Quick answer

An heir’s rights begin at the decedent’s death, but an heir does not automatically own a particular house, lot, bank account, or vehicle. Until the estate is settled and partitioned, the heirs generally own the net estate in common, subject first to the surviving spouse’s separate or marital-property share, valid debts, taxes, administration expenses, and any valid will.

Philippine law protects certain compulsory heirs through a reserved share called the legitime. A will cannot simply erase that share. If there is no valid will—or if the will does not dispose of the entire estate—the rules on intestate succession determine who inherits and how much.

The correct share depends on the complete family tree, the validity of marriages and adoptions, proof of filiation, the property regime of any marriage, lifetime donations, debts, and whether an heir died before or after the decedent. No percentage should be finalized from surnames or birth certificates alone.

What an heir is entitled to

Under Articles 774–777 of the Civil Code, succession transmits the decedent’s property, transmissible rights, and obligations from the moment of death. In practical terms, a lawful heir may have the right to:

Receive the share given by a valid will or by law.
Protect a compulsory share or legitime from impairment.
Be informed of and participate in the settlement and partition.
Ask the executor or administrator—and, when necessary, the court—for a proper inventory and accounting.
Object to concealed assets, unauthorized withdrawals, excessive expenses, invalid donations, forged documents, or an improper partition.
Demand partition, subject to valid restrictions and the payment of estate debts.
Accept or repudiate the inheritance.
Challenge a will, disinheritance, deed, or settlement on legally sufficient grounds.
Seek reimbursement or accounting for estate income, necessary expenses, and damage caused by a co-heir.
Redeem hereditary rights sold by a co-heir to a stranger within one month after written notice of the sale, under Article 1088.

An heir ordinarily answers for inherited obligations only to the extent of the value of the inheritance. A mortgage, lien, or other valid encumbrance may nevertheless remain attached to inherited property.

First determine what actually belongs to the estate

Inheritance percentages are applied to the hereditary estate, not automatically to everything associated with the deceased.

Liquidate the marital property first

If the decedent was married, determine the applicable property regime: absolute community, conjugal partnership of gains, complete separation, or a valid marriage-settlement arrangement. The surviving spouse’s own share is not an inheritance. It must be separated before the decedent’s net estate is divided.

The fact that a title or account was registered only in the decedent’s name does not always prove that it was exclusive property. The date and source of acquisition, marriage date, marriage settlements, and applicable presumptions must be examined.

Under Articles 103 and 130 of the Family Code, if no judicial estate proceeding is filed, the surviving spouse must liquidate the terminated community or conjugal partnership judicially or extrajudicially within six months from death. A later disposition or encumbrance involving unliquidated marital property may be void.

Deduct proper obligations and charges

The estate must account for valid debts, taxes, liens, administration expenses, and other allowable charges. Heirs should not divide the gross assets and leave one family member to absorb all liabilities.

Identify assets that may follow special rules

Insurance proceeds, retirement benefits, survivorship accounts, trust property, corporate interests, government benefits, and similar assets may be governed by a beneficiary designation, contract, charter, or special law. They do not necessarily follow the Civil Code’s ordinary distribution rules. The controlling policy, plan, account agreement, or statute must be checked.

Account for lifetime transfers

Certain donations or gratuitous transfers made during the decedent’s lifetime must be considered in computing legitimes and partition. A parent’s statement that a child “already received an advance” is not enough by itself; the documents, value, nature of the transfer, and rules on collation and reduction must be examined.

Who are compulsory heirs?

A compulsory heir is protected by a legitime when the decedent leaves a will. The principal classes under Articles 886–903 of the Civil Code are:

Legitimate children and descendants.
In their absence, legitimate parents and ascendants.
The surviving legal spouse.
Nonmarital children, whose filiation is duly proved.
In the limited situations specified by law, the father or mother of a nonmarital child.

