4. Legitime

2. Compulsory Succession

a. Table of Legitime b. Computation of the Net Hereditary Estate c. Determination of the Legitime d. Consequence of Impairment of the Legitime e. Preterition f. Disinheritance i. Requisites ii. Grounds iii. Effects of Disinheritance iv. Effect of Reconciliation v. Preterition vs. Defective Disinheritance

Pardon of Acts of Unworthiness (Art. 1033)

Representation in Unworthiness (Balane, supra)

If the person excluded from the inheritance by reason of the incapacity should be the child or descendant of the decedent, and should have children or descendants, the latter shall acquire his right to the legitime.

The person excluded shall not enjoy the usufruct and the administration of the property thus inherited by his children. (Art. 1035)

NOTE: The extent of representation may be as to the legitime and as to the share of the unworthy heir in the intestate portion. (Balane, supra)

If the unworthy heir is a brother or sister, his children (nephews and nieces of the decedent) will represent. (Balane, supra)

Future Legitime

GR: The law prohibits a compromise on future legitimes.

Inofficious donations:

• Shall be reduced with regard to the excess
• An action to reduce an inofficious donation may be brought by persons entitled to a legitime upon the donor’s death, or their heirs or successors in interest (Civil Code, Arts. 752 and 772).
• Voluntary heirs, devisees, legatees, donees, and creditors of the deceased cannot demand reduction of an inofficious donation on the basis of a right to legitime (Civil Code, Art. 772).
• If there are 2 or more donation: recent ones shall be suppressed
• If 2 or more donation at same time treated equally and reduction is pro rata but donor may impose preference which must be expressly stated in donation
• Effect of declaration as inofficious: the donation is annulled only as to the portion diminishing the legitime

Cause of action arising from the inofficiousness of donation arises only upon death of the donor, as the value of the donation will be contrasted with the net value of the estate of the donor decedent. (Eloy Imperial v. CA, GR No. 112483, 1999)

No Accretion in the Legitime

If the part repudiated be the legitime, the other coheirs shall succeed to it in their own right, and not by the right of accretion. (Art. 1021)

Forms of presumptive legitime:

• Cash;
• Property; and
• Sound security.

Obligation of Every Compulsory Heir

Every compulsory heir, who succeeds with other compulsory heirs, must bring into the mass of the estate any property or right which he may have received from the decedent, during the lifetime of the latter, by way of donation, or any other gratuitous title, in order that it may be computed in the determination of the legitime of each heir, and in the account of the partition. (Art. 1061)

However, collation of donations inter vivos to compulsory heirs shall not take place in the following cases, unless the donation must be reduced as inofficious:

• If the donor expressly dispensed with collation; (Art. 1062)
• The donee repudiated the inheritance; (Id.)

NOTE: The donation will be imputed to the legitime to the extent of the legitime’s value, and the excess to the free portion. (Balane, supra at p. 577)

Condition on the Legitimes is Prohibited

The testator cannot impose any charge, condition or substitution whatsoever upon the legitimes. Should he do so, the same shall be considered as not imposed. (Art. 872)

Prohibited or Void Conditions

The prohibited or void conditions are: (LIM-Will)

• Charges, conditions, substitutions, upon the Legitimes. (Art. 872)
• Impossible conditions and those contrary to law or good customs. (Art. 873)
• An absolute condition not to contract a first or subsequent Marriage. (Art. 874)

However, if the condition not to contract a first or subsequent marriage has been imposed on the widow or widower by the deceased spouse, or by the latter’s ascendants or descendants, such condition is valid. (Art. 874)

• Disposition Captatoria – Any disposition made upon the condition that the heir shall make some provision in his WILL in favor of the testator or of any other person. (Art. 875)

Compulsory Heirs; Legitime – Civil Code, arts. 886-914

SECTION 5

Legitime

Article 886. Legitime is that part of the testator's property which he cannot dispose of because the law has reserved it for certain heirs who are, therefore, called compulsory heirs. (806)

Article 887. The following are compulsory heirs:

(1) Legitimate children and descendants, with respect to their legitimate parents and ascendants;

(2) In default of the foregoing, legitimate parents and ascendants, with respect to their legitimate children and descendants;

(3) The widow or widower;

(4) Acknowledged natural children, and natural children by legal fiction;

(5) Other illegitimate children referred to in article 287.

