I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
A. Definition and Concept Applicable laws, Effectivity
1. Civil Code of the Philippines: August 30, 1950 2. Family Code: August 3, 1988
Prior to the New Civil Code: the Old Civil Code (the Spanish Code of 1889) was in effect Succession in General
By succession, the transmissible property, rights and obligations of a person pass, upon his death, to his heirs and other successor’s mortis causa.
The Corpse in Succession
Succession refers only to the inheritance or universality of the property of the deceased transmitted to his successor’s mortis causa. It has no reference to the corps which cannot be considered as part of the inheritance, inasmuch as it is not property.
Related Matters
1. Disposition of the corpse (Articles 305 to 310, NCC)
2. Validity of authorization given by a person to the parts of his corps for medical, surgical, and scientific purposes (RA 349, as amended by RA 1056)
3. Surviving Spouse given priority over the next of kin (i.e. actual order in which relatives are obliged to support the deceased) as to the duty and right to make funeral arrangements. Article 744, NCC: Succession is a mode of acquisition by virtue of which the property, rights
and obligations to the extent of the value of the inheritance, or a person are transmitted through his death to another or others, either by his will or by operation of law.
Two concepts of succession
1. The transmission of the property, rights and obligations of a person
2. The universality or entirety of the property, rights and obligations transmitted by any of the forms of succession admitted in law.
First concept more accurate
a. Article 772: succession is a mode of acquiring ownership
b. Etymological meaning of succession: to substitute, to subrogate, or to put one person in place of another.
Succession defined (Tolentino)
• The mode of acquiring ownership, by virtue of which the inheritance of a person is transmitted to us, either according to his express will and words, or if by some natural or accidental circumstances he has made no will, according to his presumed will provided by law as analogous to what he would made had he executed one.
• A mode of acquisition, by virtue of which one succeeds to the universality of the transmissible rights, active and passive, of a person who has died.
Succession and inheritance distinguished Succession refers to the legal mode by which this inheritance is transmitted to the persons entitled to it surviving the deceased.
Inheritance refers to the objective element of succession, to the mass or totality of the patrimony of a deceased person.
Article 712, NCC: “Ownership is acquired by occupation and by intellectual creation.
“Ownership and other real rights over property are acquired and transmitted by law, by donation, by testate and intestate succession, and in consequence of certain contracts, by tradition”.
“They may also be acquired by means of prescription.” Mode and Title distinguished
Mode of acquiring ownership and other real rights is the specific cause which
Title for acquiring ownership and other real rights is the juridical act which gives
gives rise to them, as the result of the presence of a special condition of things, of the aptitude and intent of persons, and of compliance with the conditions established by law.
the name to the acquisition of the real right, but which in itself is insufficient to produce it.
Mode the proximate cause, of the acquisition.
Title is the remote cause
The civil code is illogical and scientific, neither daring to abandon the theory of title and mode (the traditional Roman law distinction. In following the Spanish Code), nor adapting itself to modern trends (German, Swiss and Austrian Codes).
The Different Modes of Acquiring Ownership 1. Occupation
2. intellectual Creation 3. Law
4. Donation
5. Succession (Testate and Intestate)
6. Tradition (in consequence of certain contracts) 7. Prescription
Article 1311, NCC: “Contracts take effect only between the parties, their assigns and heirs, except in case where the rights and obligations arising from the contract are not transmissible by their nature, or by stipulation or by provision of law. The heir is not liable beyond the value of the property he received from the decedent.
“if a contract should contain some stipulation in favor of a third person, he may demand its fulfillment provided he communicated his acceptance to the obligor before its revocation. A mere incidental benefit or interest of a person is not sufficient. The contracting parties must have clearly and deliberately conferred a favor upon a third person.”
Contracts bind heirs
1. As a general rule, rights and obligations under a contract are transmitted to the heirs of the parties. The heirs are not considered as third parties, because there is privity of interest between them and their predecessor.
2. Transmissible contracts
a. A lease contract is transmissible to the heirs of the lessee
b. The heirs of a party in whose favor a trust exists, may enforce the trust against the trustee
c. The heirs of a person bound to reconvey a piece of property may be compelled to make the reconveyance.
d. Obligations, except money debts, are transmissible to the heirs of the parties, and they may be compelled to fulfill the same. The heirs of the parties to a contract may make a valid novation of said contract.
3. Intransmissible contracts a. Purely personal
i. By provision of law
ii. By the very nature of the obligations arising therefrom (such as those requiring special personal qualifications of the obligor)
b. Money debts (which merely constitute as a charge against his estate) Basis of Law of Succession
The law of succession is based partly on the law of family relations, and partly on the law of property.
Sanchez Roman: “Succession aims to make possible and effective the orderly enjoyment by the human species of the essential elements of physical life, giving a note of subsistence and perpetuity of the patrimony which cannot be maintained without the transmissibility of the property constituting it.”
Law on Family Relations
1. Donat: “God has united us to the family to which we are born; family ties create rights and obligations, and the successional right is nothing more than a right founded upon a duty.”
2. Laurent: “Succession springs from natural law. The individual, during life, seeks to accumulate wealth in order to perform his duty of service and assistance to the members of his family. The knowledge that, upon death, the products of his effort and work will be enjoyed by those who are the natural objects of his affection within the family furnishes the greatest incentives to his initiative, industry, and thrift.
Law of Property
1. Navarro Amandi: “Succession is but a corollary to the right of property; without it, the right of ownership would be an imperfect thing.”
2. Sanchez Roman: Characteristics of Production of Wealth a. Individuality: prevent stagnation of wealth
b. Inequality: A product of the independence and freedom of human activities, through labor and the peculiar qualities of each one
c. Transmissibility: A salient feature of the right of property, which is incomplete without the right to transmit the same.
The Code Commission followed the prevailing tendency towards a new concept of legal order, which pursues the socialization of ownership, not in the sense of “socialism” but in the sense of effectivity adapting property to the needs of society.
In retrospect, the Old Civil Code was drafted when the prevailing philosophy was that of extreme individualism in the law of property and of succession.