The Civil Code uses the term “illegitimate child.” This article uses nonmarital child where possible, without changing the legal classification applied by the statutes.

Not everyone related to the decedent is a compulsory heir. Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, cousins, and unmarried partners have no legitime merely because of that relationship. They may inherit under a valid will or under intestate succession when the law calls them.

Rights of particular family members

Children

Children do not receive different shares because of sex, age, birth order, surname, employment, financial condition, or who cared for the parent. There is no automatic “eldest-child share.”

Legitimate children from different marriages stand in the same degree. A legally adopted child is considered a legitimate child of the adopter and has reciprocal succession rights without distinction from legitimate filiation under Sections 41–43 of Republic Act No. 11642.

An adoption generally severs legal ties to the biological parents, except in a stepparent adoption and other situations recognized by law. Testamentary provisions involving biological relatives still require case-specific analysis.

Nonmarital children

A nonmarital child is a compulsory heir of a parent once filiation is legally established. Under Article 176 of the Family Code, the child’s legitime is one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child, subject to the available portion of the estate and the rights of other compulsory heirs.

Using or not using the father’s surname is not conclusive by itself. Proof may involve the civil-registry record, a final judgment, an admission in a public document or private handwritten instrument, continuous possession of the status of a child, or other evidence allowed by the Rules of Court.

Deadlines for establishing filiation vary according to the child’s birth date and the type of evidence relied upon. Some claims based on secondary evidence must be brought during the alleged parent’s lifetime. This is an urgent reason to obtain legal advice rather than wait for the estate settlement.

Grandchildren and other descendants

A grandchild does not ordinarily inherit alongside a living parent who is nearer in degree. Representation may apply when the parent who would have inherited died before the decedent or became incapable of inheriting. Descendants divide by branch, or per stirpes, rather than simply counting all grandchildren equally.

A person who renounces an inheritance generally cannot be represented by that person’s children. The result differs when the parent died before the decedent.

In Aquino v. Aquino, the Supreme Court held that a nonmarital child may represent a deceased parent in inheriting from a direct ascendant such as a grandparent, regardless of the circumstances of birth. The claimant must still prove filiation. The ruling did not broadly resolve succession between all collateral relatives.

Surviving spouse

A surviving legal spouse is a compulsory heir. Separation in fact, even for many years, does not by itself dissolve the marriage or automatically remove inheritance rights.

A final judgment of legal separation and the spouse’s fault can affect succession. A void marriage, bigamous marriage, or claimed second marriage while a prior marriage remained valid may also change who qualifies as the surviving spouse.

An unmarried or common-law partner is not an automatic intestate heir merely because the couple lived together or had children. The partner may, however, have an independent ownership claim over property acquired through joint contributions under the Family Code, or may receive property through a valid will if no prohibition or legitime is violated.

Parents and ascendants

Legitimate parents or ascendants are secondary compulsory heirs: legitimate children or descendants generally exclude them. Different rules govern the parents of a nonmarital decedent.

Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and other relatives

Collateral relatives usually inherit only when there are no descendants, qualifying ascendants, nonmarital children, or surviving spouse, except that brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces may share with a surviving spouse in the combinations expressly provided by law.

Intestate succession does not extend beyond the fifth degree in the collateral line.

If there is a will: the legitime limits what may be given away

A will controls only within the limits allowed by law. A testator with compulsory heirs cannot freely give the entire estate to one favorite child, an unmarried partner, a charity, or a friend if doing so impairs legitimes.