Compulsory heirs mentioned in Nos. 3, 4, and 5 are not excluded by those in Nos. 1 and 2; neither do they exclude one another.

In all cases of illegitimate children, their filiation must be duly proved.

The father or mother of illegitimate children of the three classes mentioned, shall inherit from them in the manner and to the extent established by this Code. (807a)

Under the Family Code, illegitimate children are compulsory heirs without the former distinctions among acknowledged natural children, natural children by legal fiction, and other illegitimate children. (Family Code, Arts. 172, 175–176, as amended by RA 9255)

Article 888. The legitime of legitimate children and descendants consists of one-half of the hereditary estate of the father and of the mother.

The latter may freely dispose of the remaining half, subject to the rights of illegitimate children and of the surviving spouse as hereinafter provided. (808a)

Article 889. The legitime of legitimate parents or ascendants consists of one-half of the hereditary estates of their children and descendants.

The children or descendants may freely dispose of the other half, subject to the rights of illegitimate children and of the surviving spouse as hereinafter provided. (809a)

Article 890. The legitime reserved for the legitimate parents shall be divided between them equally; if one of the parents should have died, the whole shall pass to the survivor.

If the testator leaves neither father nor mother, but is survived by ascendants of equal degree of the paternal and maternal lines, the legitime shall be divided equally between both lines. If the ascendants should be of different degrees, it shall pertain entirely to the ones nearest in degree of either line. (810)

Article 891. The ascendant who inherits from his descendant any property which the latter may have acquired by gratuitous title from another ascendant, or a brother or sister, is obliged to reserve such property as he may have acquired by operation of law for the benefit of relatives who are within the third degree and who belong to the line from which said property came. (871)

Article 892. If only one legitimate child or descendant of the deceased survives, the widow or widower shall be entitled to one-fourth of the hereditary estate. In case of a legal separation, the surviving spouse may inherit if it was the deceased who had given cause for the same.

If there are two or more legitimate children or descendants, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to a portion equal to the legitime of each of the legitimate children or descendants.

In both cases, the legitime of the surviving spouse shall be taken from the portion that can be freely disposed of by the testator. (834a)

Article 893. If the testator leaves no legitimate descendants, but leaves legitimate ascendants, the surviving spouse shall have a right to one-fourth of the hereditary estate.

This fourth shall be taken from the free portion of the estate. (836a)

Article 894. If the testator leaves illegitimate children, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to one-third of the hereditary estate of the deceased and the illegitimate children to another third. The remaining third shall be at the free disposal of the testator. (n)

Article 895. The legitime of each of the acknowledged natural children and each of the natural children by legal fiction shall consist of one-half of the legitime of each of the legitimate children or descendants.

The legitime of an illegitimate child who is neither an acknowledged natural, nor a natural child by legal fiction, shall be equal in every case to four-fifths of the legitime of an acknowledged natural child.

The legitime of the illegitimate children shall be taken from the portion of the estate at the free disposal of the testator, provided that in no case shall the total legitime of such illegitimate children exceed that free portion, and that the legitime of the surviving spouse must first be fully satisfied. (840a)

Under the Family Code, the legitime of each illegitimate child is one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child, subject to the applicable limits on the estate's disposable portion. The four-fifths rule quoted above is superseded. (Family Code, Art. 176, as amended by RA 9255; Civil Code, Art. 895)

Article 896. Illegitimate children who may survive with legitimate parents or ascendants of the deceased shall be entitled to one-fourth of the hereditary estate to be taken from the portion at the free disposal of the testator. (841a)

Article 897. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate children or descendants, and acknowledged natural children, or natural children by legal fiction, such surviving spouse shall be entitled to a portion equal to the legitime of each of the legitimate children which must be taken from that part of the estate which the testator can freely dispose of. (n)

Article 898. If the widow or widower survives with legitimate children or descendants, and with illegitimate children other than acknowledged natural, or natural children by legal fiction, the share of the surviving spouse shall be the same as that provided in the preceding article. (n)

The Family Code no longer distinguishes among classes of illegitimate children; apply the surviving spouse's share alongside the current uniform legitime of illegitimate children. (Family Code, Art. 176, as amended by RA 9255; Civil Code, Arts. 897–898)

