SUCCESSION
MADE EASY
Succession
has been one of the most difficult yet the most, if not for some, interesting
subject in Civil Law. Others would find it complicated but one of the best ways
to understand succession is to know the basic.The reason is, one cannot
understand one thing if he or she is a stranger to it. And being in a review
class, it’s but important for me to fully understand the basics of law.In this article, we’ll get a glimpse of succession and somehow get to know the fundamental principles of the law.
Succession,
being one of the modes of acquiring ownership, has three (3) kinds. Firstly, the testate succession. It is a type of succession which results from
the designation of an heir, made in a will executed in the form prescribed by law.
Meaning, the person who died left a will. Secondly, is the legal or intestate
succession. It is that which is effected by operation of law in default of a
will or aperson died without leaving a will. Thirdly, is the mixed
succession. This type of succession is
effected partly by will and partly by operation of law. Simple, right?
The decedent
or the person who died with inheritance is the most important person in
succession. Without him or her, there is no succession to talk about. If the
said decedent died and left a will, he is called a testator.
Much more than the heir, or the person who can
inherit form the decedent, in succession,
as to the rights of the person involved, the most important thing that we need
to determine is who is the decedent because from him or from her we would know
who are the heirs.
What does
these all mean? Let us take a specific case given by one of my law professors.
We will call the dead person X. X died leavinga surviving common law wife, a
full blood brother and a half blood sister. In his will, X gave his entire
estate to his surviving common- law spouse.
The first
question in this problem is, “Was his testamentary disposition in accordance
with the law on succession. “ This problem would require us to consider whether
those who survived are compulsory heirs or not because if the full blood brother
or half blood sister are compulsory heirs then the testamentary disposition of
X is not valid. However, under the law on testate succession, the full
bloodbrother and half blood sister are not compulsory heirs. In fact, they are
heirs in the collateral line. In effect, the testamentary disposition of X in
giving the entire estate to his common-law spouse is valid. He may give his
estate to anyone he pleases who has the capacity to succeed, but subject to the
limitations set forth by the law.
The
misconception in relation to this problem is about common-law spouse. The
misconception here is since the person who survives is only a common law wife,
thus she has no capacity to succeed for the reason that he or she is only a
paramour. This is not true because as long as they are living together as
husband and wife even if without the benefit of marriage theyare considered as
common law spouse. Accordingly, one only
becomes a paramour when the other party has a legal impediment. Meaning, he or
she is legally married to somebody else.
Since X
has no legal impediment, then the common law wife is not incapacitated to
succeed since there are no compulsory heirs who survive the decedent.
The second
question in the problem here is what if X died intestate. Who will share in his
inheritance? Obviously if a person dies intestate, he died without a willthereforewe
will be considering who the intestate or legal heirs are. If the common–law wife, full-blood brother
and the half-blood sister survived the decedent, only the full-blood brother
and the half-blood sister shall inherit from the decedent.
Under the
law, the common law wife, under intestate succession is not an heir, since she
is not married with the decedent. Thus,
she will not inherit. As to the full-blood brother and half-blood sister, they
will get a share of the inheritance or estate. This is because under the law of INTESTATE SUCCESSION,
brothers and sisters are compulsory heirs under certain circumstances. As
such, the full-blood brother will get twice the share of the half-blood sister.
The full-blood brother will get 2/3 of the estate’s share while the other 1/3goes
to the half-blood sister.
These are
just few of the basic principles governing succession. The rules may be
complicated but these can be made easy once fully understood.(The author, Beverly Caboteja, is a graduating law student at the University of Mindanao in Davao City, Philippines. She is a faculty lecturer at ACLC, a top computer school in Davao City)