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.
The lines of a regular succession rank in the following order:

1. Descendants
2. Ascendants
3. Collaterals

When a person dies, his or her property must pass to a living person.
Succession or this passing of property is regulated by the following twin regimes:

 Testate Succession (where the deceased has left a will)

 Intestate Succession (where the deceased has not left any will)

Compulsory Succession

The deceased person is obligated to leave behind a certain portion of his or her estate
to specified relatives at the moment of death. Under the law, the whole value of the
deceased’s estate must be accounted for and half of such value is to be given to his
legitimate offspring.

Example 1:

The deceased had two (2) legitimate children, they are required by law to divide
equally among themselves the half of the deceased’s estate. The widow, under
Compulsory Succession, is also entitled to the same amount corresponding to the share
of one legitimate child.

*Therefore, applying these rules, the widow and her two legitimate children are
entitled to 1/4th of the estate each. All is well and good up to this point and only 3/4 ths of
the total estate has been transferred.

Example 2:

Assume that there suddenly appears an illegitimate child of the deceased who
has conclusively proven his paternity. Is he entitled to any compulsory share?

Answer:
 The Civil Code also has this situation covered. It ordains that an illegitimate child
is entitled to ½ the share of a legitimate child. As applied in our example, where the
legitimate child received 1/4th of the estate, the illegitimate child has the right to claim
1/8th of the property left behind by his father.

Summing up the distributed portions, what is left of the estate is 1/8 th of the total
value. This undistributed value, or in all other cases, the so-called “free portion of the
estate,” may be disposed of through a will under the law on Testamentary Succession.

Testamentary Succession

In the case of a testate succession, the estate of the deceased, after satisfying all
existing obligations, is distributed in the manner set out in the will. Testamentary
succession actually involves three important steps. These are, in chronological order,
the probate of the will, its interpretation, and finally, its execution.

The personal representative or executor needs to obtain a grant of probate to

prove that the will is genuine. The probate allows the executor or personal
representative to distribute the estate of the deceased according to the testament.

As pointed out, in drafting a will, the testator should keep in mind that there
should be no exclusion or much less reduction of the share of compulsory heirs.
Secondly, its provisions should not go against public policy nor a testimonial disposition
amount to a crime. Any provision found to be contrary to law or public policy shall be
deemed as not written in the will.

Application:

Is a testimonial disposition granting a property to a common-law spouse valid?

Answer:

The conveyance of property gratuitously to a common-law spouse is

jurisprudentially recognized as an act contrary to public policy. To be exact, it is
prohibited by law as it is a circumvention of a direct provision which disallows donations
to a common- law wife, read together with the doctrine that what cannot be done directly
cannot be done indirectly.

Legal or Intestate Succession

 In Legal or Intestate Succession, the law deals with the remaining portion of the
estate undisposed by compulsory succession and undistributed by will. The estate is
distributed according to the laws of intestacy. Under this mode of succession, the
concept of Compulsory Succession is mirrored. Those who are deemed compulsory
heirs will once again receive their corresponding share of the remainder of the estate.
This final process finally disposes of the entirety of the estate and ends the process of
succession.

Distribution of an intestate estate is done in the following order:

1. Payments of debts

2. Right to dwelling house

3. Furniture and furnishing

4. Right to cash

5. Legal rights

6. Free estate

Final consideration

It is both a policy of the State to let the property of the deceased pass to his or her
rightful heirs and, in the same breath, to respect the will of testator.

The Philippines is largely a civil law jurisdiction which follows the concept of legitime or
forced succession, reserving by law a fraction of the estate to certain compulsory heirs, thus
limiting the ability of the testator to give away his properties in a will to anyone of his
liking and deprive his heirs of their rightful share of his estate.

Generally, the compulsory heirs entitled to their share of the estate are the legitimate
children, the spouse, the illegitimate children, and the parents of the deceased.
Legitimate children get one half of the estate divided equally between them while the
surviving spouse and/or illegitimate children get one half the share of a legitimate child.
There are other complicated rules depending on which category or the number of surviving
heirs.
WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO INHERIT IN THE PHILIPPINES?

1) SECURE THE DEATH CERTIFICATE.

The registration of deaths in the Philippines is governed by law (P.D. 651 as amended by
P.D. 766) .
*If the decedent died in a hospital, the attending physician or administrator of the hospital
certifies as to the fact of death.
*If the decedent died outside of a hospital, the nearest of kin can report the death to the Local
Civil Registrar where the deceased habitually resided.

The death of a foreigner must be reported to the Local Civil Registrar where he habitually
resided or to the Civil Registrar of the City of Manila if he died while in transit in the Philippines
or without a habitual residence.

Generally, the fact of death must be reported within forty-eight hours and registered by
the Civil Registrar within 30 days from the date of death.