The following are common minimum shares in testamentary succession. They are applied to the properly computed hereditary estate and are not an exhaustive table:

Compulsory heirs left by the testator	Common legitime allocation
Legitimate children only	One-half collectively, divided equally; the other half is generally disposable
One legitimate child and surviving spouse	Child: 1/2; spouse: 1/4; ordinarily 1/4 remains disposable
Two or more legitimate children and spouse	Children collectively: 1/2; spouse receives a share equal to the legitime of one legitimate child, taken from the disposable half
Legitimate parents or ascendants only	1/2 collectively; generally 1/2 disposable
Legitimate parents or ascendants and spouse	Ascendants: 1/2; spouse: 1/4; ordinarily 1/4 disposable
Nonmarital children only	1/2 collectively; generally 1/2 disposable
Surviving spouse and nonmarital children, with no other compulsory heirs	Spouse: 1/3; nonmarital children collectively: 1/3; 1/3 disposable
Surviving spouse alone	Generally 1/2, subject to the special rule for certain marriages in articulo mortis

Mixed combinations involving legitimate children, nonmarital children, and a surviving spouse require a more careful computation. The spouse’s legitime must be satisfied before the nonmarital children take from the remaining disposable portion, and the legitimate children’s collective legitime cannot be impaired.

Preterition is not the same as receiving too little

Preterition is the total omission of a compulsory heir in the direct line from a will, without that heir receiving anything by any title. Under Article 854, it can annul the institution of heirs, while valid devises and legacies remain effective to the extent they do not impair legitimes.

If an heir was mentioned or received something but less than the legitime, the ordinary remedy is generally completion of the legitime or reduction of excessive dispositions, not necessarily annulment of the whole will.

Disinheritance requires more than family conflict

A compulsory heir may be deprived of a legitime only for a cause expressly stated by law, through a will that specifies that cause. If the disinherited heir denies the allegation, the other heirs bear the burden of proving it.

Estrangement, disapproval of a marriage, failure to follow a preferred career, or a parent’s general statement that a child was “ungrateful” is not automatically sufficient. The conduct must fit a statutory cause, such as specified attempts against life, qualifying accusations, unjustified refusal of support, maltreatment, or another cause enumerated in Articles 919–921.

If there is no will: common intestate shares

The intestate rules in Articles 960–1014 of the Civil Code determine the heirs. The following table covers common combinations after marital-property liquidation, debts, and charges:

Surviving relatives	General intestate result
Legitimate children only	Entire net estate divided equally
One legitimate child and surviving spouse, with no nonmarital child	1/2 to the child and 1/2 to the spouse
Two or more legitimate children and spouse, with no nonmarital child	Spouse receives the same share as each child
Nonmarital children only, with no legitimate descendants or ascendants	Entire estate divided among them
Surviving spouse and nonmarital children only	1/2 to the spouse; 1/2 divided among the children
Legitimate parents or ascendants only	Entire estate to the parents or nearest qualifying ascendants
Legitimate ascendants and spouse	1/2 to the ascendants; 1/2 to the spouse
Legitimate ascendants and nonmarital children, without spouse	1/2 to each group
Legitimate ascendants, spouse, and nonmarital children	1/2 to ascendants; 1/4 to spouse; 1/4 to nonmarital children
Spouse and brothers, sisters, nephews, or nieces	1/2 to spouse; 1/2 to the qualifying collateral relatives
Spouse alone, with none of the relatives given concurrent rights by law	Entire estate to the spouse
Brothers and sisters only	Equal shares if all are full blood; when full- and half-blood siblings concur, a full-blood sibling receives twice a half-blood sibling’s share
No qualified private heir	The State succeeds, subject to the statutory procedure

When a surviving spouse, one legitimate child, and nonmarital children all concur, do not use the simple “same share as a legitimate child” shortcut. In Macalinao v. Macalinao, the Supreme Court allocated an intestate estate among one legitimate child, the surviving legal spouse, and two nonmarital children as follows: 1/2 to the legitimate child, 1/4 to the spouse, and 1/8 to each nonmarital child. Other numbers and combinations require their own computation.

Before partition, the heirs are co-owners of the estate

Article 1078 provides that, where there are two or more heirs, the entire estate is owned in common before partition, subject to the decedent’s debts.

