Quick answer

An heir’s right begins at the decedent’s death, but this does not mean an heir immediately owns a particular house, lot, vehicle, or bank account. Until lawful settlement and partition, the heirs generally hold the net estate in common, subject to the decedent’s debts, taxes, expenses, the surviving spouse’s separate property rights, and any valid will.

A person may inherit:

Under a valid will;
By compulsory succession through a protected legitime;
By intestate succession when there is no effective will or the will does not cover the entire estate; or
Through a combination of these rules.

A will cannot simply erase the legitime of a compulsory heir. Conversely, being a relative does not always make someone a compulsory heir. The exact result depends on the family tree, validity of marriages, proof of filiation, adoption records, property regime, date of death, debts, prior donations, and contents and validity of any will. These principles come primarily from the Civil Code provisions on succession.

First determine what is actually part of the estate

Inheritance is computed from the decedent’s net hereditary estate, not automatically from everything the family informally calls “property of the deceased.”

The estate ordinarily includes property, rights, and obligations that were not extinguished by death. Rights to succession are transmitted from the moment of death, but debts must still be settled before final distribution.

Before calculating anyone’s share:

Identify the decedent’s exclusive property.
Determine whether property was absolute community, conjugal partnership, co-owned, or separately owned.
Liquidate the spouses’ property regime.
Separate the surviving spouse’s own share.
Identify valid debts, mortgages, taxes, and settlement expenses.
Determine whether insurance, retirement benefits, trust property, or contractual death benefits pass directly to named or statutory beneficiaries rather than through the estate.
Add prior donations that must legally be brought into the legitime computation or collation.

For example, the surviving spouse’s share in net community or conjugal property is a property right, not an inheritance. The spouse may then inherit separately from the portion belonging to the deceased. The Family Code requires community or conjugal property to be inventoried and liquidated when a marriage ends by death.

The applicable marriage settlement and property regime can materially change the calculation. In the absence of a valid marriage settlement, absolute community generally governs marriages celebrated under the Family Code, subject to its exclusions and transitional rules.

Who are compulsory heirs?

A compulsory heir is entitled to a minimum reserved portion called the legitime. Under Articles 886 and 887 of the Civil Code, read with the Family Code and later adoption laws, compulsory heirs may include:

Legitimate and legitimated children and, in proper cases, their descendants;
Legally adopted children, who are treated as legitimate children of their adopters;
Legitimate parents or other legitimate ascendants, generally in default of legitimate children or descendants;
The surviving legal spouse; and
Nonmarital children—called “illegitimate children” in the statutory text—whose filiation is duly proved.

An adopted child is considered the adopter’s legitimate child for all intents and purposes, and the adopters and adoptee have reciprocal succession rights without distinction from legitimate filiation under Sections 41 and 43 of the Domestic Administrative Adoption and Alternative Child Care Act.

Grandchildren do not automatically receive a separate share when their parent—the decedent’s child—is alive, qualified, and inheriting. They commonly inherit by representation when the person they represent predeceased the decedent or was legally incapable of inheriting. Representation is by family branch, or per stirpes, rather than by simply counting every grandchild equally.

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 marital status of the parent or child. Filiation must still be proved. The decision does not abolish every statutory restriction involving collateral relatives. See the Supreme Court’s December 7, 2021 decision.

Children born outside marriage have inheritance rights

A nonmarital child is a compulsory heir of the child’s parents if filiation is duly established. Article 176 of the Family Code, as amended, provides that the legitime of each nonmarital child is one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child.

That “one-half” rule is not always a complete estate calculation. When legitimate children, several nonmarital children, and a surviving spouse inherit together, the law first protects the legitimes of the legitimate children and surviving spouse. Statutory limits may reduce what remains available to the nonmarital children. The Supreme Court explained this order of computation in Macalinao v. Macalinao, G.R. No. 250613, April 3, 2024.

Filiation may be proved through a civil-registry birth record, final judgment, admission in a public document, or a private handwritten instrument signed by the parent. In the absence of these, open and continuous possession of the status of a child and other evidence allowed by law may be relevant. Articles 172 and 175 of the Family Code govern this issue.

The surname used by a child does not, by itself, finally determine inheritance rights. Because actions involving filiation may be subject to fact-specific time limits, a person whose parentage is disputed should obtain legal advice promptly.

Rights of the surviving spouse

The surviving legal spouse is generally a compulsory heir and may also inherit in intestacy. Separation in fact does not by itself dissolve a marriage or automatically remove inheritance rights.

Important exceptions include:

A person in a void or bigamous marriage is generally not the legal surviving spouse.
A spouse who gave cause for a judicial decree of legal separation may lose intestate succession rights under Article 1002 of the Civil Code.
Other consequences may arise from annulment, declaration of nullity, legal separation, bad faith, or forfeiture provisions under the Family Code.

An unmarried or common-law partner is not automatically a surviving spouse or intestate heir. That partner may nevertheless own a proven share of co-owned property under Articles 147 or 148 of the Family Code, may be a valid contractual beneficiary, or may receive property under a valid will to the extent permitted by law.

If there is a will

A will controls only to the extent that it is valid and does not impair compulsory heirs’ legitimes.

