Protecting our family home

By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III

How long does a moment last?

Only 2-3 seconds as psychologists and neuroscientists would approximate.

Many of us have grown in homes with memories we can fondly remember. Life is like a river, they say, it only moves towards one direction: out into the ocean of another dimension.

If moments can fleetingly last for 2-3 seconds, then it makes sense to congeal as many as we can.

And where is the best place to start than in our family homes.

In law, a family home is described as “a real right which is gratuitous, inalienable and free from attachment, constituted over the dwelling place and the land on which it is situated, which confers upon a particular family the right to enjoy such properties, which must remain with the person constituting it and his heirs. It cannot be seized by creditors except in certain special cases.” (Albino Josef v. Ofelia Santos, G.R. No. 165060, November 27, 2008)

                Curiously, it’s worth asking: when is the family home deemed constituted and until when will its beneficiaries enjoy protection from forced sales and execution?

A: The family home is deemed constituted on a house and lot from the time it is occupied as a family residence. From then on, it will be exempt from execution, forced sale or attachment (Art. 153, Family Code [FC]) but only up to the extent of Php200,000.00 in rural areas and Php300,000.00 in urban areas (Art. 157, FC), for so long as any of its beneficiaries resides there (Art. 153, FC). However, should there be death of one or both spouses or the unmarried head of the family, the heirs cannot partition the same for ten years or while there is still a minor beneficiary residing therein. (Art. 159, FC).

Too, in recent jurisprudence, it was concluded that  “The law provides that a family home is the dwelling house, constituted jointly by the husband and the wife or by an unmarried head of a family, where they and their family reside, It is deemed constituted from the time it is occupied as a family residence and is generally exempt from execution, forced sale, or attachment.” (Banco Maximo, Inc. v. Chris Angelo C. Pelayo et al., G.R. No. 257251, August 18, 2025).

    Yet there is no room for complacency in guarding our family homes against forced sales and execution. Relatedly, it was held that:

    “However, this exemption is not automatic and must be timely and properly asserted. In Honrado v. Court of Appeals, the Court emphasized that a claim for exemption must be raised within a reasonable time and in the proper manner x x x.” (Banco Maximo, Inc. v. Chris Angelo C. Pelayo et al., G.R. No. 257251, August 18, 2025) “This rule was reiterated in Taruc v. Maximo, where the Court held that the exemption must be asserted prior to the public auction of the family home. Similarly, in Spouses Fortaleza v. Spouses Lapitan, it was clarified that asserting the exemption under Article 153 of the Family Code must be done within a reasonable time, that is prior to the expiration of the one-year redemption period available to a judgment debtor.” (Banco Maximo, Inc. v. Chris Angelo C. Pelayo et al., G.R. No. 257251, August 18, 2025).

The family home is a repository of collected memories since childhood until adulthood and they are truly worth keeping.

Fyodor Dostoevsky aptly said it in his novel titled The Brothers Karamzov, “People talk to you a great deal about your education, but some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education.”

(The author is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates (ETRIIILaw)– a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor, MCLE lecturer, bar reviewer and a book author. Among the books he authored is “Law on Property and Essentials of Land Registration [2024 Edition]” which was on the bestseller’s list in online shops for several months. In 2026, he published his second major legal textbook titled “Comprehensive Reviewer on Persons and Family Relations.” His website is etriiilaw.com).