Professional Documents
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Notes On Succession
Notes On Succession
TITLE IV – SUCCESSION
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
a. Occupation
b. Intellectual creation
c. Law
d. Donation
e. Testate and intestate succession
f. Tradition (In consequence of certain
contracts)
g. Prescription 1
The first three are original and the last four are
derivative.
MODE TITLE
1
Article 712 NCC
2
What is succession?
2
Article 774 NCC
3
Article 533 NCC: “The possession of hereditary property is
deemed transmitted to the heir without interruption, and from
the moment of death of the decedent, in case the inheritance
3
a. Property;
b. Transmissible rights (those not extinguished by death);
c. Transmissible obligations (those not extinguished by
death); and
d. All property which have accrued thereto since the
opening of the succession (death of the decedent). 5
a. Alluvial deposits
b. Interests on credits
6
Article 793 NCC
5
the debts are paid that the residue of the estate is distributed
among the successors. 8
8
“Rule 90, Sec. 1. When the order for the distribution of
residue made. – When the debts, funeral charges, and
expenses of administration, the allowance to the widow, and
inheritance tax, if any, chargeable to the estate in accordance
with law, have been paid, the court, on the application of the
executor or administrator, or of a person interested in the
estate, and after hearing upon notice, shall assign the residue
of the estate to the person entitled to the same, naming them
and the proportions, or parts, to which each is entitled, and
such persons may demand and recover their respective
shares from the executor or administrator, or any other
person having the same in his possession. If there is a
controversy before the court as to who are the lawful heirs of
the deceased person or as to the distributive shares to which
person is entitled under the law, the controversy shall be
heard and decided as in ordinary cases.
No distribution shall be allowed until the payment
of the obligations above mentioned has been made or
provided for, unless the distributes, or any of them, give a
bond, in a sum to be fixed by the court, conditioned for the
payment of said obligations within such time as the court
directs.”
9
“Article 1311. Contracts take effect only between the
parties, the assigns and heirs, except in case where the rights
and obligations arising from the contract are not transmissible
by their nature, or stipulation or by provision of law. The heirs
are not liable beyond the value of the property received from
the decedent.”
7
Observations:
10
Article 391 NCC
11
Article 777 NCC
12
Vide Article 533 NCC
9
Illustrations:
Yes.
14
Article 1347. x x x “No contract may be entered into upon
future inheritance except in cases expressly authorized by
law.
15
Article 84. “If the future spouses agree upon a regime other
than the absolute community of property, they cannot donate
to each other in their marriage settlements more than one-
fifth of their present property. Any excess shall be considered
void.
Donations of future property shall be governed by
the provisions on testamentary succession and the formalities
of wills.”
12
CHAPTER 2
TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION
Section I. WILLS
What is a will?
16
Article 783 NCC
17
Vide Article 783 NCC
18
Articles 769 – 798 NCC
19
Article 784 NCC
20
Article 777 NCC
21
Article 828 NCC
22
Article 839 NCC
14
25
Article 785 NCC
26
Article 787 NCC
27
Article 786 NCC
16
Examples:
Examples:
28
Article 789 NCC
17
Illustrations:
29
Article 789 NCC
18
30
Article 791 NCC
19
2. Exceptions:
31
Article 792 NCC
32
Article 793 NCC
33
Article 836 NCC
20
2. Exceptions:
34
Vide Article 930 NCC
35
Article 935, par. 1 NCC
36
Article 794 NCC
37
Real properties are enumerated in Article 415 and personal
properties in Articles 416 and 417 NCC
38
Article 929 NCC
39
Vide Articles 930 and 931 NCC
40
Vide Article 937 NCC
21
a) For Filipinos –
b) For foreigners –
41
Vide Article 930 NCC
42
Article 795 NCC
43
Articles 804- 814 NCC
44
Article 815 NCC
45
Article 17 NCC (Lex loci celebrationis or locus regit actum)
22
46
Article 816 NCC
47
Article 17 NCC
48
Article 817 NCC
49
Article 17 NCC
50
Vide Article 2263 NCC
51
Article 2263. Rights to the inheritance of a person who
died, with or without a will, before the effectivity of this Code,
shall be governed by the Civil Code of 1889, by other
previous laws, and by the Rules of Court. The inheritance of
those who, with or without a will, die after the beginning of
the effectivity of this Code, shall be adjudicated and
distributed in accordance with this new body of laws and by
the Rules of Court; but the testamentary provisions shall be
carried out insofar as they may be permitted by this Code.
