9 of Domestice Adoption Law.

11. Ruth, a Filipino registered nurse, went to the US and therein met and married Richard in 1990. Ruth
became a naturalized US citizen in 1995. They were not fortunate of have a child of their own but
during their vacation in the Philippines in year 2000, they both learned that Ruth’s sister, Ester had an
child, Cindy, out of marriage. Cindy is now 5 years old. Both Ruth & Richard filed a petition to adopt
Cindy. The OSG opposed on the ground that both of them are foreigners and are therefore disqualified
to adopt. Is the contention of the OSG correct? Reason. 5%
Answer:
While it may be true that Ruth is now an alien, she was a former Filipino citizen and who seeks to adopt a
relative by consanguinity. This being so, she is qualified to adopt, (par. 3[a], Art. 184, Family Code) In the given
problem, Ruth, a naturalized American citizen would like to adopt Cindy, a 5-year old daughter of her sister, Ester.
Thus, under the above-cited provision, Ruth is qualified to adopt Cindy.

12. Prescinding from no. 11, assume that Cindy is an illegitimate child of Ruth, can Ruth and Richard
adopt Cindy? Reason. 5%
Answer:
Same answer as above. No distinction on whether or not the relative is legitimate or illegitimate.

E. Parental Authority: 5%
13. In a classroom of grade school students, while the teacher was chatting with another teacher in the
corridors of the classroom, two students figured in a fight and one student stabbed the other with a
pencil in the eye causing blindness. Who will be responsible for the victim student- the teacher, the
school administration or the guilty boy’s parents? Why? 5%
Answer: This is governed by the special parental authority which is given to the teacher and the school
administration while the child is in their custody. Hence, the primary liability for the injury caused to the victim
student delves upon the school administrators and the teacher.

F. Paternity & Filiation 10%

14. Sixty days after the death of her husband, Millet married her college sweetheart. Seven months after
her second marriage, Millet gave birth to a baby boy, Jeffrey. What is the status of the boy insofar as
his filiation is concerned? 5%

Answer: Jeffrey’s filiation will be with the second marriage. He is therefore the son of Milet’s second husband.

15. Anaki is an illegitimate son of a very rich businessman, Henry Gogonwei. When H G died, he wanted
to participate in the settlement of estate proceedings of his father. Unfortunately, his participation was
opposed by the legitimate family. What can he do in order to prove his illegitimate filiation so that he
may be able to inherit from the estate of HG? 5%
Answer:
Anaki will have to prove his illegitimate filiation by any of the following: record of birth or any public or
private document such as letters, school records, baptismal certificates, pictures, etc. tending to prove that he was a
recognized illegitimate child of Henry Gogonwei

Page 02.

G. Multiple Choice: 20%

16. The authority that school administrators exercise over school children under their supervision, instruction, or custody is called
A. legal parental authority.
B. substitute parental authority.
 C. ordinary parental authority.
D. special parental authority.
17. Rene and Lily got married after a brief courtship. After one month, Lily discovered that while Rene presented himself as a
macho man he was actually gay. He would not go to bed with her. He kept obscene magazines of nude men and always sought
the company of handsome boys. What legal remedy does Lily have?
A. She can file an action for annulment of marriage on ground of fraud.
B. She can seek a declaration of nullity of the marriage based on Rene’s psychological incapacity.
C. She can go abroad and file for divorce in a country that can grant it.
D. She has none since she had the opportunity to examine the goods and freely entered into the marriage.
18. Manuel came to Manila and married Marianne. Unknown to Marianne, Manuel had been previously convicted in Palawan of
theft and served time for it. After Marianne learned of his previous conviction, she stopped living with him. Can Marianne seek
the annulment of the marriage based on Manuel’s non- disclosure of his previous crime?
A. No, since the assumption is that marriage forgives all past wrongs.
B. Yes, since the non-disclosure of that crime is the equivalent of fraud, which is a ground for annulment.
C. No, in case of doubt, the law must be construed to preserve the institution of marriage.
D. No, since Manuel already served the penalty for his crime.
19. Arthur and Helen, both Filipinos, got married and had 2 children. Arthur later worked in Rome where he acquired Italian
citizenship. He got a divorce from Helen in Rome but, on returning to the Philippines, he realized his mistake, asked forgiveness
of his wife, and resumed living with her. They had 2 more children. What is the status of their 4 children?
A. The children born before the divorce are legitimate but those born after it are not since Arthur got the divorce when
he had ceased to be a Filipino.
B. The divorce rendered illegitimate the children born before it since the marriage that begot them had been nullified.
C. The children born before and after the divorce are all legitimate since Philippine law does not recognize divorce.
D. All the children are legitimate since they were born of the same father and mother.
20. Spouses A and B leased a piece of land belonging to B's parents for 25 years. The spouses built their house on it worth
P300,000.00. Subsequently, in a case that C filed against A and B, the court found the latter liable to C for P200,000.00. When
the sheriff was attaching their house for the satisfaction of the judgment, A and B claimed that it was exempt from execution,
being a family home. Is this claim correct?
A. Yes, because while B’s parents own the land, they agreed to have their daughter build her family home on it.
B. No, because there is no judicial declaration that it is a family home.
C. No, since the land does not belong to A and B, it cannot qualify as a family home.
D. Yes, because the A and B’s family actually lives in that house.
21. X and Y, although not suffering from any impediment, cohabited as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage.
Following the birth of their child, the couple got married. A year after, however, the court annulled the marriage and issued a
decree of annulment. What is the present status of the child?
A. Legitimated.
B. Illegitimate.
C. Natural child.
D. Legitimate.
22. When A and B married, they chose conjugal partnership of gains to govern their property relations. After 3 years, B
succeeded in getting her marriage to A annulled on ground of the latter’s psychological incapacity. What liquidation procedure
will they follow in disposing of their assets?
A. They will follow the rule governing the liquidation of a conjugal partnership of gains where the party who acted in
bad faith forfeits his share in the net profits.
B. Since the marriage has been declared void, the rule for liquidation of absolute community of property shall be
followed.
C. The liquidation of a co-ownership applies since the annulment brought their property relation under the chapter on
property regimes without marriage.
D. The law on liquidation of partnerships applies.
23. X and Y agreed verbally before their marriage (a) on the paternity of the illegitimate child of Y and (b) on the economic
regime that will govern X and Y’s property relations. Is the verbal agreement valid?
A. No, because a marriage settlement to be valid should be in writing.
B. Yes, since ante-nuptial agreements need not be in writing.
C. No, because a marriage settlement cannot include an agreement on the paternity of an illegitimate child.
D. Yes, since even if it is not a valid marriage settlement, it is a valid verbal contract.
24. Spouses X and Y have a minor daughter, Z, who needs support for her education. Both X and Y, who are financially
distressed, could not give the needed support to Z. As it happens, Z’s other relatives are financially capable of giving that
support. From whom may Z first rightfully demand support? From her
A. grandfather.
B. brother.
C. uncle.
D. first cousin.
25. Fidel, a Filipino with fair complexion, married Gloria. Before the marriage, Gloria confessed to Fidel that she was two-month
pregnant with the child of a black African who had left the country for good. When the child was born, Fidel could not accept it
being too black in complexion. What is the status of the child?
A. Illegitimate, because Gloria confessed that the child is not Fidel’s.
B. Illegitimate, because by the color of its skin, the child could not possibly be that of Fidel.
C. Legitimate, because the child was born within a valid marriage.
D. Legitimate, because Fidel agreed to treat the child as his own after Gloria told him who the father was.