Nature and Function of Intestate Succession
Intestate succession is the transmission of a decedent's estate by operation of law when there is no effective testamentary disposition over all or part of the transmissible property.
It is called legal succession because the law itself designates the heirs, fixes their order, determines their concurrence or exclusion, and supplies the shares that substitute for the absent or ineffective will of the decedent.
Intestacy may be total or partial: it is total when no property is effectively disposed of by will, and partial when a will exists but leaves some property undisposed of or when a testamentary institution fails as to a particular portion.
Legal succession opens only upon death, and the persons who appear to be heirs before death have a mere expectancy, not a vested hereditary right.
The estate transmitted by intestacy is the net hereditary estate, because debts, charges, expenses of administration, and obligations enforceable against the estate are settled before distribution to heirs.
When a valid will disposes of only part of the estate, the testamentary dispositions are respected within the limits of the law, and intestate succession governs only the residue or the failed portions.
When Legal Succession Takes Place
Intestate succession operates when a person dies without a will, with a void will, or with a will that later loses legal effect.
It also operates when the will does not institute an heir or does not dispose of all property belonging to the testator, in which case legal succession applies only to the property not effectively disposed of.
It further operates when a suspensive condition attached to the institution of an heir is not fulfilled, when the instituted heir predeceases the testator, repudiates the inheritance, or is incapable of succeeding, and there is no substitution, accretion, or other legal mechanism that validly absorbs the vacant share.
A void institution of heir does not necessarily destroy every testamentary provision, but the share affected by the void or ineffective institution passes by intestacy unless saved by a valid substitute, accretion, or another lawful disposition.
Legal succession is therefore residual in function but mandatory in effect: it fills the gaps left by ineffective testamentary planning and prevents property from becoming ownerless.
Persons Called by Law
In default of effective testamentary heirs, the law calls the decedent's relatives, the surviving spouse, and ultimately the State.
The principal hereditary groups are legitimate children and descendants, legitimate parents and ascendants, illegitimate children and their descendants, the surviving spouse, privileged collateral relatives, ordinary collateral relatives within the fifth civil degree, and the State.
The order of succession is not a simple single-file list, because some heirs exclude others while some concur with them under fixed sharing rules.
Legitimate descendants are preferred over legitimate ascendants, but legitimate descendants may concur with the surviving spouse and with illegitimate children.
Legitimate parents or ascendants are called when there are no legitimate descendants, and they may concur with the surviving spouse and illegitimate children.
Illegitimate children are compulsory and intestate heirs of their parents, but their rights are subject to the iron curtain rule and to the protection of the shares reserved by law for legitimate heirs.
The surviving spouse is an intestate heir whose share depends on whether the spouse concurs with descendants, ascendants, illegitimate children, or certain collateral relatives.
Collateral relatives are called only when the preferred direct-line heirs and the surviving spouse do not exclude them, and inheritance by collateral relatives does not extend beyond the fifth civil degree.
Relationship, Lines, and Degrees
Proximity of relationship is measured by degrees, and each generation forms one degree.
A line is either direct or collateral: the direct line consists of persons who descend from one another, while the collateral line consists of persons who do not descend from one another but come from a common ancestor.
The direct line is descending when it connects the decedent to children, grandchildren, and more remote descendants, and ascending when it connects the decedent to parents, grandparents, and more remote ascendants.
In the direct line, degrees are counted by the number of generations between the decedent and the relative.
In the collateral line, degrees are counted by going up from the decedent to the common ancestor and then down to the relative whose degree is being determined.
A sibling is in the second degree collateral because the count goes from the decedent to the parent and then down to the sibling.
A nephew or niece is in the third degree collateral, an uncle or aunt is also in the third degree collateral, and a first cousin is in the fourth degree collateral.
Full blood relationship exists when relatives have the same father and mother, while half blood relationship exists when they share only one parent.
The distinction between full blood and half blood matters principally in succession among brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, and their corresponding stocks.
Basic Governing Principles
Preference of Lines
The descending direct line is preferred first, because the law favors the transmission of the estate to the decedent's children and descendants before it ascends to parents or ascendants.
If legitimate descendants exist, legitimate parents and ascendants are excluded from intestate succession, although illegitimate children and the surviving spouse may still concur under the rules on shares.
If there are no legitimate descendants, the legitimate ascending line is called before collateral relatives.
Proximity of Degree
The nearer relative excludes the farther relative, except when the law allows representation.
