(928a), Art. In the partition of the estate, equality shall be observed as far as possible, dividing the property into lots, or assigning to each of the co-heirs things of the same nature, quality and kind. 800. The heirs to whom the inheritance accrues shall succeed to all the rights and obligations which the heir who renounced or could not receive it would have had. No. (800a). 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. If burned, torn, cancelled, or obliterated by some other person, without the express direction of the testator, the will may still be established, and the estate distributed in accordance therewith, if its contents, and due execution, and the fact of its unauthorized destruction, cancellation, or obliteration are established according to the Rules of Court. G.R. (1) When the spouse has been convicted of an attempt against the life of the testator, his or her descendants, or ascendants; (2) When the spouse has accused the testator of a crime for which the law prescribes imprisonment of six years or more, and the accusation has been found to be false; (3) When the spouse by fraud, violence, intimidation, or undue influence cause the testator to make a will or to change one already made; (4) When the spouse has given cause for legal separation; (5) When the spouse has given grounds for the loss of parental authority; (6) Unjustifiable refusal to support the children or the other spouse. Two or more persons cannot make a will jointly, or in the same instrument, either for their reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of a third person. (933), Art. (1943). 2154. 737. Acceptance may be express or tacit. The chapter on Human Relations governs several aspects of private affairs not otherwise covered by the old Civil Code. 1101. 1083. Should children of the deceased and descendants of other children who are dead, survive, the former shall inherit in their own right, and the latter by right of representation. Should they not be able to read and write, the inheritance shall be accepted by their guardians. (843a), Art. (805). When therefore combined with Articles 19 and 20, Article 21 broadens our law on civil wrongs; making it more difficult to conceive of any malevolent exercise of a right which could not be sanctioned; and, thus making it more adaptable than the Anglo-American law on torts. (860), Art. Art. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines - The Official Gazette is the official journal of the Republic of the Philippines. (787a), Art. But one more interesting provision is Article 32 . Art. In both cases, the legitime of the surviving spouse shall be taken from the portion that can be freely disposed of by the testator. Art. The Court held that such conduct amounted to a violation of Article 19 because even if the seller still had the right to tell the water supplier to cut off the buyer’s water supply, such right was exercised in bad faith to the prejudice of the buyer. Every will, other than a holographic will, must be subscribed at the end thereof by the testator himself or by the testator's name written by some other person in his presence, and by his express direction, and attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and of one another. Heirs instituted without designation of shares shall inherit in equal parts. Article 5 The lawful civil rights and interests of citizens and legal persons shall be protected by law; no In 2010, Carlos Celdran, a Filipino tour guide and an advocate of reproductive health rights, disrupted an ongoing mass in order to express his disdain with the Catholic Church. (650). (804a). 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. (1009), Art. If an illegitimate child should die without issue, either legitimate or illegitimate, his father or mother shall succeed to his entire estate; and if the child's filiation is duly proved as to both parents, who are both living, they shall inherit from him share and share alike. 746. 1065. (809a). 1122. 744. 826. Art. Article 438, Civil Code. (675a), Art. The attestation shall state the number of pages used upon which the will is written, and the fact that the testator signed the will and every page thereof, or caused some other person to write his name, under his express direction, in the presence of the instrumental witnesses, and that the latter witnessed and signed the will and all the pages thereof in the presence of the testator and of one another. school, law. (n). The validity of a will as to its form depends upon the observance of the law in force at the time it is made. Expenses incurred by the parents in giving their children a professional, vocational or other career shall not be brought to collation unless the parents so provide, or unless they impair the legitime; but when their collation is required, the sum which the child would have spent if he had lived in the house and company of his parents shall be deducted therefrom. 959. 1111. 