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SUCCESSION
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS
ELEMENTS OF SUCCESSION
1. Decedent
2. Successors
a. Heirs those who are called to the whole or
to an aliquot portion of the inheritance either
by will or by operation on law
b. Devisees or Legatees persons to whom
gifts of real or personal property are
respectively given by virtue of a will.
3. Death of the Person However, a person
may
be presumed dead for the purpose of opening
his
succession (see rules on presumptive death). In
this case, succession is only of provisional
character because there is always the chance
that the absentee may be alive.
4. Inheritance is the subject matter of
Succession
it includes:
Property and transmissible rights and
obligations
Existing at the time of his death
AND those which have accrued thereto
since the opening of succession.
RIGHTS EXTINGUISHED BY DEATH
1. Support
2. Usufruct
3. Those arising from personal consideration
4. Personal easements
5. Partnership rights
6. Agency
7. Life Annuity
Succession Inheritance
Refers to the legal
mode by which
inheritance is
transmitted to the
persons entitled to it.
Refers to the
universality or entirety
of the property, rights
and obligations of a
person who died.
KINDS OF SUCCESSION
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TESTAMENTARY CAPACITY
1. All persons who are not expressly prohibited
by
law
2. 18 years old and above
3. Of sound mind, at the time of its execution; A
testator is considered of sound mind if he knows
at the time of making of the will the following:
a. Nature of the estate to be disposed of
b. Proper objects of his bounty
c. Character of the testamentary act
Supervening capacity or incapacity does not
affect the will because the validity of a will is
determined at the time of the execution of the
will.
LEGAL PRESUMPTION IN FAVOR OF
SOUNDNESS OF MIND
GENERAL RULE: The law presumes that the
testator is of sound mind
EXCEPT:
a. When the testator, one month or less, before
making his will was publicly known to be
insane; or
b. Was under guardianship at the time of the
making of his will. (Torres and Lopez de
Bueno vs. Lopez, 48 Phil. 772)
CHAPTER 3: FORMS OF WILL
1. NOTARIAL WILL a valid notarial will:
a. Must be in writing and in a language or
dialect known to the testator
b. Subscribed at the end by the testator himself
or by the testators name written by some
other person in his presence, and by his
express direction
c. Attested & subscribed by three or more
credible witnesses in the presence of the
testator and of one another
Mandatory Part: The signing on every
page in the witnesses presence
NOTE: Test of presence is not whether
they actually saw each other sign, but
whether they might have seen each other
sign had they chosen to do so
considering their mental and physical
condition and position with relation to
each other at the moment of inscription
of each signature.
Directory Part: The place of the
signature, i.e. the left margin; the
signature can be affixed anywhere on the
page.
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a. Order of succession
b. Capacity to succeed
c. Amount of successional rights
d. Intrinsic validity (Art 16)
Intrinsic validity
VALIDITY OF JOINT WILLS
Two or more persons cannot make a will
jointly,
or in the same instrument, either for their
reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of a third
person. (669)
NOTE: Joint wills executed by Filipinos in a
foreign country shall not be valid in the
Philippines, even though authorized by the laws
of the country where they may have been
executed.
CHAPTER
5:
AMENDMENTMENT,
REVOCATION
AND REPUBLICATION OF WILLS
AMENDMENT OF WILLS
1. Notarial only through a codicil
2. Holographic in three ways
a. Dispositions may be added below the
signature, PROVIDED that said dispositions
are also dated and signed, and everything is
written by the hand of the testator himself
b. Certain dispositions or additional matter may
be suppressed or inserted PROVIDED that
said cancellation is signed by the testator
and written by the hand of the testator
himself
c. Through a codicil which may either be
notarial or holographic
ELEMENTS OF A CODICIL
1. It is a supplementary or addition to a will
2. made after the execution of the will
3. and annexed to be taken as a part thereof
4. by which any disposition in the original will
may
be explained, added to or altered
REQUISITES FOR INCORPORATION BY
REFERENCE
1. the document or paper referred to in the will
must
be in existence at the time of the execution of
the
will
2. the will must clearly describe and identify the
same, stating among other things the number of
pages thereof
3. it must be identified by clear and satisfactory
proof as the document or paper referred to
therein
4. it must be signed by the testator and the
witnesses on each and every page, except in
case of voluminous books of account or
inventories
REVOCATION OF WILLS
1. By operation of law instances of revocation
by
operation of law:
a. decree of legal separation
b. preterition
c. legacy or credit against third person or
remission of debt was provided in will and
subsequently, testator brings action against
debtor
d. substantial transformation of specific thing
bequeathed
e. when heir, devisee or legatee commits any of
the acts of unworthiness
2. By the execution of a will, codicil or other
writing
executed as provided in case of wills
a. EXPRESS When there is a revocatory
clause expressly revoking the previous will or
a part thereof
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CHAPTER
6:
ALLOWANCE
AND
DISALLOWANCE
OF WILLS
1. PROBATE OF A WILL
a. A special proceeding required for the purpose
of
establishing the validity of the will.
