General Provisions

Article 774. Succession is a mode of acquisition by virtue of which the property,

rights and obligations to the extent of the value of the inheritance, of a person
are transmitted through his death to another or others either by his will or by
operation of law. (n)

Article 775. In this Title, "decedent" is the general term applied to the person
whose property is transmitted through succession, whether or not he left a will. If
he left a will, he is also called the testator. (n)

Article 776. The inheritance includes all the property, rights and obligations of a
person which are not extinguished by his death. (659)

Article 777. The rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the
death of the decedent. (657a)

Article 778. Succession may be:

(1) Testamentary;

(2) Legal or intestate; or

(3) Mixed. (n)

Article 779. Testamentary succession is that which results from the designation of
an heir, made in a will executed in the form prescribed by law. (n)

Article 780. Mixed succession is that effected partly by will and partly by
operation of law. (n)

Article 781. The inheritance of a person includes not only the property and the
transmissible rights and obligations existing at the time of his death, but also
those which have accrued thereto since the opening of the succession. (n)

Article 782. An heir is a person called to the succession either by the provision
of a will or by operation of law.

Devisees and legatees are persons to whom gifts of real and personal property are
respectively given by virtue of a will