Policy and legal purpose
- Republic Act No. 9255 allows illegitimate children to use the surname of their father in defined circumstances.
- Republic Act No. 9255 amends the Family Code rule on surname use for illegitimate children to incorporate father-recognition-based grounds.
- Republic Act No. 9255 retains the parental authority and support principles tied to the mother, subject to the father-surname allowance.
Core rule on illegitimate children’s surname
- Article 176 provides that illegitimate children shall use the surname and shall be under the parental authority of their mother.
- Article 176 requires illegitimate children to be entitled to support in conformity with the Family Code.
- Article 176 provides an exception: illegitimate children may use the surname of their father when the filiation is expressly recognized by the father through the record of birth appearing in the civil register.
- Article 176 provides an additional exception: illegitimate children may use the surname of their father when the father makes an admission in a public document or in a private handwritten instrument.
Father’s non-filiation action rights
- Article 176 requires that, when the father has recognized filiation through the record of birth or through an admission, the father retains the right to institute an action before the regular courts.
- Article 176 provides that the father’s non-filiation action must be instituted during the father’s lifetime.
- Article 176 ties the father’s ability to contest filiation specifically to proving non-filiation in the regular courts.
Parental authority, support, and legitime
- Article 176 keeps illegitimate children under the parental authority of their mother regardless of whether they use the father’s surname under the exceptions.
- Article 176 maintains that illegitimate children are entitled to support in conformity with the Family Code.
- Article 176 sets the legitime of each illegitimate child as one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child.
Repeal and modification clause
- Section 2 repeals or modifies any laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, proclamations, rules, and regulations that are inconsistent with Republic Act No. 9255.