Can past support be demanded?

As a general rule, previous or past support cannot be demanded. It is presumed by law that if support is not demanded it is not a necessity or was not required. Therefore, if a person asked for support for the past, it is not demandable. The only time past support can be demanded is if there was judicial or extra-judicial demand. This legal principle holds its grounds is several cases most popularly in SY vs. CA, et. al.¹, to wit:

Article 203 of the Family Code states that the obligation to give support is demandable from the time the person who has a right to receive the same needs it for maintenance, but it shall not be paid except from the date of judicial or extrajudicial demand. The case of Jocson v. The Empire Ins. Co. and Jocson Lagniton² explains the rationale for this rule:

x x x Support does include what is necessary for the education and clothing of the person entitled thereto (Art. 290, New Civil Code). But support must be demanded and the right to it established before it becomes payable (Art. 298, New Civil Code; Marcelo v. Estacio, 70 Phil. 215). For the right to support does not arise from the mere fact of relationship, even from the relationship of parents and children, but "from imperative necessity without which it cannot be demanded, and the law presumes that such necessity does not exist unless support is demanded (Civil Code of the Philippines, Annotated, Tolentino, Vol. 1, p. 181, citing 8 Manresa 685). In the present case, it does not appear that support for the minors, be it only for their education and clothing, was ever demanded from their father and the need for it duly established. The need for support, as already stated, cannot be presumed, and especially must this be true in the present case where it appears that the minors had means of their own.³

It is highly encouraged that the extra-judicial demand be reduced into writing so it maybe used as evidence in court when needed. The extra-judicial demand maybe sent by the person asking support or a lawyer or any person in his behalf.

¹G.R. No. 124518, December 27, 2007.

²103 Phil. 580 (1958).

³Id. at 582-583.