Means employed by the Code to attain the stability of the social order
1. The Purification of the system of private ownership of its abuses (e.g. prohibitions in donations inter vivos)
2. The Closing of those channels upon which wealth has flowed in torrents from generation to generation of a particular family (e.g. limited fideicommissary substitutions in Article 863, and the increased free portion when children and descendants survive in Article 888) 3. The Emancipation of innocent persons from bondage of undue conservation which has
denied them the rights to share in the estate of their parents (e.g. illegitimate children) 4. The Elimination of distant relatives who may succeed to property to the accumulation of
which they have not contributed anything (e.g. right to succeed without a will within the 5th degree and no longer the 6th degree)
5. The Staying of the dead hand to prevent it from meddling with the affairs of the living (e.g. elimination of the substitutions known as pupilar and ejemplar)
Fundamental Changes in the NCC
1. Greater freedom is given to the testator in the choice of the form for his will or testament (i.e. Execution of holographic will has been permitted without witnesses or attestations) 2. Greater facility in the probate of wills is provided or the introduction of the system of
probate during the lifetime of the testator (i.e. Probate can only be effected after the death of the testator in the prior legislation) anti mortem probate
3. The surviving spouse is given a better position in the law of succession (e.g. legitime changed from usufruct to full ownership; higher degree in the order of succession in intestate succession)
4. In the legitime of legitimate children and descendants (the mejora or betterment) has been abolished
5. The reservas and reversions (except reserve ironcal, which was reincorporated by Congress) has been abolished
B. Subjects of Succession 1. Who are the subjects?
Article 775, NCC
Decedents and Testators
1. Decedent: a person whose property is transmitted through succession (generally speaking, as he/she may or may not have left a will)
2. Testator: a decedent who left a will Article 782, NCC
Anyone who succeeds to the whole or to a portion or fraction of the inheritance (understood as the indeterminate mass or totality of the transmissible property, rights, and obligations of the deceased), whether by virtue of a will or by intestacy.
1. includes all relatives who succeed by virtue of the laws of intestate succession
2. includes all persons, whether relatives or not, who take what might be called the residuary estate under a will
Kinds of Heirs
1. Compulsory heirs
a. Those who succeed by force of law to some portion of the inheritance, in an amount predetermined by law, of which they cannot be deprived by the testator, except by a valid disinheritance.
b. Succeeds regardless of the will of the decedent 2. Voluntary or testamentary heirs (free portion)
a. Those who are instituted by the testator in his will, to succeed to the inheritance or the portion thereof of which the testator can freely dispose; their right to the succession depends entirely upon the will
b. Succeeds by reason of a will 3. Legal or Intestate heirs
a. Those who succeed to the estate of the decedent who dies without a valid will, or to the portion of such estate not disposed of by will
b. Succeeds in the absence of a will Legatees and Devisees
1. Legatees: one who is given a gift of personal property by will
2. Devisee: one to whom real property is one to whom real property is given by will There are devisee(s) and/or legatee(s) only in testamentary succession
The devisee or legatee, by express disposition of the testator, succeeds him in a determinate or individualized thing or quantity, without continuing his personality
Importance of the difference between heir(s) and legatee(s)
Although the difference between “heir” and “legatee” (or devisee), which is transcendental in the Spanish law, has lost much of its importance in Philippine jurisdiction it does not mean that the distinction has been entirely abolished so as to render the provisions of the Code regarding institution of heirs useless or superfluous.
Article 887, NCC
Compulsory and Intestate heirs distinguished
COMPULSORY HEIRS INTESTATE HEIRS Called to succession by operation
of law Called to succession by operation of law Succeeds to his legitime even
when the testator has so disposed of his property by will
Succeeds only when the deceased has not disposed of his property by will
* an heir of whatever classification is absolutely free to accept or renounce the inheritance Law on Legitime explained
• the law on legitime is a restriction, not on the freedom to the heir to accept or repudiate the inheritance, but on the freedom of the testator to dispose of his property
• the fact of being a compulsory heir imposes no obligation to accept or receive the legitime Kinds of Compulsory Heirs
1. Primary
a. Those who have precedence over and exclude the other compulsory heirs b. Legitimate children and descendants (legitimate, legitimated, adopted) 2. Secondary
a. Those who succeed only in the absence of primary heirs b. The legitimate parents and ascendants
3. Concurring
a. Those who succeed together with the primary or the secondary heirs b. The illegitimate children, and the surviving spouse
Primary Compulsory Heirs
1. Legitimate Children and Descendants
a. Rationale: Since the law on legitime flows from natural law, it follows that relatives in the direct line should receive preference in the succession; and since in the
ordinary course of nature, the father or mother should die ahead of the child, the law confers preferential legitimary rights upon the children and descendants.
b. Application: if there are children, all of them living and with capacity to succeed and none of them has been disinherited, only such children succeed to the exclusion of the other descendants who may be existing at the time of the testator’s death. Thus, the nearest in degree exclude the more remote, except in cases where representation is proper (incapacity).
2. Legitimated Children (children legitimated by subsequent marriage of the parents) have the same position as legitimate children and descendants.
a. Article 272,NCC: Children who are legitimated by subsequent marriage shall enjoy the same rights as legitimate children
b. Article 274,NCC: The legitimation of children who died before the celebration of the marriage shall benefit their descendants.
3. Adopted Children have the same successional rights, in relation to the adopting parents, as those of the legitimate child in relation to its parents
a. Article 189 (1), FC: For civil purposes, the adopted shall be deemed to be a legitimate child of the adopters and both shall acquire the reciprocal rights and obligations arising from the relationship of parent and child, including the right of the adopted to use the surname of the adopters.
Parents and Ascendants
1. Legitimate and Legitimated (Secondary Compulsory Heirs)
a. Entitled to legitime only when the deceased does not have legitimate children and descendants
b. Concurrence of illegitimate children and their descendants with parents or ascendants of the deceased is not an obstacle to the forced succession of the parents and ascendants because the share of the illegitimate children are taken from the free portion and do not affect the legitime of the parents and ascendants 2. Illegitimate parents (Compulsory heir to the extent provided by Article 903)
a. Article ___, NCC: the legitime of the parents who have an illegitimate child, when such chilled leaves neither legitimate descendants, nor a surviving spouse, nor illegitimate children, is one-half of the hereditary estate of such illegitimate child. If only legitimate or illegitimate children are left, the parents are not entitled to any legitime whatsoever. If only the widow or widower survives with parents of the illegitimate child, the legitime of the parents is one-fourth of the hereditary estate of the child, and that of the surviving spouse also one-fourth of the estate.