Therefore, leitimes, betterments, legacies and bequests shall
be respected; however, their amount shall be reduced if no
other manner can every heir be given his full share according
to this Code.
52
Article 16. Par. 2 x x x However, intestate and
testamentary succession, both with respect to the order of
succession and the amount of successional rights and the
intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated
by the national law of the person whose succession is under
consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property
and regardless wherein said property may be found.
23
Illustration:
Problems:
53
Article 1039. Capacity to succeed is governed by the law of
the nation of the decedent.
54
Article 16 NCC
55
Vda de Enriquez vs. Miguel Abadia, L-7188, August 9, 1954
56
Article 2263 NCC
24
Negatively:
1. In writing; and
2. In a language or dialect known to the testator.
Notes:
Notes:
30
Some discrepancies:
him (De Gala vs. Ona, 53 Phil. 104; Dolar vs. Diancin, 55
Phil. 479; Neyra vs, Neyra, 42 O.G. 2817; Lopez vs. Liboro,
46 O.G. [Supp. To No1]); and that where such mark is affixed
by the decedent, it is unnecessary to state in the attestation
clause that another person wrote the testator’s name at his
request (Payad vs. Tolentino, 62 Phil. 849).
4. Signature; and
5. Date
Therefore;
Note:
Articles 815, 816 and 817 lay down the rules of formal
validity of wills:
Thus:
a. be of sound mind
b. be at least 18 years of age
c. be able to read and write
d. not be blind, deaf, or dumb
e. be domiciled in the Philippines
f. not have been convicted (by final judgment)
of falsification of a document, perjury, or
false testimony
59
Section 20. Witnesses; their qualifications. – Except as
provided in the next succeeding section, all persons who can
perceive, and perceiving, can make known their perception to
others, may be witnesses.
50
1. the witness;
2. the spouse of the witness;
3. the parent of the witness;
4. the child of the witness;
5. anyone claiming the right of said witness, spouse,
parent or child (ex. The creditor of the witness if the
said creditor has not been paid.)
SUBSECTION 5. CODICILS
AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
1. Burning;
2. Tearing;
3. Canceling; or
4. Obliterating.
SUBSECTION 7. – REPUBLICATION
AND REVIVAL OF WILLS
What is republication?
Application:
What is probate?
Notes:
PERTINENT PROVISIONS
RULE 75
RULE 76
60
Article 887 enumerates the compulsory heirs –
72
Concept of legitime:
1. He is a testamentary heir as
distinguished from a legal or intestate
No, except:
Note:
80
Each gets 20, 000. While the law mentions only full
and the half-brother, it is evident that the others may be
considered in the same category as strangers, making Article
846 applicable.
Note:
Application:
X- ½ (180, 000)
Y- 1/3 (120, 000)
Z- ¼ (90, 000)
390, 000
Excess: 30, 000
A= 3/12
B= 2/12
C=4/12
A = 6/12
B = 4/12
C = 3/12
6 + 4 + 3 = 13
a. Testamentary succession,
b. Legacy or devise,
c. Donation inter vivos, or propter nuptials,
d. Intestacy.
89
Other effects:
4. Adopted children.
Application:
Yes, in Acain vs. IAC, G.R. No. 72706, Oct. 27, 1987,
it was held that if preterition is by mistake or inadvertence,
there is true preterition and total intestacy results. The
reason for this is the inability to determine how the testator
would have distributed his estate if none of the heirs had
been omitted or forgotten.
If the omission is intentional, the effect would be a
defective disinheritance covered by Article 918, in which case
the institution of heirs is not wholly void but only insofar as it
prejudices the legitime of the person disinherited. The nullity
is partial unlike in true preterition where the nullity is total.
Preterition is presumed to be only an involuntary
omission; that if the testator had known of the existence of
the compulsory heir at the time of the execution of the will,
he would have instituted such heir. On the other hand, if the
testator attempts to disinherit a compulsory heir, the
presumption of the law is that he wants such heir to receive
as little as possible from the estate.
Application:
ii. If A is incapacitated?
Notes:
3. Reciprocal (reciproca)
4. Fideicommissary (fideicommisaria).
A = 2/6
B = 1/6
2:1 = 3
A = 2/3
B = 1/3
A = 2/3 x ½ = 2/6
B = 1/3 x ½ =1/6
Exceptions:
survive the first heir; the second heir’s own heirs merely take
his place.
