Notes in Succession
By: Charisse Louie L. Amosco
Art. 776. Inheritance includes all the (1) property,
rights, and (3) obligations of a person which is not
Art. 15 of the New Civil Code: extinguished by his death.
Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status,
Inheritance & Succession Distinguished:
condition, and legal capacity of persons are binding
upon citizens even though living abroad.
Inheritance is the property or right acquired;
Art. 16 of the New Civil Code: while succession is the manner by virtue of which
property or right is acquired.
General Rule: Real property as well as personal
property is subject to the law of the country where it is Administration & Succession Distinguished:
situated. (Lex Rei Sitae)
Administration refers to the dealing with the
Exception: However, intestate and testamentary
deceased person’s property according to law; while
successions, both with respect to the order of succession
succession means the transferring to it beneficially.
and to the amount of successional rights and to the
intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be Art. 777. The rights to the succession are transmitted
regulated by the national law of the person whose from the moment of the death of the decedent.
succession is under consideration (decedent),
whatever may be the nature of the property and Requisites for Succession Mortis Causa:
regardless of the country wherein said property may be (1) that indeed there has been death (of the decedent
found. either actual or presumed);
(2) that the rights or properties are indeed transmissible
Art. 17 of the New Civil Code: or descendible;
(3) that the transferee is still alive, willing and
General Rule: The forms and solemnities of contracts,
capacitated to inherit.
wills and other public instruments shall be governed by
the laws of the country in which they are executed.
(lex loci contractus) (Contract of marriage: lex loci
Two Kinds of Presumed Death:
celebrationis)
Exception: Where the acts referred to are executed (1) Ordinary Presumption of Death –
before the diplomatic or consular officials of the (ordinary absence)
Republic of the Philippines in a foreign country, the
solemnities established by Philippine laws shall be Absentee, who disappears under normal
observed in their execution. conditions, there being no danger or idea of death, shall
be presumed dead for the purpose of opening his
Exception to the exception: Prohibitive laws succession – at the end of TEN (10) YEARS or at the
concerning persons, their acts or property, and those end of FIVE (5) YEARS in case he disappeared after
which have for their object public order, public policy the age of SEVENTY- FIVE (75).
and good customs shall not be rendered ineffective by
laws or judgments promulgated, or by determinations or (2) Extraordinary Presumption of Death –
conventions agreed upon in a foreign country. (extraordinary or qualified absence)
Art. 774. Succession – is a mode of acquisition by
Art. 391 of the Civil Code, states that for all purposes
virtue of which the property, rights and obligations to the
including the division of the estate among the heirs, the
extent of the value of the inheritance of a person, are
following shall be presumed dead:
transmitted through his death to another or others by his
will or by operation of law.
1. Person on board a vessel lost during a sea voyage, or
an aeroplane which is missing, who has not been heard
of for four (4) years since the loss of the vessel or the
Art. 775. Decedent – is the general term applied to the aeroplane;
person whose property is transmitted through
succession, whether or not he left a will. If he left a will, 2. A person in the armed forces who has taken part in
he is also called as “testator”. war, and has been missing for four (4) years; and
Note: If no will, intestate.
3. A person who has been in danger of death under other
circumstances and his existence has not been known for
four (4) years.
Notes in Succession
By: Charisse Louie L. Amosco
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
3. Donation inter vivos -
Art. 839 GROUNDS FOR DISALLOWANCE OF
WILL: 4. Donation mortis causa
(1) If the formalities required by law have not been 7. Production of Will
complied with; 8. Allowance of a Will
(2) If the testator was insane, or otherwise mentally
incapable of making a will, at the time of its 17. Doctrine of processual presumption
execution;
(3) If it was executed through force or under duress, 17. Renvoi doctrine
or the influence of fear, or threats;
18. Doctrine of supervening capacity
(4) If it was procured by undue or improper pressure
and influence on the part of the beneficiary or 19. Probate
some other person;
(5) If the signature of the testator was procured by 21. Revocation
fraud; and
22. Republication
(6) If the testator acted by mistake or did not intend
that the instrument he signed should be his will 23. Doctrine of absolute revocation
at the time of affixing his signature thereto.
24.
Notes in Succession
By: Charisse Louie L. Amosco
25. Principle of Instanter
26. Post mortem probate
27. Freedom of disposition
28. Principle of equality
29. Principle of individuality
30. Principle of simultaneity
31. Representation
33. Fideicommissary substitution
34. Brief substitution
35. Compendious substitution
36. Reciprocal substitution
38. Rule on proximity
Ambulatory
Movable; revocable; subject to change; capable of alte
ration.
An ambulatory court was the former name of the Court o
f King's Bench in England. It would convene wherever th
e king who presided over it could be found, moving its lo
cation as the king moved.
An ambulatory disposition is a judgment, decree, or sent
ence that is subject to change, amendment, or revocatio
n.
A will is considered ambulatory because as long as the p
erson who made it lives, it can always be changed or rev
oked.