b. Compulsory heirs only in the absence of legitimate, or illegitimate children of the decedent
3. Adopting parents (not a Compulsory heir, according to Tolentino, as the law is silent)
a. Article 342, NCC omitted by FC (impliedly repealed): the adopter shall not be a legal heir of the adopted person, whose parents by nature shall inherit from him b. Article 190, FC: legal or intestate succession to the estate of the adopted shall be
governed by the following rules:
i. Legitimate and illegitimate children and descendants and the surviving spouse of the adopted shall inherit from the adopted in accordance with the ordinary rules of legal or intestate succession;
ii. When the parents, legitimate or illegitimate, or the legitimate descendants of the adopted concur with the adopters, they shall divide the entire estate, one-half to be inherited by the parents or ascendants and the other half, by the adopters;
iii. When the surviving spouse or the illegitimate children and the surviving spouse of the adopted, they shall divide the entire estate in equal shares, one-third to be inherited by the illegitimate children, one-third by the surviving spouse, and one-third by the adopters;
iv. When only the adopters survive, they shall inherit the entire estate; and
v. When only collateral blood relatives of the adopted survive, then the ordinary rules of legal or intestate succession shall apply.
c. Article 189 (1), FC: For civil purposes, the adopted shall be deemed to be a legitimate child of the adopters and both shall acquire the reciprocal rights and obligations arising from the relationship of parent and child, including the right of the adopted to use the surname of the adopters.
d. The fact that Article 190 FC enumerates the cases where adopters inherit by legal or intestate succession to the estate of the deceased adopted person (not making him generally a legal heir), and is silent as to their becoming compulsory heirs, indicated that the latter (compulsory heirs) was not intended. Adoption is for the
benefit of the adopted, and unless the law clearly intends to favor the adopter, all doubts should be resolved against him. Due to the silence of the law on legitimes, he cannot be entitled to the legitime of legitimate parents and in the law of intestate, he is not given, in general, the same rights as a legitimate parent but only such as are specifically provided in Article 190 of the Family Code.
Illegitimate Children
1. acknowledged natural children 2. natural children by legal fiction
3. other illegitimate children (e.g. adulterous children (spurious))
Natural Children by legal fiction previously not granted successional rights in previous legislation
a. Article 287, NCC (repealed by FC): illegitimate children other than natural in accordance with article 269 and other than natural children by legal fiction are entitled to support such successional rights as are granted in this Code.
b. Article 269, NCC (repealed by FC): only natural children can be legitimated. Children born outside wedlock of parents who, at the time of the conception of the former, were not disqualified by any impediment to marry each other, are natural.
Construction of Article 887 NCC vis-à-vis illegitimate children
1. Article 887 (4) and (5) are merged into one as a group of compulsory heir.
2. Illegitimate children required to prove their filiation. They are not required to be first recognized by their putative parents.
Enforcement of the Right
1. Successional rights recognized by the New Code can be claimed only by those whose parents die after the effectivity of the Code. To retroactively apply the new right would impair the vested rights of heirs, and would amount to deprivation of property without due process of the law.
2. Illegitimate children can claim successional rights even if they were born prior to the effectivity of the Code, as the death of the parent and not the birth of the illegitimate child, determines the right of such child to succeed.
Surviving spouse
1. Valid marriage required between deceased and the survivor
2. When marriage is null and void ab initio (as in bigamous and incestuous marriages), the survivor in the supposed marriage is NOT a surviving spouse entitled to legitime
3. But when the marriage is bigamous and the spouses contracted the marriage in good faith, BOTH widows share equally in the portion which is the legitime of the surviving spouse (following the principles of the Laws of the Partidas)
4. When the marriage is merely voidable, the existing marriage remains valid and produces civil effects until set aside by the court having jurisdiction in a proper action for annulment.
Effects of Legal Separation
1. Article 892 must be read in conjunction with Article 63 (4) of the Family Code (formerly Article 106, NCC)
a. Article 892, NCC: b. Article 63 (4), FC:
2. Guilty spouse excluded from succession, testate or intestate. Therefore, in case of legal separation, the widow/ widower will be entitled to succeed only when he or she is the innocent spouse
Effect of Reconciliation
1. Article 66 (2), FC (formerly Article 108, NCC): the final decree of legal separation shall be set aside, but the separation of property and any forfeiture of the share of the guilty spouse already affected shall subsist, unless the spouses agree to revive their former property regime.
2. If after such reconciliation, one of the spouses should die, the survivor gets his/her legitime regardless of whether he or she is the guilty party.
Effect of Death before Decree
If the death occurred during the pendency of the legal separation proceedings, the action is allowed to continue, not for the purpose of the suspension of the marriage (which is already
dissolved by death) but for the purpose merely of determining whether there is no ground for legal separation.
Effect of separation in fact
Right of legitime is preserved. The law cannot be expected to inquire into facts not judicially established.
Article 1003, NCC Collateral relatives
Articles 1004-1010, NCC Applications
a. Full blooded brothers and sisters (proceeding from the same father and mother inherit in equal shares
b. Concurrence of half brothers and sisters alone, Article 1007 applies. There is equal division of all the property of the common parent, irrespective of the time when the property was acquired.
c. Concurrence of full and half brothers and sisters, full blooded take portion in inheritance twice those of half blood brothers and sisters
d. When all the brothers of the decedent may have predeceased him; or the only brother or all the brothers may have repudiated the inheritance; or such brothers may all be incapacitated: Nephews and nieces to succeed by their own right, and not by the right of representation.
e. Concurrence of uncles and aunts with nephews and nieces: The law allows the right of representation because the number of nephews and nieces will directly affect the apportionment should it be made per capita.
f. Concurrence of nephews and nieces alone: there is no need for the right of representation as there are no uncles or aunts who will be prejudiced.
g. Concurrence of full-blood and half-blood nephews and nieces: full blood and half blood relationship of nephews and nieces taken into account in view of Article 1009, contrary to the generality that Article 975 seems to suggest.
h. Concurrence of brothers and sisters with nephews and nieces: brothers or sisters shall inherit per capita while nephews and nieces shall inherit per stirpes pursuant to Article 1005. Thus, brothers or sisters inherit their own right while nephews or nieces inherit by the right of representation.
i. Concurrence of nephews or nieces of half blooded brothers and sisters with nieces and nephews: same rule in Article 1005 apply in Article 1008. Brothers and sisters shall inherit in their own right (the whole blooded taking twice the share of those half blood), while nephews or nieces inherit by the right of representation (the whole blooded taking the portion of their father/mother which is double to that pertaining to the father/mother of the half blooded nephews and nieces.
Article 1009, although it does not state any order of preference, must be understood in connection with the general rule that the nearest relatives exclude the father.
