RESERVA TRONCAL

 System of reserve by virtue of which an ascendant who inherits from his

descendant any property which the latter may have acquired by gratuitous title
from another ascendant, or a brother or sister, is obliged to reserve such
property as he may have acquired by operation of law for the benefit of relatives
who are within the third degree and who belong to the line from which said
property came. (Article 891, Civil Code)
Purpose: The reason for the Reserva Troncal is to reserve certain property in favor of
certain relatives. To prevent persons who are outsiders to the family from acquiring, by
chance or accident, property which otherwise would have remained with the said
family. In short, to put back the property to the line from which it originally came.

The Personal Elements of Reserva Troncal are as follows:

1. The ascendant, brother or sister, otherwise known as the origin of the
property, from whom the descendant-propositus has acquired the
property by gratuitous title;
2. The decendant-propositus, from whom the ascendant-reservista in turn
has acquired the property by gratuitous title;
3. The ascendant-reservista who is obliged to reserve the property;
4. The relatives of the propositus, otherwise known as the reservatarios, who
are within the 3rd degree and who belong to the line from which the
property came and for whose benefits the reservation is constituted.

Essential Elements:
1. The property should have been inherited by operation of law by an
ascendant reservista from his descendant propositus upon the death of
the latter;
2. The property should have been acquired by gratuitous title by the
descendant praepositus from another ascendant or from a brother or
sister;
3. The descendant propositus should have died without any legitimate issue
in the direct descending line who could inherit from him.
Requisites that must exist in order that a property may be impressed with a
reservable character:
1. That the property was acquired by a descendant (called “praepositus” or
propositus) from an ascendant or from a brother or sister by gratuitous title
when the recipient does not give anything in return;
2. That said descendant (praepositus) died without an issue;
3. That the same property (called “reserva”) is inherited by another ascendant
(called “reservista”) by operation of law (either through intestate or compulsory
succession) from the praepositus; and
4. That there are living relatives within the third degree counted from the
praepositus and belonging to the same line from where the property originally
came (called “reservatarios”).