This means:

No heir automatically owns the family house merely because that heir lives there.
A co-heir ordinarily cannot sell the entire property without the authority or participation required from the other owners.
A sale by one heir may cover only that heir’s undivided hereditary interest, not the specific portions belonging to others.
Rent, harvests, dividends, and other income received from estate property must be accounted for.
Necessary expenses and improvements may require reimbursement, while waste or damage may create liability.
Every co-heir may generally demand partition.
If property cannot be conveniently divided, it may be assigned to one heir who pays the others, or sold when the governing rules require or permit a sale.

A partition gives each heir exclusive ownership only of the property finally adjudicated to that heir.

How an estate is settled

1. Locate the will immediately

No will passes property unless it is proved and allowed by the proper court. Even a notarized will is not self-executing, and a handwritten holographic will still requires probate.

A custodian must deliver the will to the court or named executor within 20 days after learning of the testator’s death. A named executor generally has the same 20-day period to present the will and accept or refuse the trust under Rules 75 and 76 of the Rules of Court.

2. Identify every possible heir

Prepare a complete family tree covering:

All marriages and prior marriages.
Children from every relationship.
Legally adopted and legitimated children.
Children or descendants of any child who died earlier.
Surviving parents and ascendants.
Brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces where relevant.
Any pending or disputed filiation, adoption, annulment, nullity, or legal-separation issue.

Do not execute a self-adjudication merely because one claimant appears on the title or has physical possession of the property.

3. Inventory and secure the assets

List all real and personal property, estate income, liabilities, and documents. Preserve the original will, titles, tax declarations, bank and investment records, share certificates, loan documents, insurance policies, digital-asset access information, leases, receipts, and proof of ownership.

If an executor or administrator is appointed, the Rules of Court require an inventory and appraisal within three months after appointment.

4. Choose the proper settlement route

Extrajudicial settlement

Under Rule 74, an extrajudicial settlement may be used when:

The decedent left no will.
There are no outstanding debts.
All heirs are of age, or minors are represented by duly authorized judicial or legal representatives.
All heirs agree to the division.

The agreement must be in a public instrument. A sole heir may use an affidavit of self-adjudication. The instrument is filed with the Register of Deeds when real property is involved, and the settlement must be published in a newspaper of general circulation once a week for three consecutive weeks. A bond equal to the value of the personal property involved is required under the rule.

Publication does not cure the exclusion of an heir. Rule 74 expressly says that the settlement is not binding on a person who did not participate or had no notice.

Judicial settlement

Court proceedings are generally appropriate when:

There is a will.
The existence or amount of debts is uncertain.
The heirs disagree.
An heir was omitted or cannot be located.
Filiation, marriage, ownership, or capacity is disputed.
An administrator is needed to preserve, recover, lease, or sell assets.
A minor or incapacitated heir is not properly represented.
There are allegations of concealment, fraud, forgery, or waste.
The conditions for extrajudicial settlement are absent.

Venue is ordinarily the court for the place where the decedent resided at death; if the decedent was an inhabitant of another country, venue may lie where Philippine estate property is located. Under Republic Act No. 11576, first-level courts have probate jurisdiction where the estate does not exceed ₱2 million in gross value, while Regional Trial Courts have jurisdiction when it exceeds ₱2 million.

Rule 74 also retains a judicial summary-settlement procedure where the gross estate does not exceed ₱10,000. This old statutory threshold makes the procedure of limited practical use, but it remains the threshold stated in the rule.

5. Pay taxes and complete registration

For deaths on or after January 1, 2018, the estate tax is generally 6% of the net taxable estate, not 6% of each heir’s gross share. The law in force on the date of death governs; older estates may therefore be subject to earlier tax rules.

The estate-tax return is generally due within one year from death. A meritorious filing extension may be granted for no more than 30 days. A BIR-approved payment extension may reach five years for a judicially settled estate or two years for an extrajudicially settled estate when immediate payment would cause undue hardship. These extensions are not automatic.