2. Capacity to Succeed a. Determination
Article 1034, NCC
1. Paragraph 1: inasmuch as succession opens at the death of the decedent, it is only logical that it is only then that the capacity of the heir is determined.
2. Paragraph 2: it is only a clarification of the general principle, because as long as the judgment of in second, third, and fifth causes of unworthiness has not become final or the month allowed in the fourth cause has not elapsed, the reason for incapacity cannot exist. Therefore, the determination as to whether capacity to exist should be suspended up to that time.
3. Paragraph 3: in case the institution is conditional, there is taken into consideration, not only the moment of death of the decedent, but also the time when the condition is fulfilled, because it is why at the latter moment that the rights to the succession are consolidated and produce their effects.
Conditional institution
What is referred in paragraph 3 is suspensive condition, because this is the condition on the fulfillment of which the right depended thereon are perfected.
1. Death (of heir) before condition. As discussed in Article 8778, the death of the heir, devisee, or legatee before the happening of the suspensive condition renders the testamentary disposition inoperative and without effect. He does not transmit anything to his heirs, even if his death occurs after that of the testator. No right has been vested upon the heir, et.al., because the condition has not yet been fulfilled.
2. Condition after death. Even if the condition should happen after the death of the hair, et.al., his own heirs cannot claim any right through him, because his death has extinguished his personality and capacity to succeed. He would be wanting in the capacity to succeed at the time of compliance with the condition.
Article 1039, NCC
Reason for the adoption of the new article: the provision is in line with the principle established in Article 16, paragraph 2, which provides “intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of succession and to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found.
Rule as to the intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will: as regards the intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will, as provided by Articles 16 (2) and 1039 of the Civil Code, the national law of the decedent must apply.
CAYETANO VS. LEONIDES 129 SCRA 524
Facts: Adoracion Campos, a citizen and permanent resident of USA died and left a will executed in the said country. She died leaving properties both in the Philippines and the USA. As a compulsory heir, Hermogenes, Adoracion’s father, executed an affidavit of Adoracion whereby he adjudicated into himself the ownership of the entire estate of Adoracion.
Nenita, the sister of the decedent, filed a petition for reprobate of the will which was allegedly executed in the USA and for her appointment as administrator of the state of the said decedent. The petitioner argue that since the respondent judge allowed the reprobate of the will, Hermogenes was divestive of his legitime which was reserved by law for him.
Issue: whether the Philippine law shall apply in as much as the National Law of the deceased does not provide legitime?
Held: Under Article 16 (2) and Article 1039 of the Civil Code, the law which governs Adoracion’s will is the law of the USA which is the National Law of the deceased. It is therefore evident that whatever public policy or good customs maybe involved in our system legitimes. Congress has not intended to extend the same succession of foreign nationals. For it has specifically chose to leave the amount of successional rights to the decedent’s national law. Specific must prevail over general law.
b. Who may succeed? Article 1024, NCC Capacity presumed
Every person has capacity to succeed mortis cuasa. The presumption of the law, in the absence of some provision excluding him, is always in favor of capacity.
Only persons may succeed mortis cuasa
In order to be considered a person, either natural or artificial, it is necessary to have legal existence or juridical personality. Once endowed with juridical personality, the person’s capacity to succeed follows as a matter of course, unless some special cause for disqualification or incapacity exists.
Requisites for the possession of capacity to succeed
1. General capacity of the person, whether natural or artificial, according to law 2. No incapacity or prohibition to succeed expressly provided by law.
Applicability of rules of incapacity (2nd paragraph construed)
Provisions relating to incapacity apply equally to testate and intestate succession. This is a general statement which is not supported by the specific provisions of the law providing for incapacity to succeed. Incapacity under paragraphs 1 to 5 of Article 1027, as well as Article 1028 are applicable only to testamentary succession. Thus, the provision of the second paragraph must be considered only as a general rule, without prejudice to the determination of the true scope of specific disqualifications.
Kinds of incapacity
1. Absolute per se: those absolutely incapacitated are disqualified to succeed in any form, to anyone, or to any quantity of property. (already died at the time of death of decedent) 2. Relative or par accidens: those who are relatively incapacitated are disqualified only
with respect to certain persons or property. (not yet alive)
3. Unworthiness (A relative incapacity): by reason of certain acts a person who has capacity to succeed is deprived of it.
Article 1025, NCC
Conditions prescribed by Article 41
For civil purposes, the fetus is considered born if it is alive at the time it is completely delivered from the mother’s womb. However, if the fetus had an intra-uterine life of less than seven months, it is not deemed born if it dies within twenty-four hours after its complete delivery from the maternal womb.
Judicial Existence Essential
1. Although the conceived child is considered born for all purposes favorable to it, nevertheless, it lacks true juridical personality. It acquires personality only when it is subsequently born with the conditions mentioned in Article 41.
2. When the institution is under suspensive condition or from a day certain, the succession does not really open except from the happening of the condition or the arrival of the day certain. In such cases, even if the unborn person instituted has not yet been conceived at the time of the death of the testator, if it is subsequently born and has legal personality at the time the condition happens of the day arrives, then it has the capacity to succeed. ( if
there is condition, it will prevail over the death)
Deviating Comments by authorities on capacity to succeed
1. Manresa. In certain cases a child not even conceived at the time of the death of the testator may yet succeed mortis causa. Manresa’s example however is really the institution of a class and not of particular individuals, hence the presence of any number within the class at the time the succession opens makes the institution valid; whereas, if the class does not exist at all, the institution is void.
2. Manresa. The actual existence of an association or corporation at the time of the death of testator is not essential. The fact of actual existence, he maintains, is different form the fact of being permitted by law. He maintains that the existence of the corporation at the time of the testator’s death does not render it incapacitated to succeed, if it is subsequently organized.
3. Scaevola. Strictly adhering to legal principles, Manresa’s corporation cannot succeed, but that justice and the dictates of practical existence demand that the probable public and private utility that may be produced by such dispositions should not be nullified.
Sanchez Roman’s view in consonance with concept of capacity to succeed
1. Associations or corporations which do not legally exist at the time of the opening of succession are incapacitated to succeed. Permission by the law is a necessary result of their legal existence, and its absence presupposes the inexistence of the juridical entity. 2. There is absolute incapacity when there is no civil personality. Incapacity to succeed is a
consequence of the inexistence of natural or juridical parsons before the civil law.
3. The heir who dies before, as well as he who is not yet conceived at the time of the death of the testator, cannot succeed because of lack of juridical personality at the precise moment when the transmission of successional rights takes place.
