2. Capacity to Succeed by Will or by Intestacy

CAPACITY TO SUCCEED BY WILL OR INTESTACY

Persons not incapacitated by law may succeed by will or ab intestato.

The provisions relating to incapacity by will are equally applicable to intestate succession. (Art. 1024)

NOTE: Both a natural person and a juridical person may inherit. (Art. 1026)

Requisites for Juridical Persons

A testamentary disposition may be made to the State, provinces, municipal corporations, private corporations, organizations, or associations for religious, scientific, cultural, educational, or charitable purposes.

All other corporations or entities may succeed under a will, unless there is a provision to the contrary in their charter or the laws of their creation, and always subject to the same. (Art. 1026)

Time to Determine Capacity to Succeed

General Rule: In order to judge the capacity of the heir, legatee, or devisee, his qualification at the time of the death of the decedent shall be the criterion. (Art. 1034)

Exceptions:

• Those disqualified under Article 1032 (Unworthiness, pars. 2,3,5) wherein it is necessary to wait until final judgment is rendered;
• Those disqualified under Article 1032 (Unworthiness, par. 4) wherein it is necessary to wait for the expiration for the month allowed for report;
• If the institution of the heirs, legacy or devise is conditional, the time of compliance with the condition shall be considered. (Art. 1034)

NOTE:

• The capacity to succeed is governed by the law of the nation of the decedent. (Art. 1039)
• Persons not incapacitated by law may succeed by will or ab intestato. (Art. 1024)
• A testamentary provision in favor of a disqualified person, even though made under the guise of an onerous contract, or made through an intermediary, shall be void. (Art. 1028)

Incapacity to Succeed in Testamentary Succession (Art. 1027)

The following are incapable of succeeding:

• The priest who heard the confession of the testator during his last illness, or the minister of the gospel who extended spiritual aid to him during the same period;

Requisites:

• The will must have been executed during the testator’s last illness;
• The spiritual ministration must have been extended during the last illness;
• The will must have been executed during or after the spiritual ministration.

Note: Applies to all religions

• The relatives of such priest or minister of the gospel within the fourth degree, the church, order, chapter, community, organization, or institution to which such priest or minister may belong;
• A guardian with respect to testamentary dispositions given by a ward in his favor before the final accounts of the guardianship have been approved, even if the testator should die after the approval thereof; nevertheless, any provision made by the ward in favor of the guardian when the latter is his ascendant, descendant, brother, sister, or spouse, shall be valid;
• The ward must have made the disposition in the guardian’s favor before the final accounts of the guardianship were approved, subject to the familial exceptions in Art. 1027(3).
• The terms of this provision seem to be limited to guardians over the property
• A guardian who happens to be an ascendant, descendant, brother, sister, or spouse of the ward-testator is excluded from the prohibition
• Any attesting witness to the execution of a will, the spouse, parents, or children, or any one claiming under such witness, spouse, parents, or children;
• Reiteration of Art. 823 but in more general terms as it annuls all testamentary disposition not only legacies and devises. The rule that if there are three other competent witnesses as an exception should be read into this.
• Any physician, surgeon, nurse, health officer or druggist who took care of the testator during his last illness;
• The physician must have taken care of the testator during his/her final illness. “Taking care” means medical attendance with some regularity or continuity.
• Individuals, associations and corporations not permitted by law to inherit under any kind of succession. (Art. 1027)

Person who may ask for the declaration of absence (NCC, Art. 385)

• Spouse present;
• Heirs instituted in a will, who may present an authentic copy of the same;
• Relatives who may succeed by intestacy;
• Persons who may have over the property of the absentee some right subordinated to the condition of his death.

Unworthiness (Art. 1032)

The following are incapable of succeeding under all kinds of succession by reason of unworthiness:

• Parents who have abandoned their children or induced their daughters to lead a corrupt or immoral life, or attempted against their virtue;
• Three grounds are provided:
• abandonment;
• inducement of a daughter to lead a corrupt or immoral life; and
• attempt against a daughter’s virtue
• Abandonment - includes all conduct constituting a repeated or total refusal or failure to care for the child.
• Inducement - same as deprivation of parental authority; only applies to female descendants
• Attempt on virtue - no conviction is required
• Any person who has been convicted of an attempt against the life of the testator, his or her spouse, descendants, or ascendants;
• Covers all stages in the commission of the crime
• Felony must be intentional (so not through negligence)
• Final conviction required
• Any person who has accused the testator of a crime for which the law prescribes imprisonment for six years or more, if the accusation has been found groundless;
• Covers filing of the complaint before the prosecutor, presenting incriminating evidence, suppressing exculpatory evidence
• The accusation against the testator must have been found groundless by final judgment.
• The accusation must be found to be groundless—must state that no crime was committed or that accused did not commit the crime.
• Any heir of full age who, having knowledge of the violent death of the testator, should fail to report it to an officer of the law within a month, unless the authorities have already taken action; this prohibition shall not apply to cases wherein, according to law, there is no obligation to make an accusation;
• There is no such obligation existing under our present law
• Requisites:
• the heir has knowledge of violent death of the decedent;
• the heir is of legal age
• the heir fails to report it to an officer of the law within a month (after learning of it)
• there is a legal obligation for the heir to make an accusation
• Any person convicted of adultery or concubinage with the spouse of the testator;
• Final conviction required
• Any person who by fraud, violence, intimidation, or undue influence should cause the testator to make a will or to change one already made;
• Any person who by the same means prevents another from making a will, or from revoking one already made, or who supplants, conceals, or alters the latter's will;
• Any person who falsifies or forges a supposed will of the decedent.

Exceptions:

• When the testator, one month or less before the execution of the will, was publicly known to be insane (Art. 800);
• When the testator executed the will after being placed under guardianship or ordered committed to a mental institution (under Rules 93 and 101, respectively of the Rules of Court), and before said order has been lifted. (Baltazar v. Laxa, G.R. No. 174489)

NOTE: Supervening capacity or incapacity does not invalidate an effective will, nor is the will of an incapable validated by supervening capacity (Art. 801).

Mentally aberrant medically does not equate to testamentary incapacity. [Galvez v. Galvez, 26 Phil 243 (1913)]

Mentally aberrant means that a person's thoughts or behavior are unusual or deviate from what is considered normal. It is a term that is often used to describe someone who has a mental illness or disorder that causes them to think or behave in ways that are different from most people.

Classes of Compulsory Heirs

• Primary – Those who have precedence over and exclude other compulsory heirs
• Legitimate or adopted children and/or descendants (legitimate), with respect to their legitimate parents and ascendants (Arellano v. Pascual, G.R. No. 189776 citing Tolentino 1992 ed., p. 252)
• Secondary – Those who succeed only in the absence of the primary heirs
• Legitimate parents and ascendants (legitimate), with respect to their legitimate children and descendants
• Parents of illegitimate children – only in default of any kind of descendants (Arellano v. Pascual, G.R. No. 189776, citing Tolentino 1992 ed., p. 252)
• Concurring – Those who succeed together with the primary or the secondary compulsory heirs
• Widow or widower (legitimate) – the surviving spouse referred to is the spouse of the decedent.
• Illegitimate children and/ or descendants