An estate-tax return is required when the law’s filing conditions are met, including when the estate contains registered or registrable property requiring a Certificate Authorizing Registration. Returns showing a gross estate exceeding ₱5 million require the prescribed CPA-certified statement. Consult the current BIR estate-tax page and Revenue Regulations No. 12-2018 for forms, deductions, documents, and filing procedures.

Late filing or payment may result in a 25% surcharge, statutory interest, and applicable compromise penalties. Willful neglect or a fraudulent return may attract a 50% surcharge. The exact computation depends on the death date, taxpayer classification, filing history, and facts.

The estate-tax amnesty authorized by Republic Act No. 11956 ended on June 14, 2025. As of the source-check date below, unsettled estates that did not validly avail themselves of the amnesty must proceed under the applicable regular estate-tax rules.

After BIR clearance or eCAR, the heirs must comply with the relevant Registry of Deeds, local treasurer, corporate secretary, bank, LTO, or other registering agency requirements.

Important deadlines

Matter	General period
Liquidation of community or conjugal property when no judicial estate case is filed	Within 6 months from death
Delivery of a will by its custodian	Within 20 days after learning of the testator’s death
Presentation of the will by the named executor	Generally within 20 days after the required knowledge
Estate-tax return	Within 1 year from death
Possible BIR extension to file	Not more than 30 days, upon approval in a meritorious case
Executor’s or administrator’s inventory	Within 3 months after appointment
Creditor claims in judicial administration	The court fixes a period not shorter than 6 months and not longer than 12 months from first publication
Rule 74 claims against distributees or charged property	Generally within 2 years after the summary settlement and distribution
Special Rule 74 period for a person who remains a minor, mentally incapacitated, imprisoned, or outside the Philippines at the end of the two years	Within 1 year after the disability is removed
Redemption of hereditary rights sold to a stranger	Within 1 month from written notice of the sale

The two-year Rule 74 period is not a universal deadline for every omitted heir. An extrajudicial settlement is not binding on a person who did not participate or had no notice, and other remedies may have different prescriptive periods. Never assume that a claim is already lost—or still safely open—without reviewing possession, registration, notice, fraud, and the documents involved.

Evidence heirs should preserve

Keep originals where possible and make secure digital copies of:

PSA death, marriage, and birth certificates.
Adoption, legitimation, annulment, nullity, legal-separation, or filiation orders.
The original will, codicils, envelopes, and evidence of custody.
Marriage settlements and proof of the property regime.
Transfer certificates of title, condominium certificates, tax declarations, surveys, and deeds.
Bank, investment, pension, cooperative, and corporate records.
Insurance policies and beneficiary designations.
Vehicle registrations and loan documents.
Business records, contracts, receivables, and partnership documents.
Statements of account, mortgages, tax liabilities, and creditor demands.
Leases, rent receipts, crop or harvest records, and proof of estate income.
Documents for lifetime donations, advances, sales, or waivers.
Messages or letters concerning admissions of filiation, hidden property, threats, coercion, or proposed sales.
Proof of who paid taxes, repairs, funeral costs, debts, and preservation expenses.
Copies of every settlement draft, publication, acknowledgment, eCAR, and registration filing.

Do not alter the original will, add annotations to titles, fabricate receipts, or access protected accounts by misrepresenting that the account holder is alive.

Common mistakes

Dividing the gross property without first liquidating marital property and debts.
Treating a surviving spouse’s own property share as part of the spouse’s inheritance.
Excluding a child because the child uses another surname, lives abroad, is estranged, or was born outside marriage.
Assuming a grandchild inherits directly while the connecting parent is alive.
Assuming the eldest child, title holder, or person paying real-property tax owns the entire asset.
Using an affidavit of self-adjudication despite the existence of other heirs.
Believing newspaper publication makes an invalid settlement binding on an omitted heir.
Signing a waiver without an inventory, valuation, tax computation, or independent advice.
Renouncing a future inheritance while the owner is alive. A compromise or waiver of a future legitime is generally void.
Treating a renunciation in favor of a selected co-heir as a simple refusal. It may legally amount to acceptance followed by a transfer and may have tax consequences.
Selling a specific estate property before partition as though one co-heir exclusively owns it.
Withdrawing or distributing money before paying taxes and valid estate obligations.
Ignoring donations that may need collation or reduction.
Waiting for the family dispute to “settle itself” while tax, will-production, filiation, redemption, or court deadlines run.