Article 1026, NCC Capacity by law
Not all entries mentioned herein are persons having juridical existence. They succeed, not by virtue of the general rule of capacity, but by reason of the special provision of this article conferring capacity upon them.
Article 1029, NCC Scope of Application
1. The disposition referred to should not be confused with one which has merely the character of a condition, burden or charge imposed upon an heir, legatee or devisee.
2. the article contemplates a case where the testator has made a disposition for the application of the whole or part of his property for prayers and pious works for the benefit of his soul, but has not specified the particular prayers or pious works to which his property shall be applied.
3. The disposition made herein is applicable only when the testator has not provided otherwise in his will. The moment the testator specifies the application to be made, or the person charged with such duty, then this property cannot be distributed in the manner prescribed by the article.
4. if the testator should dispose of his property only for pious works, without any mention of prayers; or if he merely disposes of it for prayers, without referring to pious works, the distribution provided for in this article cannot be observed.
Soul as beneficiary
The real beneficiary in such a will is the soul of the testator. Although death extinguishes juridical existence, this article allows dispositions for the benefit of the soul, giving due respect to the religious and moral ideas of the deceased. Thus, if the testator merely states that he institutes his soul (something that has no legal existence) it is believed that the present article will apply. Article 1030, NCC
Application of the article
This article contemplates a disposition in favor of persons who may be unknown to the testator A class herein is instituted, and the class is determined. It is the determination of the individuals belonging to the class that is left to the persons mentioned by the law.
In case the testator has not designated the person to make the designation of the poor and the distribution of the property among them, the executor or administrator of the estate shall do so. Under the Rules of Court, there will invariably be an executor or administration for the settlement and distribution of the estate in a case as contemplated by the article. The intervention of the justice of the peace, the mayor, and the municipal treasurer will never take place.
Appeal to the Court
*under the present state of the law, the determination that there are none who qualify as “poor” can be contested by persons claiming to be poor. The selection of some as poor can also be impugned by others.
*the Court cannot be considered as a mere rubber stamp to give the seal of approval to whatever may be reported to it. However, there is a very strong presumption in favor of upholding the selection or conclusions of the persons designated to make the determination of two are poor, in the absence of manifest error or bad faith, as such persons are practically the agents of the testator in making the selection.
None qualifying as poor (intestacy)
*When none qualify as poor, the property should be distributed as in case of intestacy, the portion originally destined for the poor passing to the legal heirs of the testator.
*unlike Article 1029, the present article is an institution of a definite and determined class, whose existence is essential for the validity of the testamentary disposition. In case, thus where the express will of the testator cannot be given effect for legal reasons, the law supplies his presumed will in the form of intestate succession.
PARISH PRIEST OF VICTORIA VS. RIGOR 89 SCRA 493
Facts: Father Rigor, the parish priest of Pullilan, Bulacan, died on August 9, 1933 which was probated by the CFI of Tarlac. In his will, he named as devisees, his nearest relatives, his three sisters and his cousin. In addition the will contained the following controversial request to his nearest male relative who would study for the priesthood.
The heirs of Father Rigor, prayed that the bequest declared inoperative and that they be adjudged as the persons entitled to said rice lands since no nearest male relatives of the testator has ever studied for the priesthood.
Issue: whether the bequest to a nearest male relative who would study for the priesthood could be operative despite no male relative ever studied for the priesthood.
Held: The Court held that the bequest refers to the testator’s nearest male relative living at the time of his death and not to any indefinite time thereafter. “In order to be capacitated to inherit, the heir or legatees must be living at the moment the succession opens, except in case of representation when it is proper (Article 1025,CC). To construe them as referring to the nearest
male relative at anytime after his death would “render the provisions difficult to apply and create uncertainty as to the disposition of his estate.”
c. Who are incapable of succeeding? Article 1027, NCC (relative incapacity) Extent of incapacity
1. Disqualifications (1-5) apply only to testamentary succession. The persons disqualified are disqualified only under certain circumstances, and in relation to particular testators. Their disqualification is thus only relative.
2. Disqualification (6) is misplaced, it has no common basis with the others preceding it. The disqualified entities are absolutely incapacitated. They cannot succeed any person at any time or under any circumstance by testament or by intestacy, this paragraph should have formed part of Article 1025.
Disqualification of Priest or Minister
1. The purpose of the provision is not to restrict the liberty of the testator to dispose of his property, but to safeguard the legal heirs from being defrauded by suggestions of some confessors who may induce penitents to dispose of their property in the manner and to the persons contemplated by the prohibition.
2. If the testamentary disposition was made before the last illness, it produces legal effect even if the priest received the confession of the testator or administered spiritual aid to him during his last illness.
Will during the last illness
1. Last illness means that of which the testator died. It is immaterial whether the illness was protracted or brief, chronic or acute. The illness must be such, however, that there is danger that the testator may die of it.
2. it is not essential that the testator die of the particular illness during which the will was made. If it cannot be determined whether at the time of his death he was already completely cured or not of the illness during which he made his will, the testamentary disposition remains inoperative even if the death be due, not to such illness, but to some other cause such as an accident.
3. if the testator recovers from his illness and he enjoys normal health for a sufficient length of time as to enable him to reflect on the wisdom and the consequence of the testamentary disposition he made during his illness, then his failure to revoke the testament must be considered as a ratification of the same. But if no such sufficient length of time has elapsed, tacit confirmation cannot be presumed and the nullity of the disposition remains.
Confession during last illness
• The law requires that the priest must have heard the confession of the testator during his last illness. A priest, however, who does not hear the confession of the testator during his last illness, but acts merely as his adviser, staying by his side during such illness, is not incapacitated by the article.
• The law has extended expressly the disqualification to ministers of other religions, which do not provide for confession, like those by Catholic priests, but for spiritual aid or assistance before death.
Will made after confession
• The prohibited disposition is that which the testator may make in favor of the priest who may have shriven him; the verbs used are both in subjunctive mode, but they give rise to the inference that the confession takes place before the making of the testamentary disposition.
• If there has been undue influence by the confessor even before the will was made, the remedy is not under the present article but under Article 839, which provides among the other cause of disallowing a will: “if it was procured by undue and improper pressure and influence on the part of the beneficiary or some other person.”
When no testamentary benefit
• to be inoperative, the testamentary disposition must be in favor of the disqualified. When the disposition is not equivalent to making such persons as heirs, legatees or devisees, the disposition may be valid if it does not give any benefit to them.