b. Probate of a will is mandatory
c. The probate court can only inquire into the
extrinsic validity of testamentary provisions,
which include the following:
i. That the testator was of sound and disposing
mind
ii. That his consent was not vitiated
iii. That the will was signed by the required
number of witness
iv. That the will is genuine
KINDS OF PROBATE
1. Post-Mortem after the testators death
2. Ante-Mortem during his lifetime
FINAL DECREE OF PROBATE
Once a decree of probate becomes final in
accordance with the rules of procedure it
becomes Res Judicata
It is conclusive as to the due execution of the
will
(extrinsic validity only)
2. DISALLOWANCE OF WILL - grounds for
disallowance of a will:
a. If the formalities required by law have not
been complied with;
b. If the testator was insane, or otherwise
mentally incapable of making a will, at the
time of its execution;
c. If it was executed through force or under
duress, or the influence of fear, or threats;
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suggestion
The condition suspends but does not obligate,
the mode obligates but does not suspends (for
he
who inherits with a mode is already an heir; one
who inherits conditionally is not yet an heir.)
RULES ON POTESTATIVE, CASUAL AND
MIXED
CONDITIONS
1. POTESTATIVE
Positive Potestative Condition:
General Rule must be fulfilled as soon as
the
heir learns of the testators death
EXCEPTION
a. the condition was already complied with at
the time the heir learns of the testators death
b. the condition is of such nature that it cannot
be fulfilled again
Negative Potestative Condition:
Heir must give security to guarantee the return
of
the value of property, fruits, and interests, in
cases of contravention
2. CASUAL OR MIXED
Positive
GENERAL RULE may be fulfilled at any
other
time (before testators death), unless testator
provides otherwise.
If ALREADY FULFILLED at the time of
execution of the will
a.
If
testator
unaware
of
fact
of
fulfillmentdeemed
fulfilled
b. If testator aware thereof
i. If it can no longer be fulfilled again
deemed fulfilled
ii. If it can be fulfilled again must be
fulfilled again
Constructive Compliance
a. if casual not applicable
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b. if mixed
i. If dependent partly on chance not
applicable
ii. If dependent partly on will of third party
1. if 3rd party interested applicable
2. if 3rd party not interested not
applicable
Person
Testator is an
Illegitimate Person
Legitimate children and
descendant
Legitimate children and
descendants
In default of the
foregoing, legitimate
parents and ascendants
Illegitimate parents and
ascendants
Surviving spouse In default of the
foregoing, illegitimate
parents only
Illegitimate children and
descendant
Surviving spouse
GENERAL
RULES
IN
ASCERTAINING
LEGITIMES
1. Direct descending line
a. Rule of preference between lines
b. Rule of proximity
c. Right of representation ad infinitum in case of
predecease, incapacity or disinheritance
2. Direct ascending line
a. Rule of division by line
b. Rule of equal division
3. Non-impairment of legitime - Any
compulsory
heir who was given title less than his legitime
may demand that the same be completed (Art
906)
EXCEPTIONS:
a. If the predecessor gave the compulsory heir
a donation inter vivos and provided that it
was not charged against the legitime (Art
1062)
b. Testamentary dispositions made by the
predecessor to the compulsory heir, unless
the testator provides that it should be
considered part of the legitime.
SHARES OF COMPULSORY HEIRS
1. Legitimate Children or Descendants Share of legitimate children
and descendants
of the net estate
Free portion of the net estate
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consummated.
2. Accusation of a crime with penalty of six
years or more.
a. Penalty imposable, not actually imposed.
b. Made by the heir in a proceeding as a
complainant or witness in a criminal case.
c. Found to be groundless, false.
d. Groundless court should make a positive
finding that the testator has not committed
the crime. It is then false.
e. Chismis not the one referred here, it is
outside criminal proceeding.
3. Induce testator to make/change the will.
a. Will purely personal
b. Vices of consent.
c. It does not punish the result but the
interference in the making/changing of the
will.
d. Will + disinheritance (will making)
e. Will + amended will + disinheritance (will
changing)
4. Support unjustifiably not given.
a. Must prove obligation to give support
b. Spouses: mutual obligation to give support
c. Reason must be unjustifiable
Grounds
for
Disinheritance
Common
between
Ascendants and Descendants
Adultery and Concubinage with the
spouse of
the testator
1. It must be the heir who committed such
liaison
2. With the legal spouse of the testator
3. Not necessarily incestuous
4. Applicable to both legitimate and illegitimate
descendant
Grounds
for
Disinheritance
Common
Ascendant
and Spouse (in addition to A, B)
Loss of parental authority
1. Causes: Arts. 230, 231, 232 of the Family
Code
2. Ascendant of testator
3. Spouse has given cause for loss of parental
authority.