A child excludes a grandchild who claims in his own right, but a grandchild may inherit by representation if the parent through whom the grandchild descends predeceased the decedent, is incapacitated, or is otherwise legally representable.
A parent excludes a grandparent, and no right of representation exists in the ascending line.
Equality Within the Same Degree
Relatives of the same degree generally inherit in equal shares when they belong to the same class and no special rule on full blood, half blood, representation, or concurrence changes the distribution.
If several heirs are called in the same degree and one is unwilling or incapable to inherit, his share accrues to the others of the same class unless representation is available.
Concurrence and Exclusion
Concurrence means that heirs from different classes inherit together because the law gives each class a share in the same intestate estate.
Exclusion means that the existence of one class prevents another class from inheriting, as when legitimate descendants exclude legitimate ascendants and ordinary collateral relatives.
The correct distribution always begins by identifying who survives the decedent, then determining which classes are excluded, which classes concur, and whether any share is taken per capita or per stirpes.
Representation
Representation is a legal fiction by which a representative is raised to the place and degree of the person represented and acquires the rights that the latter would have had if living or capable of inheriting.
The representative succeeds the decedent by operation of law and not through the person represented, so the representative must personally have capacity to inherit from the decedent.
Representation takes place in the direct descending line, but never in the ascending line.
In the collateral line, representation is allowed only in favor of children of brothers or sisters of the decedent, whether the relationship is by full blood or half blood.
Grandnephews and grandnieces do not extend collateral representation beyond the level allowed by law, because representation in collateral succession is exceptional and strictly limited.
When representation occurs, the division is per stirpes, so the representatives together receive only the share that the person represented would have received.
If a decedent is survived by one child and by three grandchildren of a predeceased child, the living child receives one-half of the estate and the three grandchildren divide the other half among themselves.
A person may represent an heir whose inheritance from another estate he has renounced, because renunciation of the represented person's estate does not destroy the representative's own capacity to inherit from the decedent.
However, an heir who repudiates the decedent's inheritance cannot be represented with respect to the repudiated share, because repudiation treats the repudiating heir as if he never accepted the call to that inheritance.
| Mode of division | When it applies | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Per capita | Heirs inherit in their own right and are of the same class and degree. | Each heir receives an equal individual share, subject to special rules on full and half blood. |
| Per stirpes | Heirs inherit by representation. | Representatives divide only the share of the person represented. |
| By line | More remote ascendants of equal degree survive in both paternal and maternal lines. | One-half goes to the paternal line and one-half to the maternal line, then each line divides internally. |
Legitimate Children and Descendants
Legitimate children and descendants are first in the order of intestate succession and inherit without distinction as to sex, age, or the marriage from which they come.
Children inherit from the decedent in their own right and divide the inheritance equally when all are living and capable.
Grandchildren and more remote descendants inherit by representation when they take the place of their deceased or incapacitated parent or ascendant.
If all children of the decedent are dead but are represented by their own descendants, the grandchildren or more remote descendants inherit by stocks corresponding to the children they represent.
If descendants of different degrees survive, the nearer descendants inherit in their own right while the farther descendants inherit only through representation, unless all nearer descendants in the relevant line are absent and the law calls the farther descendants as the nearest living class.
A legally adopted child is treated as a legitimate child of the adopter for purposes of succession between adopter and adoptee, subject to the controlling adoption statutes on the severance or preservation of legal ties with biological relatives.
Legitimate descendants exclude legitimate parents and ascendants, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, other collateral relatives, and the State.
Illegitimate Children and Descendants
Illegitimate children inherit from their parents by intestacy, but their shares are generally one-half of the share of each legitimate child when they concur with legitimate children.
The share of illegitimate children is constrained by the rule that the legitime and legally protected share of legitimate children must not be impaired.
If the number of illegitimate children makes the ordinary one-half ratio impossible without impairing protected shares, the shares of the illegitimate children are reduced proportionately.
When illegitimate children inherit without legitimate descendants, legitimate ascendants, or a surviving spouse, they take the entire estate.
If living illegitimate children concur with descendants of a deceased illegitimate child, the living illegitimate children inherit in their own right and the descendants of the deceased illegitimate child inherit by representation.
The hereditary rights of illegitimate children pass to their descendants, whether those descendants are legitimate or illegitimate.
If an illegitimate child dies without descendants, the father or mother who legally stands as parent succeeds to the entire estate; if both parents are called, they divide equally, subject to rules on proof of filiation and capacity.
If the illegitimate decedent leaves no descendants and neither father nor mother is called, the surviving spouse succeeds to the entire estate.