• The law does not incapacitate the disqualified from being executors since under the Rules of Court, the executor becomes as such only after letters testamentary have been issued to him, and all of his acts are subject to the supervision and approval of the probate court. He may receive compensation for his services as executor (just payment and not an act of liberality) but such compensation is regulated by law.
• It is valid that the testator leave certain sums for the confessor or his relatives within the 4th civil degree for the performance of certain determinate services, such as writing a book, etc.. when a person has the qualifications for the work.
No prejudice to intestacy
• if the confessor or minister or his relatives within the 4th civil degree are also relatives of the testators are compulsory heirs, it is clear that they get their legitimes, because these are given to them by force of law and not by the will of the testator (intestate succession). If they, however, may succeed only in case of intestacy, or even if compulsory heirs as to the free portion is concerned, the prohibition applies.
• A void testamentary disposition does not absolutely disqualify the relatives form succeeding, if they are entitled to succeed according to the order of intestate succession. There will be intestacy with respect to the past ineffectively disposed, unless, it passes by right of accretion to other heirs.
• If the priest or his relatives happen to be the only intestate heirs, they get the property, not as testamentary heirs but intestate heirs.
Incapacity of guardian
• a testamentary disposition made by a ward in favor of his guardian before the approval of the final accounts of the guardianship is void, even if the ward dies after the approval of such accounts.
• The determined point with respect to time is the date of the final approval of the final account. “Final accounts” means that which is submitted by the guardian upon the termination of his authority as guardian, either by his removal or resignation or the disappearance of the cause of guardianship.
What guardian covered
All guardians, whether a guardian of his person or a guardian for his properties, are covered by the disqualification. They are disqualified as long as they have any responsibility as guardians.
Relatives of guardian
• the last does not disqualify the relatives of the guardian to succeed the ward by will
• if it can be shown that the guardian’s relatives have been instituted merely as an indirect means of enabling the guardian to benefit from the inheritance left by the ward, then the institution is void, not because of the present article but by reason of Article 1031.
Incapacity of Testamentary Witness
The exception provided by Article 823 should be read into the provisions of paragraph 4 of the present article. If there are three other component witnesses to the will, the fact that the beneficiary attested such will does not have any material effect upon the existence or validity of the will. His intervention thus is not essential to the effectivity of the disposition in his favor.
No beneficial interest
A testamentary disposition which does not give a beneficial interest to the witness does not disqualify him. Thus, a provision giving to the witness a trust or power to sell does not constitute such an interest as will render him incompetent or will avoid the testamentary disposition.
Incapacity of physician, nurse, or druggist, etc.
• the physician, surgeon, nurse, health officer or druggist who took care of the testator during his last illness has such a great deal of influence over the mind of the testator that he is absolutely prohibited to succeed under the testator’s will.
• To be disqualified, the recipient must have taken care of the testator during his last illness, in a manner that is continuous. A doctor called in for consultation by the physician attending the testator would not be disqualified, nor the pharmacists who merely prepared the medicine for him.
• It is not necessary that the recipient be a legal practitioner of his profession. any person practicing medicine legally or illegally and even their assistants are deemed included in the prohibition.
• The disqualification applies only when the will was made during the last illness of the testator and after the beneficiary had at least begun to take care of him.
Provision for remuneration
A testamentary provision which is remuneratory (payment of professional fees) is valid as such disposition is not a gratuitous act but simply a compliance with an obligation to pay for services rendered.
Applicability to intestacy
• The paragraphs of the present article, except the last, refer only to testamentary succession and does not include intestate succession.
• The purpose of these disqualifications is to avoid testamentary disposition in favor of persons who are conclusively presumed to have influenced the making of the will in their favor by reason of their special relations to the testator. This reason cannot exist in intestate succession, where it is the law and not the decedent that disposes of the property in favor of the heirs.
Exceptions as to close relatives
The exception in paragraph 3 does not extend to the other paragraphs. The different paragraphs of the present article cam from different independent articles of the old Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure, and it was only in Article 753 of the old Civil Code, referring to the disqualification of the guardian, that the exception in question was provided.
Article 1028, NCC Article 739
Application of the Article
These disqualifications are based on considerations of morality, and are intended to prevent circumventing of the prohibitions on donations by resorting to the making of a will as means of disposing of property in favor of the disqualified donee.
Article 1031, NCC
(Y caused the death of grandchild of X) Interposition prohibited
• What the law prohibits to be done directly cannot be done by indirection. The article renders void attempts to go around the prohibitions against dispositions in favor of incapacitated persons.
• The interposition may be made in either of these ways:
o By the institution of a person who has capacity, with a verbal charge or direction to deliver the inheritance to the incapacitated person
o By disguising the disposition in the form of a contract o By simulating debts in favor of the incapacitated Proof of interposition
• The prohibited interposition must always be proved, it cannot be presumed.
• It is enough to show the absence of benefit to the person instituted, and the ultimate enjoyment of the inheritance by the incapacitated person.
• The property need not be actually delivered to the incapacitated person, if it is he who really enjoys and benefits from it.
Who are disqualified persons
• The parties who are really disqualified are those who are in the position to wield an influence upon the mind of the testator: the priest, the guardian, and the attesting witness.
• Dispositions made in favor of their relatives who are expressly mentioned by the law are rendered void, not because those relatives are “disqualified,” but because the law presumes juris et de jure that they are merely interposed for the benefit of the real incapacitated person. Hence, a testamentary disposition instituting an heir or legatee, with the intention that the relatives mentioned should ultimately be the real beneficiaries, is not such an interposition as is prohibited by the article.
• They do not include those who are such by reason of unworthiness. The institution of the unworthy person, with knowledge of the cause of unworthiness, is by itself a tacit pardon
by the testator. If such institution is valid, there is no reason why the interposition should be void.
(X gave – Y, guilty of adultery/ convicted of adultery) Frustration of testator’s intent
• When a testator disposes of his property in a prohibited manner, he must be held to assume the risk that his will be frustrated.
• Even if he does not intend the person interposed to benefit under his will, the law should discourage violations of its provisions, and the solution suggested will at least tend to have the effect.
Article 1032, NCC – unworthiness Nature and basis of unworthiness
• The incapacity is based on considerations of morality, which have made the law deprive of inheritance those who have made themselves unworthy of it according to ordinary social appreciation.
• Unworthiness produces its effects, even against the will of the deceased, as when he pardons the act of unworthiness in a manner different from what the law prescribes in Article 1033.
