"OF LEGAL AGE"

Here’s a fun little bureaucratic loop we danced through in the past:

We were handling a routine title transfer. Everything was in order—documents submitted, taxes paid, title issued. The new title was correctly placed under the names of the buyers, listed as “Spouses XXXXX.” So far, so good.

But then our processor squinted at the freshly issued title. Something was missing. Not the names, not the property details—but the seemingly harmless phrase: “of legal age.”

Now, here’s the thing: under Philippine law, you must be at least 18 to get married. And the title already says “Spouses,” which makes it legally obvious that the owners are of age. Right?

Apparently not obvious enough—at least not for the bank. When the same title was presented to claim the seller’s loan proceeds, the lending bank rejected it. Why? Because those three little words—“of legal age”—weren’t there. 🙃

The Registry of Deeds, when asked, explained that omitting “of legal age” is part of their updated formatting. It’s redundant, they say, especially when the title clearly identifies the owners as spouses.

But for the bank, old habits die hard. Policy is policy. No “of legal age,” no disbursement.

So, who’s right here?

Legally speaking, the RD’s logic tracks. But practically speaking, the bank still holds the purse strings.

The solution? We had to go back to the RD and request an affidavit—stating, for the record, that the new owners are indeed “of legal age.” The RD then annotated this on the title. Problem solved. Time and sanity lost. 😵‍💫