If that surviving spouse concurs with brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces of the illegitimate decedent, the surviving spouse receives one-half and the collateral group receives one-half.
The Iron Curtain Rule
Article 992 embodies the iron curtain rule: an illegitimate child has no right to inherit ab intestato from the legitimate children and relatives of his or her father or mother, and legitimate children and relatives have no right to inherit ab intestato from the illegitimate child.
The rule is reciprocal and applies to intestate succession, preventing legal inheritance across the barrier between the illegitimate child and the legitimate family of the parent.
The iron curtain does not prevent an illegitimate child from inheriting from the child's own parent, because the successional link between parent and illegitimate child is expressly recognized by law.
The rule also does not prevent testamentary dispositions within the limits allowed by law, because the prohibition is directed at intestate succession.
Legitimate Parents and Ascendants
Legitimate parents and ascendants inherit only when the decedent leaves no legitimate children or descendants.
If both legitimate parents survive, they inherit in equal shares.
If only one legitimate parent survives, that parent inherits the entire share pertaining to the legitimate ascending line.
If there are no parents but there are more remote legitimate ascendants, the nearest degree excludes the more remote degree.
If ascendants of the same degree survive in both the paternal and maternal lines, the inheritance is divided equally between the two lines, and the ascendants within each line divide their half per capita.
Legitimate ascendants may concur with the surviving spouse and with illegitimate children, but they are excluded by legitimate descendants.
Legitimate parents and ascendants exclude brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, other collateral relatives, and the State.
Surviving Spouse
The surviving spouse is an intestate heir whose share depends on the relatives with whom the spouse concurs.
The marriage must be legally existing at the time of death, because a final decree of annulment, nullity, or dissolution removes the status on which intestate succession as spouse depends.
In legal separation, the spouse who gave cause for the separation is disqualified from inheriting from the innocent spouse by intestacy.
When the surviving spouse concurs with legitimate children or descendants, the spouse receives a share equal to that of one legitimate child, subject to the rules that preserve protected shares when other heirs also concur.
When the surviving spouse concurs with legitimate parents or ascendants and there are no legitimate descendants, the spouse receives one-half of the estate and the legitimate parents or ascendants receive the other half.
When the surviving spouse concurs with illegitimate children and there are no legitimate descendants or ascendants, the spouse receives one-half and the illegitimate children receive the other half.
When the surviving spouse concurs with legitimate parents or ascendants and illegitimate children, the legitimate parents or ascendants receive one-half, the spouse receives one-fourth, and the illegitimate children receive one-fourth.
When the surviving spouse is the only preferred heir and no brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces are entitled to concur, the spouse inherits the entire estate.
When the surviving spouse survives with brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces of the decedent, and no descendants, ascendants, or illegitimate children exclude that group, the spouse receives one-half and that collateral group receives the other half.
Principal Sharing Rules
The shares below state the usual intestate distribution, but each distribution remains subject to capacity, representation, disinheritance effects where relevant, repudiation, accretion, and the protection of legitimes required by law.
| Survivors | Distribution |
|---|---|
| Legitimate children or descendants only | They take the entire estate; children divide per capita, while descendants by representation divide per stirpes. |
| Legitimate children or descendants and surviving spouse | The spouse receives a share equal to that of one legitimate child; the legitimate children or represented stocks take the rest in equal child-shares. |
| Legitimate children or descendants and illegitimate children | Each illegitimate child generally receives one-half of the share of each legitimate child, subject to reduction if protected shares would be impaired. |
| Legitimate children or descendants, surviving spouse, and illegitimate children | The spouse is placed at the level of one legitimate child, each illegitimate child generally receives one-half of a legitimate child's share, and reductions are made when necessary to preserve protected shares. |
| Legitimate parents or ascendants only | They take the entire estate; parents divide equally, while more remote ascendants follow the rules on nearest degree and division by line. |
| Legitimate parents or ascendants and surviving spouse | The legitimate parents or ascendants receive one-half and the surviving spouse receives one-half. |
| Legitimate parents or ascendants and illegitimate children | The legitimate parents or ascendants receive one-half and the illegitimate children receive one-half. |
| Legitimate parents or ascendants, surviving spouse, and illegitimate children | The legitimate parents or ascendants receive one-half, the surviving spouse one-fourth, and the illegitimate children one-fourth. |
| Illegitimate children only | They take the entire estate, with representation in favor of descendants of a deceased illegitimate child when allowed. |
| Illegitimate children and surviving spouse | The surviving spouse receives one-half and the illegitimate children receive one-half. |
| Surviving spouse only | The surviving spouse takes the entire estate when no descendants, ascendants, illegitimate children, brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces are entitled to concur. |
| Surviving spouse with brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces | The surviving spouse receives one-half and the brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces receive one-half. |
| Brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces only | They inherit under the special rules for privileged collateral relatives, including representation and full-blood or half-blood distinctions. |
| Other collateral relatives within the fifth degree only | The nearest degree inherits, without representation and without succession beyond the fifth civil degree. |
| No legal heir | The State inherits through the procedure provided for escheat and settlement of the estate. |
Collateral Relatives
Collateral relatives inherit only in the absence of descendants, ascendants, illegitimate children, and a surviving spouse who excludes them, except that brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces may concur with the surviving spouse in the situation fixed by law.