3. Legitimate improvements
– necessary and useful
improvements
that both the first heir and the second heir must be living at
the time of the death of the testator. It is evident that in
testamentary dispositions, which contain a perpetual
prohibition to alienate, neither one nor the other can possibly
be violated. He only limitation, which is violated, is that
provided in Article 870. The prohibition to alienate is good for
20 years. Beyond that, it is void. Therefore, in the instant
problem, C must still have to wait for 1972 before he can
validly alienated the property.
Summary:
3. Substitution as to legitime – It is
not only fideicommissary
substitution that cannot be
established with respect to the
legitimes of compulsory heirs; all
kinds of substitutions are prohibited
in so far as legitimes are
concerned. If the testator provides
for a substitution in relation to a
117
SECTION 4
GENERAL PROVISIONS
CONDITIONS
Exceptions:
121
a) If imposed by the
deceased spouse or by his
ascendants or
descendants – condition is
valid.
b) If imposed by anyone else
– condition is considered
as not written.
a. Positive:
2. Exceptions –
b. Negative:
TERMS
2. Resolutory term
Rules:
What is a mode?
127
Requisites:
Principles:
CAUCION MUCIANA
128
SUBSTANTIAL COMPLIANCE
What are the rules in substantial compliance?
SECTION 5. LEGITIME
What is legitime?
Thus, under the law now, there are only four (4)
groups of compulsory heirs:
62
Paragraphs 4 and 5 [bracketed] are deemed
deleted by Article 165, EO No. 209 {Family Code}, and to
read “illegitimate children”.
134
LC alone –
½ of the estate.
LC and SS –
1LC and SS –
LC and IC –
1LC, IC and SS –
LP alone –
½ of the estate.
LP and IC –
LP: ½ of the estate;
IC: ¼ of the estate.
LP and SS –
LP, IC and SS –
SS alone –
SS and IC –
SS and IP –
IC alone –
½ of the estate.
IP alone –
½ of the estate.
sisters, nephews
65
Applies if free portion is sufficient, otherwise, free
portion will be divided equally. (Unless otherwise specified by
the testator, sharing in the available free portion is equal
[Article 846].
66
Reason:: They are not compulsory heirs. Hence,
they are not entitled to legitime. They can become heirs only
in intestat4e succession (Article 1001 and 994) or if
designated as devisees or legatees, i.e. as voluntary heirs.
138
and nieces
which shall not include those imposed in the will. To the net
value of the hereditary estate, shall be deducted the value of
all donations by the testator that are subject to collation at
the time he made them (Article 908).
3 steps:
NOTES:
Summary of donations:
Exceptions –
68
NOTE: The donations made to legitimate parents
or ascendants or to the parents of illegitimate children should
only be charged to their legitime when they are compulsory
heirs, since they are not primary compulsory heirs but only
secondary and, therefore, may not always be compulsory
heirs if there are present the primary compulsory heirs.
147
c. Donation to spouse –
Reservatorio
O (Origin) R (Reservista)
P (Prepositus)
P (prepositus) inherits a piece of land from his
father, O (origin). Subsequently, P dies intestate, single and
without issue, and the land is in turn inherited by his mother
R (reservista). R is now required to reserve the property in
favor of P’s paternal relatives within the third degree
(rerservatorios).
RESERVISTA
153
Notes:
They are (1) death of the reservista; and (2) the fact
that the reservatorio has survived the reservista.
Illustration:
70
Article 1461. Things having potential existence
may be the object of the contract of sale.
The efficacy of the sale of a mere hope or
expectancy is deemed subject to the condition that the thing
will come into existence.
The sale of a vain hope or expectancy is
void.
Article 1462. The goods which form the
subject of a contract of sale may be either existing goods,
owned or possessed by the seller, or goods to be
manufactured, raised, or acquired by the seller after the
perfection of the contract of sale, in this Title called “future
goods”.
There may be a contract of sale of goods,
whose acquisition by the seller depends upon a contingency
which may or may not happen.
164
Extinguishment
SECTION 6. DISINHERITANCE
Define disinheritance
a. His legitime;
b. His intestate portion; and
c. Any other testamentary disposition made in a prior
will of the disinheriting testator.
Summary:
NOTES:
Enumeration is exclusive.
Nos. 2, 5 & 7 are the same as the grounds in Art.
919.
Exception to par. 6: Adoption, age of majority.
The loss of parental authority should have been
effected either:
What is legacy?
What is devise?