Article 899. When the widow or widower survives with legitimate parents or ascendants and with illegitimate children, such surviving spouse shall be entitled to one-eighth of the hereditary estate of the deceased which must be taken from the free portion, and the illegitimate children shall be entitled to one-fourth of the estate which shall be taken also from the disposable portion. The testator may freely dispose of the remaining one-eighth of the estate. (n)

Article 900. If the only survivor is the widow or widower, she or he shall be entitled to one-half of the hereditary estate of the deceased spouse, and the testator may freely dispose of the other half. (837a)

If the marriage between the surviving spouse and the testator was solemnized in articulo mortis, and the testator died within three months from the time of the marriage, the legitime of the surviving spouse as the sole heir shall be one-third of the hereditary estate, except when they have been living as husband and wife for more than five years. In the latter case, the legitime of the surviving spouse shall be that specified in the preceding paragraph. (n)

Article 901. When the testator dies leaving illegitimate children and no other compulsory heirs, such illegitimate children shall have a right to one-half of the hereditary estate of the deceased.

The other half shall be at the free disposal of the testator. (842a)

Article 902. The rights of illegitimate children set forth in the preceding articles are transmitted upon their death to their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate. (843a)

Article 903. The legitime of the parents who have an illegitimate child, when such child 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. (n)

Article 904. The testator cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime, except in cases expressly specified by law.

Neither can he impose upon the same any burden, encumbrance, condition, or substitution of any kind whatsoever. (813a)

Article 905. Every renunciation or compromise as regards a future legitime between the person owing it and his compulsory heirs is void, and the latter may claim the same upon the death of the former; but they must bring to collation whatever they may have received by virtue of the renunciation or compromise. (816)

Article 906. Any compulsory heir to whom the testator has left by any title less than the legitime belonging to him may demand that the same be fully satisfied. (815)

Article 907. Testamentary dispositions that impair or diminish the legitime of the compulsory heirs shall be reduced on petition of the same, insofar as they may be inofficious or excessive. (817)

Article 908. To determine the legitime, the value of the property left at the death of the testator shall be considered, deducting all debts and charges, which shall not include those imposed in the will.

To the net value of the hereditary estate, shall be added the value of all donations by the testator that are subject to collation, at the time he made them. (818a)

Article 909. Donations given to children shall be charged to their legitime.

Donations made to strangers shall be charged to that part of the estate of which the testator could have disposed by his last will.

Insofar as they may be inofficious or may exceed the disposable portion, they shall be reduced according to the rules established by this Code. (819a)

Article 910. Donations which an illegitimate child may have received during the lifetime of his father or mother, shall be charged to his legitime.

Should they exceed the portion that can be freely disposed of, they shall be reduced in the manner prescribed by this Code. (847a)

Article 911. After the legitime has been determined in accordance with the three preceding articles, the reduction shall be made as follows:

(1) Donations shall be respected as long as the legitime can be covered, reducing or annulling, if necessary, the devises or legacies made in the will;

(2) The reduction of the devises or legacies shall be pro rata, without any distinction whatever.

If the testator has directed that a certain devise or legacy be paid in preference to others, it shall not suffer any reduction until the latter have been applied in full to the payment of the legitime.

(3) If the devise or legacy consists of a usufruct or life annuity, whose value may be considered greater than that of the disposable portion, the compulsory heirs may choose between complying with the testamentary provision and delivering to the devisee or legatee the part of the inheritance of which the testator could freely dispose. (820a)

Article 912. If the devise subject to reduction should consist of real property, which cannot be conveniently divided, it shall go to the devisee if the reduction does not absorb one-half of its value; and in a contrary case, to the compulsory heirs; but the former and the latter shall reimburse each other in cash for what respectively belongs to them.

The devisee who is entitled to a legitime may retain the entire property, provided its value does not exceed that of the disposable portion and of the share pertaining to him as legitime. (821)

Article 913. If the heirs or devisees do not choose to avail themselves of the right granted by the preceding article, any heir or devisee who did not have such right may exercise it; should the latter not make use of it, the property shall be sold at public auction at the instance of any one of the interested parties. (822)

Article 914. The testator may devise and bequeath the free portion as he may deem fit. (n)

Obligation of Every Compulsory Heir

Every compulsory heir, who succeeds with other compulsory heirs, must bring into the mass of the estate any property or right which he may have received from the decedent, during the lifetime of the latter, by way of donation, or any other gratuitous title, in order that it may be computed in the determination of the legitime of each heir, and in the account of the partition. (Art. 1061)

However, collation shall not take place among compulsory heirs:

• If the donor expressly dispensed with collation; (Art. 1062)
• If the donee repudiated the inheritance; (Id.)