Brothers and sisters, together with nephews and nieces who are children of deceased brothers or sisters, are preferred over other collateral relatives.
If only brothers and sisters of the full blood survive, they inherit in equal shares.
If full-blood and half-blood brothers and sisters survive together, each full-blood sibling receives double the share of each half-blood sibling.
If only half-blood brothers and sisters survive, they inherit equally, regardless of whether they are related through the father's side or the mother's side.
When brothers or sisters survive together with nephews or nieces who are children of deceased brothers or sisters, the brothers and sisters inherit per capita and the nephews and nieces inherit per stirpes by representation.
When nephews and nieces inherit without surviving brothers or sisters of the decedent, they inherit in their own right and divide per capita.
When nephews and nieces inherit by representation with surviving uncles or aunts, the represented stock receives the share that the deceased brother or sister would have received, including any full-blood or half-blood adjustment.
Other collateral relatives, such as uncles, aunts, and cousins, are called only after the privileged collateral group is absent.
Among ordinary collaterals, the nearer degree excludes the farther degree, representation is not allowed, and succession stops at the fifth civil degree.
Accretion, Vacancy, and Repudiation in Intestacy
When an intestate heir cannot or will not inherit and representation is unavailable, the vacant share ordinarily accrues to the coheirs who are called with that heir in the same class and degree.
Repudiation removes the repudiating heir from the distribution of the particular inheritance and prevents that heir's own descendants from representing the repudiated share.
Incapacity produces vacancy, but representation may still operate if the law allows the descendants of the incapacitated heir to take the heir's place.
Predecease commonly gives rise to representation in the descending line and in the limited collateral case of nephews and nieces.
If there is a valid substitution in a will, the substitute may take before legal succession operates; if there is no substitution and no accretion, the affected share passes by intestacy.
The State as Intestate Successor
The State inherits only in default of all persons entitled to succeed under the rules on relatives and the surviving spouse.
The State's succession is implemented through judicial proceedings, because possession and distribution of the estate require settlement, payment of debts and charges, and compliance with the procedure governing escheat.
After debts and charges are paid, personal property is generally assigned to the city or municipality of the decedent's last residence in the Philippines, while real property is assigned to the city or municipality where it is located.
If the decedent never resided in the Philippines, the property is assigned to the locality where the property is situated or found, according to the statutory rules on escheated property.
The property received through escheat is devoted to public purposes identified by law, principally for the benefit of public schools and charitable institutions in the locality concerned.
If a person legally entitled to the estate appears within the period allowed by law after delivery to the State or locality, that person may recover the property or its value subject to the limits and conditions imposed by the Civil Code.
Method for Determining the Intestate Heirs
The first step is to identify the decedent's legally recognized family relations at the moment of death, because death fixes the opening of succession and the capacity of heirs.
The second step is to classify the survivors into legitimate descendants, legitimate ascendants, illegitimate children or descendants, surviving spouse, privileged collaterals, ordinary collaterals, or the State.
The third step is to apply exclusion: legitimate descendants eliminate legitimate ascendants and collaterals, legitimate ascendants eliminate collaterals, and preferred heirs eliminate the State.
The fourth step is to apply concurrence: the surviving spouse and illegitimate children may share with legitimate descendants or ascendants, and brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces may share with the surviving spouse only in the specific case recognized by law.
The fifth step is to apply representation, because descendants or nephews and nieces may take by stock instead of by individual equality.
The final step is to adjust for repudiation, incapacity, full-blood or half-blood distinctions, and the protection of legitimes when the ordinary ratio would impair shares that the law safeguards.