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. (n). Art. After the payment of debts and charges, the personal property shall be assigned to the municipality or city where the deceased last resided in the Philippines, and the real estate to the municipalities or cities, respectively, in which the same is situated. The legatee or devisee cannot take possession of the thing bequeathed upon his own authority, but shall request its delivery and possession of the heir charged with the legacy or devise, or of the executor or administrator of the estate should he be authorized by the court to deliver it. In testamentary succession, when the right of accretion does not take place, the vacant portion of the instituted heirs, if no substitute has been designated, shall pass to the legal heirs of the testator, who shall receive it with the same charges and obligations. The owner of domesticated animals may also claim them within twenty days to be counted from their occupation by another person. 939. The following are incapable of succeeding by reason of unworthiness: (1) Parents who have abandoned their children or induced their daughters to lead a corrupt or immoral life, or attempted against their virtue; (2) Any person who has been convicted of an attempt against the life of the testator, his or her spouse, descendants, or ascendants; (3) 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; (4) 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; (5) Any person convicted of adultery or concubinage with the spouse of the testator; (6) Any person who by fraud, violence, intimidation, or undue influence should cause the testator to make a will or to change one already made; (7) 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; (8) Any person who falsifies or forges a supposed will of the decedent. The latter shall be liable for the charge only to the extent of the value of the legacy or the devise received by them. (1935), Art. ART. The foregoing provisions of law are based upon justice, and were made suitable to Philippine conditions. Any person having the free disposal of his property may accept or repudiate an inheritance. In the absence of any competent witness referred to in the preceding paragraph, and if the court deem it necessary, expert testimony may be resorted to. (n), Art. (1044). Philippine Civil Code Article 1156 defines obligation as a juridical necessity to give, to do, or not to do. (1041), Art. (642a). Art. Usually, the citizen has had to depend upon the prosecuting attorney for the institution of criminal proceedings, so that the wrongful act might be punished under the Penal Code and the civil liability exacted. From the moment of the testator's death, the thing bequeathed shall be at the risk of the legatee or devisee, who shall, therefore, bear its loss or deterioration, and shall be benefited by its increase or improvement, without prejudice to the responsibility of the executor or administrator. 934. This helps maintain the social order, by preventing a person from causing damage to his fellow men with impunity, just he does not break any law of the state, though he may be defying the most sacred postulates of morality. A fideicommissary substitution can never burden the legitime. (818a). The Supreme Court of the Philippines in Gashem Shookat Baksh v. Court of Appeals discusses the distinction, and how the provisions on human relations fill in the gaps otherwise not captured by the traditional concept of quasi-delicts: “Quasi-delict, known in Spanish legal treatises as culpa aquiliana, is a civil law concept while torts is an Anglo-American or common law concept. In the collateral line, ascent is made to the common ancestor and then descent is made to the person with whom the computation is to be made. The latter may freely dispose of the remaining half, subject to the rights of illegitimate children and of the surviving spouse as hereinafter provided. 919. If after making a will, the testator makes a second will expressly revoking the first, the revocation of the second will does not revive the first will, which can be revived only by another will or codicil. To be of sound mind, it is not necessary that the testator be in full possession of all his reasoning faculties, or that his mind be wholly unbroken, unimpaired, or unshattered by disease, injury or other cause. Article 48. (1006), Art. (953, 837a), Art. (888a). 907. Upon the revocation or reduction of the donation by the birth, appearance or adoption of a child, the property affected shall be returned or its value if the donee has sold the same. 1002. Should one only of them survive, he or she shall succeed to the entire estate of the child. (756, 853, 674a). 825. Acts of mere preservation or provisional administration do not imply an acceptance of the inheritance if, through such acts, the title or capacity of an heir has not been assumed. 780. The Philippine New Civil Code took effect on August 30, 1950. If he left a will, he is also called the testator. 1094. The right to inherit ab intestato shall not extend beyond the fifth degree of relationship in the collateral line. Should he repudiate it as an intestate heir, without knowledge of his being a testamentary heir, he may still accept it in the latter capacity. 1052. THIS ACT SHALL BE KNOWN AS THE “CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES.” Sources of the Civil Code A. 1085. (1072a). (876a), Art. (756, 854, 674a). 