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    Lerma V CA

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    chrisv888
    1) Petitioner Lerma filed for adultery against his wife Diaz and another man. In response, Diaz filed for legal separation from Lerma, custody of their children, and support payments pendente lite (during the legal proceedings). 2) Lerma opposed the support payments, claiming Diaz's adultery as a defense. The court held that under Article 100 of the Civil Code, only the innocent spouse can claim legal separation, as Diaz had already been convicted of adultery. 3) As Diaz could not claim legal separation due to being guilty of adultery, she could not use the legal separation action as grounds to obtain support payments pendente lite. The right to

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    Lerma V CA

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    chrisv888
    599 views1 page
    1) Petitioner Lerma filed for adultery against his wife Diaz and another man. In response, Diaz filed for legal separation from Lerma, custody of their children, and support payments pendente lite (during the legal proceedings). 2) Lerma opposed the support payments, claiming Diaz's adultery as a defense. The court held that under Article 100 of the Civil Code, only the innocent spouse can claim legal separation, as Diaz had already been convicted of adultery. 3) As Diaz could not claim legal separation due to being guilty of adultery, she could not use the legal separation action as grounds to obtain support payments pendente lite. The right to

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    Lerma v CA

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    1) Petitioner Lerma filed for adultery against his wife Diaz and another man. In response, Diaz filed for legal separation from Lerma, custody of their children, and support payments pendente lite (during the legal proceedings). 2) Lerma opposed the support payments, claiming Diaz's adultery as a defense. The court held that under Article 100 of the Civil Code, only the innocent spouse can claim legal separation, as Diaz had already been convicted of adultery. 3) As Diaz could not claim legal separation due to being guilty of adultery, she could not use the legal separation action as grounds to obtain support payments pendente lite. The right to

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    599 views1 page

    Lerma V CA

    Uploaded by

    chrisv888
    1) Petitioner Lerma filed for adultery against his wife Diaz and another man. In response, Diaz filed for legal separation from Lerma, custody of their children, and support payments pendente lite (during the legal proceedings). 2) Lerma opposed the support payments, claiming Diaz's adultery as a defense. The court held that under Article 100 of the Civil Code, only the innocent spouse can claim legal separation, as Diaz had already been convicted of adultery. 3) As Diaz could not claim legal separation due to being guilty of adultery, she could not use the legal separation action as grounds to obtain support payments pendente lite. The right to

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    Lerma v. CA|1974 | Makalintal, J. Facts: Petitioner Lerma and respondent Diaz are husband and wife.

    Petitioner (Husband Lerma) filed a complaint for adultery against the respondent (Wife Diaz) and a certain Teodoro Ramirez. In return, wife filed with the lower court, a complaint against the petitioner for legal separation and/or separation of properties, custody of their children and support, with an urgent petition for support pendente lite for her and their youngest son, Gregory. The respondent's complaint for legal separation is based on two grounds: concubinage and attempt against her life. The petitioner filed his opposition to the respondent's application for support pendente lite, setting up as defense the adultery charge he had filed against the respondent. Issue: Whether or not legal separation can be claimed by a spouse guilty of adultery. (Obiter dictum. real issue is whether or not support pendente lite can be granted) Held: No. Article 100 of the Civil Code provides that "the legal separation may be claimed only by the innocent spouse, provided there has been no condonation of or consent to the adultery or concubinage ... (and) where both spouses are offenders, a legal separation cannot be claimed by either of them ..." In a provisional sense at least, the probable failure of the respondent's suit for legal separation can be foreseen since she is not an innocent spouse, having been convicted of adultery by the Court of First Instance. It is true that the judgment of conviction is on appeal in the Court of Appeals, but the same undoubtedly satisfies the standard of provisional showing set by the aforesaid Rule. If legal separation cannot be claimed by the guilty spouse in the first place, the fact that an action for that purpose is filed anyway should not be permitted to be used as a means to obtain support pendente lite, which, without such action, would be denied on the strength of the decisions of this Court recognizing adultery as a good defense. The right to separate support or maintenance, even from the conjugal partnership property, presupposes the existence of a justifiable cause for the spouse claiming such right to live separately. A petition in bad faith, such as that filed by one who is himself or herself guilty of an act which constitutes a ground for legal separation at the instance of the other spouse, cannot be considered as within the intendment of the law granting separate support. In fact under Article 303 of the same Code the obligation to give support shall cease "when the recipient, be he a forced heir or not, has committed some act which gives rise to disinheritance;" and under Article 921 one of the causes for disinheriting a spouse is "when the spouse has given cause for legal separation." The loss of the substantive right to support in such a situation is incompatible with any claim for support pendente lite.

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