1. Primarily – substitution;
2. Secondarily – accretion;
3. Tertiarily – intestacy.
3. Third degree –
3.1 Uncles and aunts
3.2 Nephews and nieces
4. Fourth degree –
4.1 First cousins
4.2 Brothers and sisters of grandparent
(Granduncles and grandaunts)
4.3 Grandchildren of a brother or sister
(Grandnephews and grandnieces)
5. Fifth degree –
5.1 A child of a first cousin
5.2 First cousin of a parent
5.3 Brothers and sisters of a great-grandparent
5.4 Great grandchildren of a brother or sister.
Define representation.
Notes:
What is representation?
a. Legitime; and
b. Intestacy.
1. In testamentary succession:
2. In intestate succession:
1. Legitimate children/
descendants;
2. Illegitimate
children/descendants;
3. Legitimate parents/ascendants;
4. Illegitimate parents;
5. Surviving spouse;
6. Brothers, sisters, nephews,
nieces;
7. Other collaterals – to the 5 th
degree;
8. State.
a. Exclude parents,
collaterals and state.
b. They concur with
surviving spouse and
illegitimate children.
c. They are excluded by no
one.
a. Exclude illegitimate
parents, collaterals and
state
b. Concur with surviving
spouse, legitimate
children and legitimate
parents
c. They are excluded by no
one
a. Exclude collaterals in
remoter degree and the
state
b. Concur with collaterals in
the same degree
c. Are excluded by legitimate
children, illegitimate
children, legitimate
parents, illegitimate
parents, surviving spouse,
brothers and sisters, and
nephews and nieces.
(8) State.
a. Excludes no one
b. Concurs with no one
c. Is excluded by everyone
1. Personality property – to
municipality of last
residence
2. Real property – where
situated
CONCURRING
HEIRS
71
Formula: The legitimate and illegitimate children will divide
the estate in the proportion of 2:1. The surviving spouse will
be considered as one legitimate child. If due to the number of
illegitimate children, the legitimes of the legitimate children
and the spouse are impaired, the illegitimate children will
receive only what is the equivalent of the free portion in
testamentary succession.
201
1. Spouse 1. ½ Articles
1001 & 994
2. Brothers & 2. ¼
sisters, nephews &
nieces
Parents/ascendants – ½ of the
estate
Adopter – ½ of the estate
Define accretion
203
1) Predecease
2) Incapacity
3) Repudiated
I. In testamentary succession:
204
a. As to legitime:
i. In case of prerdecease of
an heir, there is
representation if there are
children or descendants; if
none, the other heirs
inherit in their own right.
ii. In case of incapacity of an
heir, the results are the
same as in predecease.
iii. In case of disinheritance
of an heir, the results are
the same as in incapacity
or predecease.
iv. In case of repudiation by
an heir, the other heirs
inherit in their own right;
no accretion.
1. A written condonation, or
2. The execution by the offended party of a will with
knowledge of the cause of unworthiness.
Consequences:
72
Article 533: “The possession of hereditary property is
deemed transmitted to the heir without interruption, and from
the moment of death of the decedent, in case the inheritance
is accepted. One who validly renounces an inheritance is
deemed never to have possessed the same.”
213
SECTION 5. COLLATION
73
Article 546, par. 1. Necessary expenses shall be refunded
to every possessor; but only the possessor in good faith may
retain the thing until he has been reimbursed therefore.
74
Article 546, par 2. Useful expenses shall be refunded only
to the possessor in good faith with the same right of
retention, the person who has defeated him in the possession
having the option of refunding the amount of the expenses or
of paying the increase in value which the thing may have
acquired by reason thereof.
75
Article 548. Expenses for pure luxury or mere pleasure shall
not be refunded to the possessor in good faith; but he may
remove the ornaments with which he has embellished the
principal thing if it suffers no injury thereby, and if his
successor in the possession does not prefer to refund the
amount expended.
225
PARTITION
1. Define partition.
1) Extra-judicial – when it is
effected by the testator himself,
or by some person named by
such testator, or by the
participants or co-owners
themselves amicably or by
common accord.
d. By will, or
e. By act inter vivos
14. Where there are two or more heirs, the whole estate
of the decedent is, before its partition, owned in
common by such heirs, subject to the payment of
the debts of the deceased. (Article 1078)
Kinds of partition:
Note:
Note: This article only provides for the right over the
document. The co-heirs, however, have the right to
have the title divided into individual titles, separate
for each of the owners to correspond to the separate
portions held by them respectively.
EFFECTS OF PARTITION
26. What is the right of the heirs who pay for the
insolvent heir?
77
Article 501. Every co-owner shall, after partition, be liable
for defects of title and quality of the portion assigned to each
of the co-owners.
234
Exceptions:
36. What are the options of the heir who is sued for
rescission?