LAW ON SUCCESSION

School Year 2020- 2021, First Semester

Main Reference: Edgardo Paras, Civil Code of the Philippines Volume III
Professor: Randi Carlo A. Gobot

Introduction
- What is SUCCESSION
- Kinds of succession

General Provisions

Art. 774
- Definition of succession mortis causa
- Elements
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Memorize

Art. 775
- Definition of decedent

Art. 776
- What inheritance includes
o Properties
 Real and personal
o Rights
 Surviving rights v. those that are extinguished by death
o Obligations
 Transferable v. non-transferable
 Limit: Art. 774 “to the extent of the value of inheritance”
- Inheritance v. succession
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Encircle the word ‘inheritance’
- Case:
o Estate of Hemady v. Luzon Surety Co., Inc. G.R. No. L-8437 Nov. 28, 1956
o Ledesma v. Mclachlin 66 Phil 547

Art. 777
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Encircle “right to the accession”, put an arrow and write: “successional
rights”
o “What happens is that the death of a person consolidates and renders
immutable, in a certain sense, rights which up to that moment were nothing
but mere expectancy. These right arise from express will of the testator or
from provisions of law, but they do not acquire any solidity and effectiveness
except from the moment of death; before this event, the law may change,
the will of the testator may vary, and even circumstances may be modified
to such an extent that he who expected to receive property may be deprived
of it; but once death supervenes, the will of the testator becomes
immutable, the law as to the succession can no longer be changed;
disinheritance cannot be effected and the rights to the succession acquires a
character of marked permanence.”
 “In other words, what the article really means is that the succession is open
by the death of the person from whom the inheritance comes.” (Borromeo v.
Burgos 152 SCRA 174)

- Conditions for transmission of successional rights

- Effects of transmission of rights from death
o Future inheritance
- Cases:
o Blas, et al. v. Santos, et al. G.R. No. L-14070 March 29, 1961
o Borromeo v. Burgos 152 SCRA 174

Art. 778
- Kinds of succession

Art. 779
- Testamentary succession defined

Art. 780
- Mixed succession
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Underline ‘by operation of law’, put an arrow and write ‘by intestacy’

Art. 781
- What inheritance includes, in addition to Art. 776
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Underline ‘since the opening of the succession’, put an arrow and write:
‘death’

Art. 782
- Heirs v. legatees & devisees
o Importance of distinction
- Possibility of dual status
- Case:
o Rupa, Sr. v. CA, GR 80129, Jan. 25, 2000, 323 SCRA 153

Testamentary Succession

Wills in General

Art. 783
- ‘Will’ defined
- Essential elements and characteristics of wills
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Underline ‘to control to a certain degree’, put an arrow and write: ‘ because
he cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime and he cannot give a
portion of his estate to incapacitated persons.’
- Case:
o Riera v. Palmaroli, GR No. 14851, Sept. 13, 1919
Art. 784
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Memorize
o Encircle ‘making of a will’, put an arrow and write: ‘refers to the disposition
of the estate and not the mechanical act of drafting the will itself’

Art. 785
- Discretion of a third person
- Case:
o Seangio v. Reyes, GR 140371-72, Nov. 27, 2006

Art. 786
- When a third person may be entrusted with distribution

Art. 787
- Non-determination by third person

Art. 788
- Rule on interpretation

Art. 789
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Mark as ‘important’
- Kinds of ambiguity in a will
- How ambiguities may be cured

Art. 790
- Rule on interpretation

Art. 791
- Rule on interpretation

Art. 792
- Effect of invalid disposition
Art. 793
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Mark as ‘important’
o Encircle ‘thereby’, put an arrow and write: ‘according to the will’
- What is an after-acquired property?
- General rule as to after-acquired properties and its exceptions
- Application of the article to heirs

Art. 794
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Mark as ‘important’
o Encircle ‘all’
o Underline ‘ interest which the testator could devise or bequeath’
o Encircle ‘unless’
o Encircle ‘less interest’, put an arrow and write: ‘May the testator convey a
greater interest? Yes, under Art. 929.
- General rule as to scope of interest may be conveyed, exceptions
Art. 795
- Instruction/mark or annotate your book:
o Mark as ‘very important’
o Encircle ‘validity of a will as to its form’, put an arrow and write: ‘extrinsic
validity’
o Encircle ‘made’, put an arrow and write: not at the time of the death of the
decedent. Hence, if valid at the time the will was made but void at the time
of testator’s death, the will is valid.

- Kinds of validity with respect to wills

- Rules on validity from the viewpoint of time, place, or country
- Cases:
o Vda. De Enriquez, et al. v. Miguel Abadia, et al. G.R. No. L-7188 August 9,
1954
o In the matter of the testate estate of the deceased Edward E. Christensen,
Adolfo C. Aznar & Lucy Christensen v. Helen Christensen Garcia G.R. No. L-
16759, January 31, 1963
o Testate estate of Amos Bellis, et al. v. Edward A. Bellis G.R. No. L-23678, June
6, 1967