• The causes of incapacity by reason of unworthiness are applicable to testate and intestate succession, despite the fact that some paragraphs thereof expressly refer only to “testator”
• Incapacity by reason of unworthiness is not absolute, it does not disqualify a person to succeed every other person, but merely disqualifies him to succeed the particular person against whom the act of unworthiness has been committed.
Abandonment of Children
• abandonment of children is a ground for disinheritance (Article 920)
• “Abandonment” as a cause of unworthiness, is not used in the limited sense of having exposed the children to the danger of death, but in the broad and general sense of not giving proper care to the children, not supporting them, and not attending to their physical, moral or educational welfare.
Inducing immorality, Attempts against virtue • Similarly discussed under Article 920
• To be disqualified under these grounds, there must be some positive act showing perversion on the part of the parent; he must have led or persuaded the daughter to live a corrupt of immoral life, or he must have made an attempt against her virtue.
• Mere act of inducing his daughter to lead a disgraceful life, even if the latter refuses to obey him, would be a sufficient cause for unworthiness, inasmuch as the unsuccessful act shows the moral perversity of the parent.
• Mere tolerance by a parent of the immoral or corrupt life which his daughter has chosen to live, however, does not make him unworthy of succession.
Attempt against life
• Also discussed as a ground fro disinheritance under Article 919 • Elements of this cause to operate
o The heir must have made an attempt against the life of the decedent, his or her spouse, descendants, or ascendants
o There must have been a final conviction of such attempt
• The degree of the commission of the crime is not material: whether there may be a mitigating circumstance does not alter the situation. What is important is that there was a homicidal intent. Further, where the heir is merely an accomplice, he remains to be unworthy.
• It is essential that the heir must have been convicted by final judgment to become unworthy. Hence, when the case is dismissed because the heir dies before the judgment can be rendered, or because the crime has prescribed, or because of some lawful defense, there will be no unworthiness.
• Executive clemency or prescription of penalty does not save him from unworthiness to succeed inasmuch as such facts imply the final conviction.
False accusation
• False accusation includes not only the filing of complaint against the decedent without cause, but also declaring or testifying falsely as a witness against him.
• False testimony is equivalent to false accusation; but one who merely testifies to the truth, even if it may incriminate the decedent and be the basis of his conviction, does not become unworthy.
Failure to report violent death • Requisites of the cause:
o The heir must be of full age
o He knows of the violent death of the decedent o There is an obligation to make an accusation
o Failure of the heir to report such death to the proper authorities within one month • This cause of unworthiness will never have the occasion to operate, as there is no
obligation to make an accusation for violent deaths under Philippine law. Under Philippine law, deaths occasioned by crime (violent deaths) are prosecuted de oficio or at the instance of the government, and no one is required to make any accusation.
• In the event that there should be some time a law requiring persons who have knowledge of violent deaths to denounce the same, the cause of unworthiness will apply only when there is a failure within one month to report such death. The heir, devisee or legatee escapes liability by reporting the violent death even if he omits to reveal the identity of the author of the crime or even helps him to escape.
Adultery of concubinage
• The heir, devisee or legatee who is convicted of adultery or concubinage with the spouse of the decedent is unworthy to succeed the offended decedent. The mere commission of the offense is not enough to disqualify.
• The testator’s spouse is not rendered unworthy by the article. Only his or her paramour is disqualified to succeed the offended spouse.
• If the offended spouse asks for legal separation, on the ground of adultery or concubinage, and it is decreed, the guilty spouse is rendered incapacitate to succeed the offended spouse ab intestate or by a will already existing at the time of the legal separation, under Article 63 of the Family Code: “(4) The offending spouse shall be disqualified from inheriting from the innocent spouse by intestate succession. Moreover, provisions in favor of the offending spouse made in the will of the innocent spouse shall be revoked by operation of law.”
• The article does not disqualify the guilty pair from succeeding each other. Under Article 1028 in relation to Article 739, however, they cannot succeed each other by will or testament.
Acts relating to will
• the acts constituting the cause of unworthiness o causing the testator to make a will
o causing the testator to change an existing will o preventing the decedent from making a will o preventing the testator from revoking his will
o supplanting, concealing, or altering the testator’s will o falsifying or forging a supposed will of the decedent
• The first four acts must have been committed through fraud, violence, intimidation, or undue influence. The last two acts by themselves, executed in any manner, will cause incapacity.
Effects of unworthiness
• Incapacity by reason of unworthiness disqualifies a person from succeeding to the estate of the person against whom the act of unworthiness has been committed.
• Loss of legitime applies to the causes of unworthiness, even if the express provision on loss of legitime merely does away with the cause of doubt as to the effect of unworthiness upon the legitime. The reproduction of Article 761 of the old Civil Code in Article 1036 in present code shoes clearly by implication that the intention of the law is to exclude the compulsory heir who is unworthy from his legitime, but preserving the right of representation in the descending line, just as in the case of disinheritance. Article 1035 uses the words “persons excluded from inheritance” in referring to the unworthy heir, and exclusion can only mean total exclusion from the inheritance including the legitime.
• Disqualification by reason of unworthiness is a kind of legal disinheritance. It is a penalty declared by law ___ ___ ___ offenses committed by the heir, etc. against the decedent. • The law cannot permit that the inheritance be acquired in full or in party by those guilty of
these offenses against the deceased. The effect of unworthiness is thus an exclusion from the entire inheritance; it causes constitute impediments to success.
• The unworthy heir, etc., is treated by the law as if he did not exist, or had predeceased the decedent. He inherits nothing.
On donations
• Donations inter vivos are not affected by the incapacity of the donee to succeed the donor. Such donations shall be considered as having been made to strangers, even if the donees should be compulsory heirs.
• It should be noted that the act of unworthiness may constitute an act of ingratitude which would entitle the donor, during his lifetime to revoke the donation.
Article 1033, NCC
Pardon of unworthiness
• The testator is given the power to condone the causes of unworthiness. Since the incapacity arises from the offense or act committed against the decedent, it is only reasonable that the latter should be given the right to determine whether the incapacity should subsist or not.
• The pardon may be either express or implied. The forms of such pardon are limited to those expressly specified by the law, no other form being admissible.
o Express pardon: made by the execution of a document or any writing in which the decedent condones the cause of incapacity. The only cardinal requisite is that the pardon must be after the act of unworthiness has been committed.
o Implied pardon: tacit or implied pardon of the cause of unworthiness is effected if the testator had knowledge thereof at the time he made the will. The mere silence of the testator, or his omission to expressly disinherit the offender, is not tacit pardon. Reconciliation, like what can be made to make disinheritance ineffective, cannot restore the unworthy heir in such case.