When legal help is urgent

Consult a Philippine succession lawyer promptly if:

A property is being sold, mortgaged, transferred, or demolished without all necessary authority.
Someone has executed an affidavit of self-adjudication despite other heirs.
A will is being hidden, destroyed, altered, or withheld.
An heir was omitted from a settlement or title.
The one-month redemption period after written notice of a hereditary-rights sale is running.
The one-year estate-tax deadline or a Rule 74 period is near.
Filiation is disputed, especially while the alleged parent is still alive.
There is a minor, incapacitated, imprisoned, missing, or overseas heir.
There are competing spouses, a possible void marriage, or children from several relationships.
Estate funds, rent, crops, dividends, or business income are disappearing.
A waiver was signed through pressure, deception, or without understanding its effect.
The estate includes foreign property, foreign heirs, agrarian-reform land, Indigenous ancestral property, or a non-Filipino decedent.
Muslim personal law may apply. Succession among covered Muslims may be governed by the Code of Muslim Personal Laws, not solely by the Civil Code.

Qualified indigent parties may ask the Public Attorney’s Office about eligibility for legal assistance.

Frequently asked questions

Can a parent leave everything to only one child?

Not if other compulsory heirs survive and the gift impairs their legitimes. The favored child may receive that child’s legitime plus part or all of the disposable portion, but excessive dispositions may be reduced.

Can an heir be removed for not visiting or caring for a parent?

Not automatically. Disinheritance requires a statutory cause stated in a valid will and proved if disputed. Mere disappointment, estrangement, or sibling accusations do not by themselves satisfy the law.

Does a nonmarital child inherit from the father?

Yes, if filiation is legally established. The share depends on the other heirs. The child’s use of the father’s surname is neither always required nor conclusive.

Does an adopted child inherit equally?

A legally adopted child generally has the succession rights of a legitimate child of the adopter. The adoption order, date, type of adoption, and any rescission or stepparent arrangement should be checked.

Does a common-law partner inherit?

Not automatically under intestate succession. The partner may have a separate ownership claim based on proven contributions or may inherit through a valid will, subject to legitimes and legal prohibitions.

Can one heir sell the inherited house?

Before partition, one heir generally cannot sell the whole house as sole owner. The heir may attempt to transfer only an undivided hereditary interest, subject to the rights of co-heirs and the one-month redemption rule after written notice when the buyer is a stranger.

What happens if an heir dies while the estate is still unsettled?

If the heir survived the decedent, the hereditary right generally vested at the decedent’s death. That right then becomes part of the deceased heir’s own estate. This can create a second estate that must also be settled.

Can an heir refuse an inheritance?

Yes. Repudiation must be made in a public or authentic instrument or by a petition in the court handling the estate. It is generally irrevocable. A targeted waiver in favor of a particular person may instead be treated as an acceptance and transfer.

Is a notarized will already effective?

No. Every will must be proved and allowed in the proper court before it can pass property.

Can heirs settle without going to court?

Only when the conditions for an extrajudicial settlement are satisfied: no will, no outstanding debts, proper representation of minors, and agreement and participation of all heirs. Tax and registration requirements still apply.

Official legal sources

This is general Philippine legal information, not legal advice for a specific estate. Shares, remedies, and deadlines can change with facts and documents. Controlling sources and current government guidance were checked through August 5, 2026.