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Succession in A Nutshell
Succession in A Nutshell
Succession in A Nutshell
In a Nutshell
1. Modes of transmitting ownership
a.) Law
b.) Donation
c.) Testate and intestate succession
d.) Tradition
(Art. 712, New Civil Code)
2. Terms
a.) Decedent applies to a deceased
person whose property is transmitted through
succession, whether he left a will or not.
b.) Testator applies to a person who left a will.
c.) Inheritance all property, rights and
obligations of a person which are not
extinguished by his death (Art. 776, NCC).
(i) The obligations of a deceased are only to the
extent of the value of the inheritance left by him
to his heirs
(ii) In general, obligations are transmissible, unless
purely personal like obligations between
husband and wife, and those non- transferable by
law or contract.
(iii) Examples of rights extinguished by death:
a) Personal rights like marital rights, parental
authority, support, action for legal
separation, partnership, agency.
b) Right to recognition of a legitimate or an
illegitimate child:
- Except when action has already been
d. (Art. 173, Family Code).
- Also, action is transmitted to heirs if
d dies during minority or in a state of insanity,
rs have 5 years to file the action. (Art. 173,
mily Code).
- Action already commenced survives,
withstanding death or either party. (id.)
- Action for adoption is not extinguished
by death of adopter. (Sec. 13, RA 8552)
c) Right to hold office or job, public or
vate.
d) Right of a lawyer to represent his client.
3. When are rights to succession
transmitted
Rights to succession are transmitted from the
moment of the death of the decedent. (Art. 777,
NCC).
a) Heirs become owners on date of decedents
death, although properties are delivered to them
later.
b) Both acceptance and repudiation retroact to
the moment of death.
4. Kinds of succession :
Succession may be:
a) testamentary (by will or codicil),
b) legal or intestate (by law),
c) mixed (partly by will and partly by
operation of law) (Art. 778, NCC)
5. What inheritance includes:
Not only transmissible rights and obligations
at the time of death, but also those which
accrued since the opening of the succession
(Art. 781, NCC)
Example:
Alluvium, but not properties acquired after the
will was made.
6. Heir, devisee, legatee
distinguished (Art. 782, NCC)
Heir called to the succession by will or by
operation of law; also one who succeeds by universal
title or to all or a fraction or aliquot part of the estate.
May be compulsory or voluntary.
> Heir is compulsory as to legitime.
> Heir is voluntary, as when a friend or a child
is given part of the estate to be taken from the
free portion.
Devisee : One given a gift of real property in a will.
Legatee : One given a gift of personal property in a
will.
7. Importance of distinction
between heir and legatee/devisee
a) There are heirs in testate (compulsory heirs) and
intestate (legal or intestate heirs) succession.
> Legatees and devisees exist only in
testamentary succession.
b) In preterition, an instituted heir gets nothing, while a
legatee or devisee gets the property given to him
as long as the legitime is not impaired. (Art 854,
NCC)
8. Dual status of heir:
a) In a will, a compulsory heir may be given more than
his legitime.
b) He is a compulsory heir with respect to the legitime.
He is a voluntary heir with respect to the excess.
c) If a compulsory heir dies ahead of the testator, his
legitime goes to his child by representation.
The child of a voluntary heir who
predeceases the testator gets nothing, because there is
no representation among voluntary heirs nor in the free
portion.
WILLS
1. Definition of will
An act whereby a person is permitted, with
the formalities prescribed by law, to control to a
certain degree the disposition of his estate, to
take effect after his death. (Art. 783, NCC).
2. Characteristics of a will:
a) Statutory
b) Unilateral (Heirs cant accept while testator is still
alive)
c) Solemn or formal
d) There must be animus testandi
e) Testator must have testamentary capacity
f) Strictly personal
g) Effective mortis causa
h) Essentially revocable or ambulatory
Meaning of strictly personal (Art. 784, NCC)
(i) Cannot be left in whole or in part to the
discretion of a third person.
(ii) Duration or efficacy of designation of
heirs, devisees, or legatees or the portions given
to them, cannot be left to the discretion of a
third person.
(iii) But the testator may entrust to a
third person the distribution of specific property or
sums of money left to a specified class or cause
and the designation of persons, institutions,
and establishments to which property or
money is to be given (Art.786, NCC).
Ex.: Charitable institutions
2000 Law Class of San Sebastian College
3. Interpretation of wills:
a) If it admits of different interpretation, in case of doubt,
interpretation which will make the dispositions operative shall be
preferred (Art.788, NCC), because testacy is preferred to intestacy.
b) Ambiguities in a will:
(i) Latent or intrinsic : Does not appear on the face of the will
and is discovered only by extrinsic evidence.
Ex.: I institute my sister. (But I have two sisters)
I give my piano to Lisa. (But I have two pianos)
(ii) Patent or extrinsic : Appears on the face of the will itself.