NOTE: The exemption from collation does not prevent reduction of the donation if inofficious under Art. 1062. (Balane, supra at p. 577)

Effect of inofficious condonation

It may be totally revoked or reduced depending on whether or not it is totally or only partly inofficious.

The obligation remitted is considered inofficious if it impairs the legitime of the compulsory heirs. (NCC, Art. 752)

General Rules in Ascertaining Legitimes

• Rule of proximity: The nearer exclude the more remote, except when the rule on representation is proper. (Art. 962)
• Legitimate parents or ascendants are excluded only by legitimate children. (Arts. 896, 899)
• Parents of illegitimate children are excluded by both legitimate and illegitimate children. (Art. 903)
• The illegitimate ascending line does not go beyond the parents. (Art. 903; Balane, supra, p.345)
• In the direct ascending line, there is the rule of division by line. The legitime is divided equally between the paternal and maternal side. After the portions corresponding to the line has been assigned, there will be equal apportionment between or among the recipients within the line, should there be more than one. (Art. 890)
• There is no right of representation in the direct ascending line. (Art. 972)
• For a surviving spouse to inherit from the deceased, the marriage between the decedent and the widow/widower must be either valid or voidable. (Balane, supra, p.342)

Rules of Surviving Spouse as Sole Compulsory Heir (Art. 900)

General Rule: The surviving spouse gets 1/2 of the estate

Exception: 1/3 of the estate, if the following circumstances are present:

• The marriage was in articulo mortis;
• The testator died within 3 months from the time of the marriage;
• The parties did not cohabit for more than 5 years; and
• The spouse who died was the party in articulo mortis at the time of the marriage.

DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF Shares of Compulsory Heirs (Art. 888-903)

Three Transmissions Involved in Reserva Troncal:

• A first transmission by lucrative title (inheritance or donation) from an ascendant or brother or sister to the deceased descendant; (Mendoza v. Delos Santos, G.R. No. 176422)
• A posterior transmission, by operation of law (intestate succession or legitime) from the deceased descendant (prepositus) in favor of another ascendant, the reservista, which two transmissions precede the reservation; (Mendoza v. Delos Santos, G.R. No. 176422)

It is this second transfer that creates the reserva. (Civil Code, Art. 891; Mendoza v. Delos Santos, G.R. No. 176422, March 20, 2013)

• A third transmission of the same property (in consequence of the reservation) from the reservistas to the reservatarios or the relatives within the third degree from the deceased descendant belonging to the line of the first ascendant, brother or sister of the deceased d escendant. (Gonzalez v. CFI, G.R. No. 34395)

Parties Involved

• Origin or Mediate Source – The ascendant, brother, or sister from whom the prepositus had acquired the property by gratuitous title; (Balane, supra)
• Prepositus – The descendant/brother/ sister who died and from whose death the reservistas in turn had acquired the property by operation of law. The so-called “arbiter of the fate of the reserva troncal.” (Balane, supra)

While the property is owned by the prepositus, he has all the rights of ownership over it and may exercise such rights in order to prevent a reserva from arising. He can terminate the reserva by

• Substituting or alienating or disposing the property during his lifetime;
• Bequeathing or devising it either to the potential reservista or to other third person (subject to rights of compulsory heirs to the legitime); or
• Partitioning in such a way as to assign the property to parties other than the potential reservista (subject to the constraints of the legitime).
• Reservista – The ascendant of the prepositus of whatever degree, obliged to reserve the property; (Balane, supra)
• Reservatarios – The relatives of the prepositus within the third degree and who belong to the line from which the property came and for whose benefit the reservation is constituted. (Balane, supra)

NOTE: The reference point from which the third degree requirement should be reckoned is the prepositus – the one at the end of the line from which the property came and upon whom the property last resolved by descent. (Mendoza v. Delos Santos, G.R. No. 176422, 2013)

NOTE: As long as the reservatario is alive at the time of the reservista’s death, he qualifies as such, even if he was conceived and born after the prepositus’ death. (Balane, supra)

