TITLE IV
SUCCESSION
CHAPTER 1
General Provisions
Article 774. Succession is a mode of acquisition by virtue of
which the property, rights and obligations to the extent of the
value of the inheritance, of a person are transmitted through
his death to another or others either by his will or by operation
of law. (n)
Article 775. In this Title, "decedent" is the general term
applied to the person whose property is transmitted through
succession, whether or not he left a will. If he left a will, he is
also called the testator. (n)
Article 776. The inheritance includes all the property, rights
and obligations of a person which are not extinguished by his
death. (659)
Article 777. The rights to the succession are transmitted from
the moment of the death of the decedent. (657a)
Article 778. Succession may be:
(1) Testamentary;
(2) Legal or intestate; or
(3) Mixed. (n)
Article 779. Testamentary succession is that which results
from the designation of an heir, made in a will executed in the
form prescribed by law. (n)
Article 780. Mixed succession is that effected partly by will
and partly by operation of law. (n)
Article 781. The inheritance of a person includes not only the
property and the transmissible rights and obligations existing at
the time of his death, but also those which have accrued
thereto since the opening of the succession. (n)
Article 782. An heir is a person called to the succession either
by the provision of a will or by operation of law.
Devisees and legatees are persons to whom gifts of real and
personal property are respectively given by virtue of a will. (n)
CHAPTER 2
Testamentary Succession
SECTION 1
Wills
SUBSECTION 1. Wills in General
Article 783. A will is an act whereby a person is permitted,
with the formalities prescribed by law, to control to a certain
degree the disposition of this estate, to take effect after his
death. (667a)
Article 784. The making of a will is a strictly personal act; it
cannot be left in whole or in part to the discretion of a third
person, or accomplished through the instrumentality of an
agent or attorney. (670a)
Article 785. The duration or efficacy of the designation of
heirs, devisees or legatees, or the determination of the portions
which they are to take, when referred to by name, cannot be
left to the discretion of a third person. (670a)
Article 786. The testator may entrust to a third person the
distribution of specific property or sums of money that he may
leave in general to specified classes or causes, and also the
designation of the persons, institutions or establishments to
which such property or sums are to be given or applied. (671a)
Article 787. The testator may not make a testamentary
disposition in such manner that another person has to
determine whether or not it is to be operative. (n)
Article 788. If a testamentary disposition admits of different
interpretations, in case of doubt, that interpretation by which
the disposition is to be operative shall be preferred. (n)
Article 789. When there is an imperfect description, or when
no person or property exactly answers the description,
mistakes and omissions must be corrected, if the error appears
from the context of the will or from extrinsic evidence,
excluding the oral declarations of the testator as to his
intention; and when an uncertainty arises upon the face of the
will, as to the application of any of its provisions, the testator's
intention is to be ascertained from the words of the will, taking
into consideration the circumstances under which it was made,
excluding such oral declarations. (n)
Article 790. The words of a will are to be taken in their
ordinary and grammatical sense, unless a clear intention to use
them in another sense can be gathered, and that other can be
ascertained.
Technical words in a will are to be taken in their technical
sense, unless the context clearly indicates a contrary intention,
or unless it satisfactorily appears that the will was drawn solely
by the testator, and that he was unacquainted with such
technical sense. (675a)
Article 791. The words of a will are to receive an interpretation
which will give to every expression some effect, rather than one
which will render any of the expressions inoperative; and of two
modes of interpreting a will, that is to be preferred which will
prevent intestacy. (n)
Article 792. The invalidity of one of several dispositions
contained in a will does not result in the invalidity of the other
dispositions, unless it is to be presumed that the testator would
not have made such other dispositions if the first invalid
disposition had not been made. (n)
Article 793. Property acquired after the making of a will shall
only pass thereby, as if the testator had possessed it at the
time of making the will, should it expressly appear by the will
that such was his intention. (n)
Article 794. Every devise or legacy shall cover all the interest
which the testator could device or bequeath in the property
disposed of, unless it clearly appears from the will that he
intended to convey a less interest. (n)
Article 795. The validity of a will as to its form depends upon
the observance of the law in force at the time it is made. (n)