Ex.: I institute one of my three nephews (but the nephew is not
named)
I give X one of my three cars (without stating which car).
c) How to resolve ambiguities:
(i) Latent or intrinsic : From context of the will
or extrinsic evidence, excluding the oral
declarations of the testator (Art. 789, NCC)
(ii) Patent or extrinsic : Consider the words of
the will or the circumstances under which the will
was made, but not the oral declarations of the
testator (id.)
Why cant the oral declarations of the testator
be considered?
> Because to do so can result in fraud, as the
words of a dead man can be distorted or perjured.
d) Words are to be interpreted in their ordinary or
grammatical sense, not in the technical sense (Art.790,
NCC)
Examples : Natural child means child by nature.
Use and possession of
property only means usufruct, not ownership.
e) But technical words used are to be taken in their
technical sense, unless
(i) a contrary intention appears from the
context, or
(ii) it satisfactorily appears that will was drawn
solely by the testator, and he was unacquainted
with such technical sense. (Art. 790, id).
Example : Ampon means de facto adoption,
not legal (judicial) adoption.
(iii) Must be signed at the end by the testator or another person in his
presence and at his express direction (Art. 805, id.).
Person signing should not be one of the attesting witnesses, unless
there are more than 3 such witnesses.
Signature of Testator
ATTESTATION CLAUSE
(ACKNOWLEDGEMENT)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
NOTARY PUBLIC
Doc. No. _____
Page No. _____
Book No. _____
Series No. _____
(ix) If the testator is deaf or a deaf-mute, he must
personally read the will, or he must designate two
persons (need not be the attesting witnesses) to read
or communicate the will to him, but they must know
the sign language (Art. 807).
(x) If the testator is blind, the will should be
read to him twice: one, by one of the subscribing
witnesses, and again, by the notary public, (Art. 808).
But: (a) A blind, deaf, and dumb man cannot
make a will because of difficulty of
communication.
(b) The notary public cannot be one of the
attesting witnesses, because he cannot
acknowledge his own act.
b) Holographic Will
Requirements:
(i) Language must be known to the testator. (Art. 804, NCC).
(ii) It must be entirely written, dated, and signed by the
testator. (Art. 810)
(iii) Insertions, cancellations, erasures, or alterations must be
authenticated by the full signature of the testator (Art.814);
otherwise, the alterations, etc. are void, but not the will itself.
(iv) If there are dispositions written below the signature, they
must be dated and signed in order to be valid (Art. 812)
(v) When there are dispositions that are signed but not dated, but
the last disposition has a signature and a date, such date
validates the dispositions preceding it (Art. 813).
Advantages of holographic wills:
(i) More intimate and personal.
(ii) Unlikely to be influenced by fraud or undue influence
(iii) No witnesses, no marginal signatures, no notarization and
acknowledgment needed.
(iv) Subject to no other form. (Art. 810)
(v) Can be made in or out of the Philippines (id.)
Note:
But the testator can still revoke his will
although already probated during his
lifetime.
b) After the testators death.
6. Grounds for disallowance of wills (Art. 839,
NCC)
a) Formalities required by law were not complied with.
b) Testator had no testamentary capacity at the time of
execution of the will.
c) Will was executed through force, duress, or influence of
fear or threats.
d) Will was procured by undue and improper pressure and
influence on the part of the beneficiary or some other
person.
e) Signature of the testator on the will was procured by
fraud.
f) Testator acted by mistake or did not intend that the
instrument he signed should be his will when he signed it.
Remember:
CHILD
(Propositus)
Explanation:
a) Mother gave land to child by donation or in her will; i.e., by
gratuitous title.
b) Child died with no descendant and no will, so father inherited
land intestate. Or child gave land to father as the latters
legitimate in a will.
c) Father owns land only until he dies. Land is reserved by law in
favor of the relatives of the mother within the 3 rd degree from
the child, who are the reservees or reservatarios.
d) The reservees or reservatarios within the 3 rd degree from the
child are any of the following:
(i) Maternal half-brothers and half-sisters (second degree)
(ii) Maternal half-nephews and half-nieces (third degree)
(iii) Maternal grandparents (second degree)
(iv) Maternal great grandparents (third degree)
(v) Maternal aunts and uncles (third degree)
MGGP
Reservatarios 3
or Reservees
(Relatives of MGP
the propositus
within the 3rd 2
degree in the 3 3
maternal line.)
MA MU Mother (Origin)
2 1
2
8. Abandonment of children
and descendants and inducing
daughters to live corrupt or
immoral lives or attempted
against their virtue.
Note: Maltreatment of
child by parent is not ground
for disinheriting parent
because it is part of parental
discipline
7. Reconciliation between testator and disinherited heir:
a) Subsequent reconciliation deprives the testator of the right
to disinherit, and any disinheritance already made
becomes ineffectual.
b) Reconciliation needs no special form. It can be express
or implied.
c) If ground for disinheritance is also a ground for
unworthiness, like abandonment of children or an attempt
against the life of the testator, the heir cannot also inherit.