Two Events to be Considered to Determine the Right of the Reservatarios over the Reservable Property

• Death of Prepositus – All qualified reservatarios merely have an inchoate right. The reservistas own the property subject to the resolutory condition
• Death of Reservista – surviving reservatarios acquire a perfect right. (Balane, supra)

Property Reserved

Any kind of property may be reserved. The very same property must go through the process of the three transmissions, in order for the reserva to arise. (Balane, supra)

Reserva Maxima/Minima Theories: Applies only if two circumstances concur:

• Prepositus makes a will instituting the ascendant - reservista to the whole or a part of the free portion; (Balane, supra)
• There is left in the prepositus’ estate, upon his death, property reservable. (Balane, supra)

Reserva Troncal is Extinguished By

• Upon the death of the reservista, surviving qualified reservatarios acquire a perfected right to the reserved property (Civil Code, Art. 891; Mendoza v. Delos Santos, G.R. No. 176422, March 20, 2013);
• The death of all the reservatarios;
• Renunciation by all the reservatarios, provided that no other reservatario is born subsequently;
• Total fortuitous loss of the reserved property;
• Confusion or merger of rights, as when the reservatarios acquire the reservista’s right by contract inter vivos;
• Prescription or adverse possession. (Balane, supra)

Impairment of Legitime

Principle of Non-Impairment of Legitimes

General Rule: The testator cannot deprive his compulsory heirs of their legitime. (Art. 904)

Exception: Valid disinheritance

General Rule: The testator cannot impose upon the same any burden, encumbrance, condition, or substitution of any kind whatsoever. (Art. 904)

Exceptions:

• If the predecessor gave the compulsory heir a donation inter vivos and provided that it was not to be charged against the legitime. (Art. 1062)
• Testamentary dispositions made by the predecessor to the compulsory heir, unless the testator provides that it should be considered part of the legitime. (Art. 1063)

The impaired legitime of a compulsory heir shall be filled up in the following manner:

• It must first be taken from the part of the estate not disposed of by will.
• If the undisposed portion is insufficient, the legitime must be completed from other testamentary shares as applicable. Devises and legacies are reduced before donations when their reduction can cover the legitime; a devise or legacy expressly preferred by the testator is reduced only after the others. (Arts. 855, 911)

Testamentary dispositions that impair or diminish the legitime of compulsory heirs shall be reduced on petition of the same insofar as they may be inofficious or excessive. (Art. 907)

Article 907 of the Civil Code states that "[t]estamentary dispositions that impair or diminish the legitime of the compulsory heirs shall be reduced on petition of the same, insofar as they may be inofficious or excessive." Evidently, if the testator disposed of his estate in a manner that impaired or diminished the legitime of compulsory heirs, the latter may petition to demand that those dispositions be reduced or abated to the extent that they may be inofficious or excessive. (Heirs of Estella v. Estella, G.R. No. 245469, 09 December 2020)

Steps in Determining the Legitime of Compulsory Heirs

• Determination of the gross value of the estate at the time of the death of the testator;
• Determination of all debts and charges which are chargeable against the estate;
• Determination of the net value of the estate by deducting all the debts and charges from the gross value of the estate;
• Addition of the value of all donations inter vivos to the net value of the estate to compute the legitime; this is distinct from collation among compulsory heirs, which does not take place if the donor expressly dispensed with it or the donee repudiates the inheritance, subject to reduction of an inofficious donation. (Arts. 1061–1062)
• Determination of the amount of the legitime from the total thus found;
• Imputation of all the value of all donations inter vivos made to compulsory heirs against their legitimes and of the value of all donations inter vivos made to strangers against the disposable free portion and restoration to the hereditary estate if the donation is inofficious. If legitime is impaired, the following reductions shall be made:
• First, reduce pro-rata non-preferred legacies and devises, and the testamentary dispositions.
• Second, reduce pro rata the preferred legacies and devises.
• Third, if reduction of testamentary dispositions is insufficient, reduce inofficious donations, beginning with the most recent. (Arts. 911 and 773)
• Distribution of the residue of the estate in accordance with the will of the testator.

Necessary Expenses for the Delivery of the Thing Bequeathed

The expenses necessary for the delivery of the thing bequeathed shall be for the account of the heir or the estate, but without prejudice to the legitime. (Art. 952 par. 3)