11.Articles 725 to 773, Civil Code of the Philippines—Laws on Donation (645a). 898. The lawful representatives of corporations, associations, institutions and entities qualified to acquire property may accept any inheritance left to the latter, but in order to repudiate it, the approval of the court shall be necessary. 827. Should there be more than one of equal degree belonging to the same line they shall divide the inheritance per capita; should they be of different lines but of equal degree, one-half shall go to the paternal and the other half to the maternal ascendants. 842. Legitimate children and their descendants succeed the parents and other ascendants, without distinction as to sex or age, and even if they should come from different marriages. In case of the death of an adopted child, leaving no children or descendants, his parents and relatives by consanguinity and not by adoption, shall be his legal heirs. In the first case, the estate shall comply with the legacy by assigning to the legatee all rights of action it may have against the debtor. The scientist or technologist has the ownership of his discovery or invention even before it is patented. 726. The statement of a false cause for the institution of an heir shall be considered as not written, unless it appears from the will that the testator would not have made such institution if he had known the falsity of such cause. Art. But in the first case he shall not enter into possession of the property until after having given sufficient security, with the intervention of the instituted heir. 878. Art. Art. (941a), Art. (n), Art. 1100. (429a), Art. The fruits of the property from the time of the acceptance of the donation, shall pertain to the donee, unless the donor provides otherwise. (657a), Art. Art. Pages. Art. Any purely potestative condition imposed upon an heir must be fulfilled by him as soon as he learns of the testator's death. 811. At the time, the Philippine Catholic Church opposed the Philippine reproductive health bill, which, among others, mandated increased availability of artificial contraceptives. 638 (644a). (948), Art. 870. Read Sales Chapter 4: Obligations of the Vendor from the story Book IV: Civil Code of the Philippines by thebeststar with 7,872 reads. (n), Art. 718. An oral donation requires the simultaneous delivery of the thing or of the document representing the right donated. (n), Art. Thus, a person is two degrees removed from his brother, three from his uncle, who is the brother of his father, four from his first cousin, and so forth. 1116. 944. (912a). If, there being two or more donations, the disposable portion is not sufficient to cover all of them, those of the more recent date shall be suppressed or reduced with regard to the excess. (614). 1080. In the partition the co-heirs shall reimburse one another for the income and fruits which each one of them may have received from any property of the estate, for any useful and necessary expenses made upon such property, and for any damage thereto through malice or neglect. 839. Prescription is deemed to have been tacitly renounced when the renunciation results from acts which imply the abandonment of the right acquired. Possession is naturally interrupted when through any cause it should cease for more than one year. In legal succession the share of the person who repudiates the inheritance shall always accrue to his co-heirs. Those who pay for the insolvent heir shall have a right of action against him for reimbursement, should his financial condition improve. 904. Whenever there is succession by representation, the division of the estate shall be made per stirpes, in such manner that the representative or representatives shall not inherit more than what the person they represent would inherit, if he were living or could inherit. If the testator orders that a thing belonging to another be acquired in order that it be given to a legatee or devisee, the heir upon whom the obligation is imposed or the estate must acquire it and give the same to the legatee or devisee; but if the owner of the thing refuses to alienate the same, or demands an excessive price therefor, the heir or the estate shall only be obliged to give the just value of the thing. Art. Article 10: In case of doubt in the interpretation, or application of Laws, it is presumed that the law making body intended right and justice to prevail. (755). Nevertheless, the right of usufruct, or an allowance or some personal prestation may be devised or bequeathed to any person for the time during which he or she should remain unmarried or in widowhood. 548. When the testator calls to the succession a person and his children they are all deemed to have been instituted simultaneously and not successively. (625). (648a). The fruits and interest of the property subject to collation shall not pertain to the estate except from the day on which the succession is opened. The donation is always presumed to be in fraud of creditors, when at the time thereof the donor did not reserve sufficient property to pay his debts prior to the donation. Art. 742. Article 21 may also be justified by the words of Eugen Huber, author of the Swiss Civil Code of 1907: “Moral law has in law such a penetrating and valuable significance that we cannot speak of positive law without referring to moral law. It is equally possible to consider law as included in morality.”