4. No actual deprivation, but it must exist. It
means
that the act is committed which may be a cause
for loss of parental authority over their common
children, EXCEPT for those enumerated in A.
5. There are no common grounds between
spouse
and descendants.
Grounds for Disinheritance Only against
Descendant
1. Maltreatment of testator
a. By word slander, offensive language,
insult, libel. May be spoken or written.
b. By deed no need for violence,
something which caused the testator to
be humiliated. Laying hands if not under
attempt on life.
2. Leading a disgraceful life (or dishonest)
i.e., daughter living with a married man,
estafadora, prostitutes, drug dealers, drug
addict.
3. Commission of crime which carries with it
the
penalty of civil interdiction
a. Descendant convicted of crime with civil
interdiction. Necessarily imposable, not
actually imposed.
b. Reclusion temporal, reclusion perpetua.
Ground for Disinheritance Only against
Ascendants (Parents)
1. Abandonment by parents
a. Willfully left the children to fend for
themselves
b. Abdication of parental duties.
c. Only refers to abandoned child.
d. Induced daughters to lead a disgraceful life
also applicable to sons.
2. Attempt on the life of one parent against
another parent.
a. Parent v. parent
b. Even if parents are not married, it is still a
ground.
c. No need for conviction. As long as the heir
can prove that there is an attempt.
d. They do not need to be spouses. However,
the testator must be a common child.
Grounds for Disinheritance Only against
spouse
refers to legal spouses only, legally married
to
each other
1. Giving cause for legal separation
a. No need for previous conviction
b. Prove infidelity if cause is contested
c. No need to prove grounds unless contested
by the heir.
d. Legal separation instituted but not
terminated, OK
e. If there is already a decree:
i. Ground is conclusive
ii. But, there is a need to disinherit
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REVOCATION OF DISINHERITANCE
1. Reconciliation
2. Subsequent institution of the disinherited heir
3. Nullity of the will which contains the
disinheritance
NOTE: Where the ground for disinheritance is
also a ground for unworthiness to succeed, what
is the effect of a subsequent reconciliation upon
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take over.
REPRESENTATION - Instances when
Representation Occurs:
1. Predecease
2. Incapacity of Unworthiness
3. Disinheritance
NOTE: In case of repudiation, accretion takes
place.
Sayson v. CA, 205 SCRA 324, although a
renouncer cannot be represented, he can
represent the person whose inheritance he has
renounced.
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or more heirs.
c. When renunciation is in favor of all heirs
indiscriminately for consideration
d. Other acts of tacit acceptance:
i. Heir demands partition of the inheritance
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b. If gratuitous
i. In favor of all his co heirs indiscriminately
- there is repudiation because heir
deemed to have not accepted. Hence,
accretion takes place.
ii. In favor of all co-heirs but in proportion
different from those they would receive
by accretion: considered as tacit
acceptance.
iii. If gratuitous in favor of one or some of
his co-heirs deemed conveyance in
favor of the co-heirs specified, hence
there is acceptance.
c. If onerously:
There is no repudiation
Transfer considered to be with
consideration
There are also tax implications because
there are two transfers.
COLLATION
Collation is the act by virtue of which, the
persons who concur in the inheritance bring
back to the common hereditary mass the
property which they have received from him,
so that a division may be effected according to
law and the will of the testator.
To collate is to bring back or to return to the
hereditary mass, in fact or by fiction, property
which came from the estate of the decedent,
during his lifetime, but which the law considers
as an advance from the inheritance.
PROPERTIES OR RIGHTS RECEIVED BY
COMPULSORY HEIR NOT SUBJECT TO
COLLATION
1. Property left by will
2. Property which may have been donated by an
ascendant of the compulsory heir
3. Property donated to the spouse of the
compulsory heir
4. Expenses for support, education, medical
attendance even in extraordinary illness,
apprenticeship,
ordinary
equipment
or
customary
gifts
5. Expenses incurred by parents in giving their
children a professional, vocational, or other
career
6. Wedding gifts consisting of jewelry, clothing
and
outfit, given by parents or ascendants, so long
as
they do not exceed 1/10 of the disposable
portion
OPERATIONS RELATED TO COLLATION
1. Collation adding to the mass of the
hereditary
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