2) DETERMINE IF THE DECEASED LEFT A WILL.

If there is a will, it must be probated or proved by filing a Petition with the Regional
Trial Court where the deceased was residing at the time of his death or if he was a resident of a
foreign country in the place where he had properties.
Unlike other countries, there is no central or official registration of wills in the
Philippines. A copy of a will can be obtained from the Office of the Clerk of Court which holds
the copies of the documents notarized by a notary within a particular locality.

If there is no will, two things can happen:

a) Filing of a Petition for Settlement of the Intestate Estate which will result in the appointment
by the court of an administrator for the estate of the decease, who is usually the nearest of kin;
OR

b) Extrajudicial Settlement of the Estate of Deceased if there are no debts and the heirs can agree
among themselves with respect to the partition of the estate.

A. JUDICIAL REMEDIES : PROBATE OF THE WILL OR FILING A PETITION FOR THE

SETTLEMENT OF THE INTESTATE ESTATE.

These two judicial remedies have similar steps, except that the Probate of the Will ( which is
actually initiated as a Petition for Letters Testamentary) includes proving the genuineness and
authenticity of the will. In the Philippines, most wills are known as notarial wills which require
legal formalities as to the signing and execution which are the matters to be determined in the
initial stages when there is a will.
1) CHOOSE AN ATTORNEY TO FILE THE PETITION.

Estates that reach the courts are generally complicated in terms of the number of the properties,
the nature thereof, and the competing interests of the heirs. It could involve parcels of land in
different parts of the Philippines which have themselves been inherited in some form or another
by the deceased from his or her ancestors. Often these remain undivided with compounded real
property taxes and regulatory fees. For these reasons, it would be prudent to get an experienced
attorney to handle the estate proceedings.

2) FILING OF THE PETITION.

The Petition must be filed with the Regional Trial Court where the deceased was residing at the
time of his death or where he had properties if a resident of a foreign country. What becomes a
significant issue at this point is the money necessary to file the Petition since the filing fee is
based on the assessed value of the estate.

3) NOTIFYING ALL KNOWN HEIRS AND CREDITORS.

The heirs and the creditors of the deceased are normally identified in the Petition and are
required to be notified of the initial hearing in the case . The hearing will also be published in a
newspaper of general publication for 3 consecutive weeks prior to the date of the hearing.

4) JURISDICTIONAL HEARING.

This is the initial scheduled hearing of the case where the matters of notification of the known
heirs and creditors and the publication of the notice as required by law are put into the record of
the case.

The significance of this step is that it establishes the nature of the proceedings as IN REM or
theoretically binding on the whole world.

5) INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE.

The administrator will initially make an inventory of the estate and make a report to the court.
Properties could be held by third parties who can be required to appear and disclose the extent of
the properties held on behalf of the deceased. Representatives of banks and financial institutions
can be questioned on related matters as to investments and stockholdings of the deceased.

In many instances, the estate could include untitled or unclaimed properties which have to be
investigated further , involving professional investigators, titling agencies, and geodetic
engineers to determine the metes and bounds of disputed properties.

6) COURT APPOINTMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATOR OR EXECUTOR.

A Petition naming all possible heirs and listing all known properties, real or personal, of the
deceased is filed with the court, seeking the appointment of an administrator or the executor
named in the will who must post a bond and manage the distribution of the estate in accordance
with the directives of the court.

7) HEARINGS TO DETERMINE THE HEIRS.

The court at some point will make a declaration of who are the heirs of the decedent based on the
evidence presented by the parties and oppositors.

8) DISTRIBUTION OF THE ESTATE.

After settling the taxes on the estate, paying off creditors , and determining the heirs, the court
will proceed to the distribution of the estate based on the agreement of the parties, if any, or if
there is no agreement based on the evidence presented in court.

Note that these cases could be highly litigious before the parties can come to some sort of
agreement as to the manner of partitioning the estate or the sale of the properties and the
distribution of the proceeds.

B) Extrajudicial Settlement or Partition of Estate

For the surviving heirs to be allowed to do an extrajudicial settlement of the estate, there must be
no will, no debts , and all must be in agreement as to the partition of the properties belonging to
the estate.

A Petition is prepared by a lawyer which normally will include a declaration of all the heirs that
they are the ONLY heirs of the decedent, the appointment of an administrator or attorney in fact
who will act for and on behalf of the heirs with respect to the properties. This document once
completed will be published in such manner as the court will order. After the completion of the
publication, the heirs or the representative appointed in the Extrajudicial Settlement can provide
copies to the banks holding the money in the name of the deceased and register the document
with the Register of Deeds where real properties are registered.

Estate and other taxes need to be settled and the annotation of the Statute of Non Claims, which
gives creditors 2 years to file a claim, is made on the titles of the real properties before any
disposition of the assets can be made.