A piece of land bought on installment by the husband before his marriage to his wife but was fully paid with the title transferred in his name after their marriage is a conjugal property of the spouses, the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled.

In a decision written by Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., the SC said: “The mere registration of a property in the name of one spouse does not destroy its conjugal nature. What is material is the time when the property was acquired.”

With the ruling, the SC affirmed a Court of Appeals (CA) decision that declared the property left by the Bonifacio de Leon co-owned with his wife Anita de Leon as it dismissed the petition of spouses Lita de Leon and Felix Rio Tarroza, buyers of the 191-square-meter lot in Quezon City.

In 1965 when Bonifacio was still single, he entered into a conditional contract to sell with the then People’s Homesite and Housing Corp. (PHHC) for the purchase on instalment of a 191-square-meter land in Fairview, Quezon City. In 1968, he married Anita in civil rites in Nueva Ecija. They begot two children – Danilo and Vilma.

The land was fully paid in 1970 or two years after Bonifacio’s marriage to Anita. The title to the property was transferred in Bonifacio’s name in 1972.

In 1974, Bonifacio sold the property for P19,000 to spouses Tarrosa. In 1977, Bonifacio and Anita had a church wedding. In 1996, Bonifacio died.

Immediately after Bonifacio’s death, the Tarrosas registered the 1974 deed of sale and the Quezon City register of deeds issued a new title in their names.

When Danilo and Vilma got wind of the cancellation of their father’s title to the land, they filed an adverse claim with the register of deeds. Later joined by their mother, the two children filed a reconveyance suit before the regional trial court (RTC).