But reconciliation extinguishes
unworthiness as an incapacity, because incapacity is
only the presumed will of the testator.
8. Ineffective disinheritance:
a) No cause for disinheritance is stated
b) The cause is false
c) The cause is not legal
d) Subsequent reconciliation between testator
and disinherited heir results in ineffective
disinheritance
A B C D
A-1 B-1
1. Meaning of collation:
It has two meanings:
First: Computing or adding certain values to the
estate, and charging the same to the legitime (Arts.
1061, 1062, 1063, 1064, NCC)
Second: Computing or adding certain values to the
estate, and charging the same to the free portion
(Arts. 1062, 1063)
2. Meaning of not collationable:
First, property or value should be computed or added,
but should be charged to the free portion (not to the
legitime).
Second, property should not be computed or charged
to the estate at all, because it is not part of the estate. (Art.
1067), like expenses for support education, medical
attendance, customary gifts.
3. As a general rule, all donations inter vivos , whether
given to compulsory heirs or to strangers, must be
reduced if found inofficious.
4. Only the value of the thing donated at the time of the
donation should be collated (Art. 1071).
5. Collation by compulsory heirs:
a) Compulsory heirs must bring to collation any property received
as donation or by gratuitous title, in order to determine the legitime
(Art. 1061).
Reason: Every donation inter vivos to a legitimate child is
generally considered an advance on his legitime.
b) The surviving spouse is a compulsory heir, but she is not
included in Art. 1061 because:
(i) Donations during the marriage are null and void
(ii) Donation propter nuptias to a future spouse is donation to a
stranger and must be imputed to the free portion because at that
time, the donee was not yet a spouse, hence, not a compulsory
heir.
c) Proceeds of life insurance are not collationable because they are
not considered donations.
d) When collation does not take place among compulsory heirs
(Art. 1062);
(i) When donor expressly provided, i.e., he does not want
donation to be charged to an heirs legitime
But it must still be imputed to the free portion in order to
compute the legitime of the compulsory heirs (Art. 1062).
(ii) If the donee repudiates the inheritance, the donation shall
be charged to the free portion.
Ex: D has two sons, A and B. He gave A a donation of P10,000
expressly stating in the donation that the same was not
collationable. If D later dies intestate leaving an estate of
P90,000, A and B will each get P45,000. Obviously, D wanted
to give A a preference of P10,000. Anyway, the legitime of B
has not been impaired.
6. Is a legacy or devise subject to collation?
Art. 1063. Property left by will (like a legacy or devise) is not deemed
subject to collation if the testator has not otherwise provided, but the
legitime shall in any case remain unimpaired.
a) This means that the legacy or devise should be imputed to the free
portion, not to the legitime.
b) Example: T has two legitimate children, A and B. In Ts will, he
gave A a legacy of P10,000. There was no other provision in his will. If
T dies with an estate of P100,000, how should this estate be divided?
Answer: Give P10,000 legacy to A, and divide the P90,000 between A
and B, or P45,000 each. The P10,000 legacy to A does not impair Bs
legitime, which is P25,000 (1/2 of P50,000).
c) Suppose in the above example, T gave the P10,000 to A as a
donation inter vivos. No preference to A was clearly intended by T. So
upon Ts death, leaving an estate of P90,000, add the P10,000
donation to A to the P90,000, and from the total estate of P100,000,
give P40,000 to A (he already got P10,000 as advance legitime), and
give B P50,000.
7. Grandchildren who inherit from their
grandparents by representation of their
parents must bring to collation all
properties received by their parents
from their grandparents (Art. 1064).
8.What donations are not collationable:
a) Parents are not obliged to bring to collation
in the inheritance of their own parents or
ascendants properties which had been donated
by the latter to their children (Art. 1065).
Answer:
Xs estate is actually P90,000 (the P60,000 donation to A
and the remainder of his estate of P30,000). The legitime of
A, B and C is, therefore P45,000. Divide this into three, and
A, B and C each gets a legitime of P15,000. B and C should
get the remaining P30,000 of Xs estate as their legitime. X
gets his legitime of P15,000, and the free portion of P45,000
(imputing his donation to his legitime and the free portion).
So Xs donation is not inofficious.
c) T has two legitimate children A and B. In his will, T
gave A a legacy of P80,000. However, when T died, his
estate minus As legacy would only be P20,000. Should As
legacy be reduced?
Answer:
The total estate of T is P100,000 (P80,000 plus
P20,000), so the legitime of A and B is P50,000 or P25,000
each. In order to complete Bs legitime of P25,000, reduce
As legacy by P5,000 and add it to the remaining estate of
P20,000. So both A and B would receive a legitime of
P25,000 each, while the rest of As legacy would be taken
from the free portion.
LAST WILL AND
TESTAMENT
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:
Signature of Testator
ATTESTATION CLAUSE
(ACKNOWLEDGEMENT)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
NOTARY PUBLIC
Doc. No. _____
Page No. _____
Book No. _____
Series No. _____