. (997). (627), Art. (n), Art. Art. (772). (849), Art. By future property is understood anything which the donor cannot dispose of at the time of the donation. In the latter case, the legitime of the surviving spouse shall be that specified in the preceding paragraph. The dispositions of the testator declaring all or part of the estate inalienable for more than twenty years are void. Donations made to strangers shall be charged to that part of the estate of which the testator could have disposed by his last will. 1095. 935. 998. This article deals with the extinguishment of civil personality. (626a), Art. Legacies of money must be paid in cash, even though the heir or the estate may not have any. 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. 23. (656), Art. Art. A testator may charge with legacies and devises not only his compulsory heirs but also the legatees and devisees. This is a new provision taken from common law. (1969), Art. If the attestation clause is in a language not known to the witnesses, it shall be interpreted to them. But if the thing bequeathed, though not belonging to the testator when he made the will, afterwards becomes his, by whatever title, the disposition shall take effect. (1) When the parents have abandoned their children or induced their daughters to live a corrupt or immoral life, or attempted against their virtue; (2) When the parent or ascendant has been convicted of an attempt against the life of the testator, his or her spouse, descendants, or ascendants; (3) When the parent or ascendant has accused the testator of a crime for which the law prescribes imprisonment for six years or more, if the accusation has been found to be false; (4) When the parent or ascendant has been convicted of adultery or concubinage with the spouse of the testator; (5) When the parent or ascendant by fraud, violence, intimidation, or undue influence causes the testator to make a will or to change one already made; (6) The loss of parental authority for causes specified in this Code; (7) The refusal to support the children or descendants without justifiable cause; (8) An attempt by one of the parents against the life of the other, unless there has been a reconciliation between them. (639), Art. (821), Art. 1072. 1151. The acceptance or repudiation of an inheritance, once made, is irrevocable, and cannot be impugned, except when it was made through any of the causes that vitiate consent, or when an unknown will appears. (796), Art. Art. THE PHILIPPINE CIVIL CODE CHAPTER ON HUMAN RELATIONS AND CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES. (927), Art. (851a). If a person legally entitled to the estate of the deceased appears and files a claim thereto with the court within five years from the date the property was delivered to the State, such person shall be entitled to the possession of the same, or if sold the municipality or city shall be accountable to him for such part of the proceeds as may not have been lawfully spent. The preterition or omission of one, some, or all of the compulsory heirs in the direct line, whether living at the time of the execution of the will or born after the death of the testator, shall annul the institution of heir; but the devises and legacies shall be valid insofar as they are not inofficious. A will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of another country, which is executed in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which might be proved and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect as if executed according to the laws of the Philippines. If a credit should be assigned as collectible, the co-heirs shall not be liable for the subsequent insolvency of the debtor of the estate, but only for his insolvency at the time the partition is made. A collateral line is that constituted by the series of degrees among persons who are not ascendants and descendants, but who come from a common ancestor. (n), Art. Article 1733. 810. (791a). If the property is mortgaged, the donor may redeem the mortgage, by paying the amount guaranteed, with a right to recover the same from the donee. It is even postulated that together with Articles 19 and 20 of the Civil Code, Article 21 has greatly broadened the scope of the law on civil wrongs; it has become much more supple and adaptable than the Anglo-American law on torts.”. 1050. A revocation made in a subsequent will shall take effect, even if the new will should become inoperative by reason of the incapacity of the heirs, devisees or legatees designated therein, or by their renunciation. (981), Art. (785a), Art. 989. The excess, should there be any, shall in no case pertain to the renouncer, but shall be adjudicated to the persons to whom, in accordance with the rules established in this Code, it may belong. Degree of relationship in the succession until the arrival of the State or any of its execution condition upon... 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