• Exclusive clemency, or pardon by the President, does not erase the unworthiness or incapacity of the heir.
Revocation of Pardon
Whether the pardon of unworthiness can be revoked or not depends upon the manner in which the pardon is made.
• if the pardon is express, or made in writing other than a will, then the pardon is immediately operative and irrevocable
• if the pardon is tacitly made by instituting the disqualified person in a will, the subsequent revocation of the will or of the institution should be considered as rendering the pardon ineffective. As the institution does not become operative except upon the death of the testator, the institution never became effective when the institution or the will itself has been revoked. The same result follows if the will is void because it lacks the formalities required by the law.
Effect of pardon
• once the act of unworthiness is pardoned, the heir is restored to full capacity to succeed the decedent, as if the cause of unworthiness had never existed.
• The capacity that has been recovered cannot cease except by a new cause. d. effect of alienations by the excluded heir
Article 1036, NCC Validity of alienation
• The validity of alienation made by the disqualified heir before the declaration of incapacity is made to depend upon the good faith of the transferee, irrespective of the good or bad faith of the heir who made the alienation.
• If the transferee acted in good faith, or without the knowledge of the facts which render the transferor unworthy, the alienation, whether gratuitous or for a valuable consideration, is valid as to such transferee.
e. rights of the excluded heir Article 1035, NCC
Representation of unworthy heir
• Unworthiness disqualifies a compulsory heir from succeeding even to his legitime. His act, however, being personal, should prejudice the innocent children and descendants of an unworthy child or descendant.
Application of Article 1035
• Article 1035 provides for the representation of the unworthy child or descendant by his children and descendants.
• Only a child or descendant can be represented; unworthy parents and ascendants, or the surviving spouse cannot be represented.
• If the unworthy child or descendant does not himself have children or descendants, his other heirs cannot acquire his rights, which are reserved by the article only for his children and descendants.
Amounts transferred
• The children and descendants of the unworthy child or descendant shall acquire his rights to the legitime.
• If the unworthy child or descendant is the only compulsory heir, or if when concurring with the children or descendants who are compulsory heirs there is no substitute appointed, then there shall be intestate succession. The children or descendants of the unworthy heir will get not only their parent’s legitime but also whatever part of the free portion may be subject to distribution among the intestate heirs.
Article 1037, NCC
Indemnity for expenses
• The disqualified person who has entered upon the property may have incurred necessary and useful expenses, as well as expenses for ornamentation, on the hereditary property. • When he is obliged to return the property to the rightful heir, his right to indemnity for
such expenses or to remove the improvements he has made depends upon his good or bad faith.
• The rules on possessors in good faith or in bad faith shall be applicable. Necessary expenses for preservation therefore must be reimbursed to every possessor, whether he be in good faith or in bad faith.
Article 1014, NCC Sources of provision
This article was taken from Rule 92 (now Rule 91, Section 4, ROC) Rule 9, Section 4, Rules of Court
- “When and by whom claim to estate filed. – If a devisee, legatee, heir, widow, widower or other person entitled to such estate appears and files a claim thereto with the court within 5 years from the date of such judgment, such parson shall have possession of and title to the same, or if sold, the municipality or city shall be accountable to him for the proceeds, after deducting reasonable charges for the care of the estate; but a claim not made within said time shall be forever barred.”
f. liabilities of the excluded heir Article 1038, NCC
(what to return: property and fruits, accessions, rents) Restitution with fruits
• The obligation to make restoration (restitution of the hereditary property, together with all its fruits and accessions, to the rightful owner) is imposed upon all incapacitated persons, whether the incapacity be absolute, relative, or by reason of unworthiness.
• The law here conclusively considers the incapacitated heir as a possessor in bad faith. Whatever the true nature of the possession, whether in good or bad faith, the
incapacitated person returns the thing with its accessions and the fruits and rentals he has received or could have received through the exercise of reasonable diligence.
• If the incapacitated person has not received rentals, but has himself occupied the hereditary property; it is just that although he does not materially receive the rentals from a 3rd person, he should be obliged to pay the reasonable amount of rentals, which would be the true measure of the benefit he receives.
Improvements and deteriorations
• Outside of the matters covered by Articles 1036, 1037 and 1038, the rights and obligations of the incapacitated persons who has entered upon the hereditary property are governed by the general rules applicable to possessors, in which the determining factor is good or bad faith.
• This includes such matters as the right to improvements and the liability for losses and deteriorations.
g. prescription of action Article 1040, NCC
Action to recover inheritance
• As a consequence of Article 1038, a limit should be fixed as to the time within which the action to compel such restitution may be brought, i.e., 5 years from the moment of possession by the disqualified person.
• The action is not one solely for the purpose of declaring the incapacity of the heir who has taken possession of the hereditary property. The action is essentially to compel such heir or legatee to restore the property, its accessories, fruits and rentals; but where the judgment to that effect depends upon a finding in the same cause that the heir or legatee in possession is incapacitated.
Parties to action • plaintiff
o Those who may have an interest in the succession, obviously including those who would inherit the property once the incapacity of possessor is declared.
o If no substitution is provided and the right of accretion does not exist, and there are several intestate heirs, the action pertains in the first instance to those of the nearest degree; if they do not wish to bring the action, then those next in degree may bring it, and so on in their order or succession.
• Defendant
o If at the time the action is brought, the property has passed to the heirs of the incapacitated person, such heirs may be made defendants
o If the property has been alienated to the incapacitated person, the transferred is the proper defendant.
o This is based on the principle that neither the heirs nor the transferee of the incapacitated person can acquire a greater right that he has. This is without prejudice, of course, to the provision of the Spanish Mortgage Law and the Land Registration Law.
Effects of administration proceedings
• if the administration proceedings have been instituted for the settlement of the estate of the testator, and in such proceedings an order of distribution is issued by the court, in which property is adjudged to a person who is incapacitated, it may be asked whether such adjudication is conclusive and can no longer be attacked once the administration proceedings have been terminated.
• The conflicting rights to the property of the deceased are to be litigated, and the question of who is entitled to the properties left is determined, in the administration proceedings. • The determination is conclusive upon all parties interested who may have notice of such
hearing, whether actually appearing therein or not therein. Thus, if in the order of distribution, property of the deceased is given to an incapacitated person, such adjudication will be conclusive upon all those who had notice of the hearing before the distribution. A sensu contrario, it does not bind those who have no notice of the hearing. C. Object of Succession
