CivilLaw.PH is a practical guide to the Civil Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 386) – the law that governs property and ownership, inheritance, contracts and obligations, civil liability for damage, and the remedies available when a private dispute has to be settled. Every guide is written from the law itself and from government sources, for the decisions people actually face.
PHILIPPINE CIVIL LAW DECISION AND REMEDIES PLATFORM
Philippine Civil Law Answers: Property, Inheritance, Contracts and Remedies
Start with your problem, not with the Code
A land title that does not match the fence. A property four siblings inherited and cannot agree on. A lot with no road access. Every guide here answers the same four questions: what the law provides, what you have to prove, which remedy fits, and where it is filed.
Just published
- How Is Inheritance Divided in the Philippines? Legitimes and Intestate Shares
Under Philippine law, most of an estate is not freely disposable. Compulsory heirs — legitimate children and descendants, legitimate parents and ascendants in their default, the…
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CHOOSE YOUR SITUATION
What do you need help with?
Pick the situation closest to yours. Each guide sets out the governing rule, the documents and evidence that decide it, the remedy that fits, and the court or office where it belongs.
TITLE AND PROOF
I am not sure my papers prove I own it
What a certificate of title proves, what a tax declaration does not, and what to do when the land is untitled.
BOUNDARIES
My neighbor’s fence or wall crosses my line
How a boundary is legally fixed, what a relocation survey settles, and the order of steps before any case is filed.
OCCUPANTS
Someone is on my land without permission
Which case fits – forcible entry, unlawful detainer or a plenary action – and the one-year deadline that decides it.
CO-OWNED PROPERTY
We inherited it together and cannot agree
What one co-owner may sell without the others, who may occupy it, who owns the rent, and how partition ends it.
ACCESS
My lot has no road access
The four requisites for a compulsory right of way, how the route is chosen, and what indemnity is due.
BEFORE YOU BUY
I am about to buy land
The verification checklist: certified true copy, annotations, survey, taxes, occupants, and the seller’s authority.
THE SIX AREAS WE COVER
Philippine civil law, in six parts
The Civil Code runs to more than two thousand articles. These six hubs group it the way problems actually arrive.
Property and Ownership
Titles and tax declarations, boundaries and encroachment, co-ownership, possession, right of way and other easements.
Succession and Inheritance
Who inherits and in what shares, legitimes and compulsory heirs, wills, disinheritance, extrajudicial settlement and partition.
Obligations and Contracts
When an agreement binds, breach and delay, void and voidable contracts, rescission, and which agreements must be in writing.
Damages and Civil Liability
Negligence and quasi-delict, liability of parents, employers and vehicle owners, abuse of rights, and how damages are proved.
Persons and Civil Status
Civil personality, change of name, corrections to birth records, absence and presumptive death, and the civil registry.
Barangay, Courts and Civil Remedies
Where a civil claim belongs, when barangay conciliation comes first, small claims, demand letters and prescriptive periods.
Property and Ownership is live now. The remaining hubs are being built in order, starting with Succession and Inheritance.
Latest guides
Newly published, each with its governing articles, the evidence that decides it, and the next practical step.
- How Is Inheritance Divided in the Philippines? Legitimes and Intestate Shares
Under Philippine law, most of an estate is not freely disposable. Compulsory heirs — legitimate children and descendants, legitimate parents and ascendants… - Can a Neighbor Block an Existing Right of Way?
If the easement legally exists, no. The owner of the servient land keeps the soil but may not impair the use of the passage, and the remedy is an action to enforce the easement with an injunction. The first question is always whether the easement exists at all. - How to Verify a Land Title Before Buying Property
Verification means getting the certified true copy yourself, reading every annotation, matching the technical description to the ground, and checking taxes, occupants and the seller’s authority. The copy the seller shows you proves nothing on its own. - My Neighbor Built a Fence or House on My Land: What Are My Options?
Everything turns on good faith. If your neighbor built in good faith you must choose between buying the structure and selling him the land – you cannot simply demand demolition. If he built in bad faith, the options reverse. - Can One Co-Owner Exclusively Occupy or Rent Out Shared Property?
A co-owner may use the common property, but not in a way that shuts the others out. Renting it out alone is a different matter: the income belongs to everyone in proportion to their shares, and it must be accounted for. - Does Long Possession Make You the Owner of Land?
Sometimes – and never against registered land. Whether decades of occupation turn into ownership depends on whether the land is titled, privately owned but untitled, or public land, and on the character of the possession itself.
EDITORIAL STANDARD
Written from the law itself
Primary sources only
Every rule traces to the Civil Code, a Republic Act, the Rules of Court, a Supreme Court decision or the agency itself. We do not build guides on other people’s summaries, and we do not invent figures.
Rule, evidence, next step
A guide that stops at what the law says is only half an answer. Each one continues into what you must prove, which documents matter, the deadline, the remedy, and the court or office that hears it.
Dated and rechecked
Thresholds, procedures and doctrine change. Each guide carries the date it was last materially reviewed, and where the law is genuinely unsettled we say so instead of choosing a side.
CivilLaw.PH is published by the same team behind LaborCode.ph (Philippine labor law), FamilyCode.ph (marriage, family and the Family Code) and CyberCode.ph (data privacy, cybercrime and technology law). Where a question belongs to one of those subjects, we say so and link across rather than duplicating it here.
CivilLaw.PH publishes general legal information, not legal advice. Civil cases turn on their own documents, dates and facts. This site is independent and is not a government agency, a court, a registry or a law firm. For advice on your own situation, consult a Philippine lawyer or the Public Attorney’s Office.