A compulsory heir who receives less than the required legitime may demand completion of the share. Excessive testamentary gifts or lifetime donations may be reduced when necessary to restore legitimes.

A will must satisfy strict formalities

A Philippine notarial will generally must be:

In writing and in a language or dialect known to the testator;
Signed at the end by the testator or by another person in the testator’s presence and under express direction;
Attested and signed by at least three credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and one another;
Signed and paginated as required by law; and
Acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and witnesses.

A holographic will must be entirely written, dated, and signed in the testator’s own handwriting. Alterations require proper authentication. A typed document signed only by the testator is not a valid holographic will.

Special requirements apply when the testator is blind, deaf, or unable to read. Wills made abroad may be governed by additional conflict-of-laws rules. The relevant requirements appear in Articles 804–819 of the Civil Code.

Probate is still required

No will passes property unless it is proved and allowed by the proper court. A person holding the will must deliver it to the court with jurisdiction or to the named executor within 20 days after learning of the testator’s death. A named executor has a corresponding 20-day duty to present the will and accept or refuse the trust, unless it has already reached the court. See Rules 75 and 76 of the Rules of Court on special proceedings.

Disinheritance requires more than family conflict

A compulsory heir may be disinherited only:

Through a valid will;
For a cause expressly recognized by law; and
With the legal cause stated in the will.

If the disinherited heir denies the stated cause, the heirs relying on the disinheritance bear the burden of proving it. Estrangement, personal dislike, a verbal declaration, or an unsigned family note is not enough unless the facts satisfy a statutory ground and the required will formalities.

Complete omission of a compulsory heir in the direct line may constitute preterition, which can annul the institution of heirs while preserving valid devises and legacies to the extent they do not impair legitimes. This is different from intentionally naming an heir but leaving an insufficient share.

If there is no valid will

Intestate succession applies when a person dies without a will, the will is void or ineffective, the will covers only part of the estate, or an instituted heir cannot inherit and no other mechanism fills the vacancy.

The following are common patterns for the net hereditary estate, after property-regime liquidation and payment of debts:

Surviving heirs	General intestate result
Legitimate children only	They inherit in equal shares, subject to representation by descendants of a predeceased or disqualified child.
Legitimate children and surviving spouse	The spouse generally receives the same share as each legitimate child.
Nonmarital children only, with no legitimate descendants or ascendants	They inherit the estate in equal shares, subject to representation where proper.
Surviving spouse and nonmarital children	The spouse receives one-half; the nonmarital children collectively receive the other half.
Legitimate ascendants and surviving spouse	The ascendants collectively receive one-half; the spouse receives one-half.
Legitimate ascendants and nonmarital children	Each class collectively receives one-half.
Legitimate ascendants, spouse, and nonmarital children	Ascendants receive one-half, the spouse one-fourth, and the nonmarital children collectively one-fourth.
Surviving spouse and siblings or children of siblings	The spouse receives one-half; the siblings and qualifying nephews or nieces collectively receive one-half.
Surviving spouse alone, with no descendants, ascendants, nonmarital children, siblings, nephews, or nieces	The spouse inherits the whole estate.
No qualified relatives or spouse	The estate may eventually pass to the State through the required escheat process.

These are general patterns, not a substitute for an actual computation. When legitimate children, nonmarital children, and a spouse all concur, simple division by head can impair protected legitimes. The formula depends on the number and classes of heirs.

Brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and other collateral relatives are not compulsory heirs merely because they are close family. They may inherit by intestacy only when higher-priority heirs are absent and within the statutory degree. Full-blood and half-blood siblings can receive different proportions when they inherit together.

There is no rule giving a larger share merely because an heir is male, the eldest child, lives in the family home, paid for the funeral, or cared for the parent. Proven advances, donations, expenses, ownership contributions, or enforceable claims may affect the accounting, but they do not create an automatic “eldest child” preference.

Heirs do not immediately own specific assets

Before partition, two or more heirs generally co-own the whole estate, subject to its debts. An heir therefore cannot unilaterally claim that a particular room, field, vehicle, or bank account is already exclusively theirs.

An heir may transfer their undivided hereditary rights, but cannot validly sell the other heirs’ shares. If an heir sells hereditary rights to a stranger before partition, the other co-heirs may have a statutory right to substitute themselves for the buyer by reimbursing the price within one month from written notice of the sale, under Article 1088 of the Civil Code.

Every co-heir may generally demand partition. Exceptions include a valid prohibition by the testator for a period not exceeding 20 years and protections applicable to the family home. Under Article 159 of the Family Code, the family home may continue for 10 years after death or for as long as there is a minor beneficiary, unless a court finds compelling reasons for partition.

How an estate is settled

Extrajudicial settlement

An extrajudicial settlement under Rule 74 is generally available only when:

The decedent left no will;
The estate has no outstanding debts;
All heirs are of age, or minors are properly represented by judicial or legal representatives duly authorized for the purpose; and
The heirs can validly execute the required settlement.

All heirs must be included. The settlement is made through a public instrument and filed with the Register of Deeds when registration is required. If there is only one heir, that heir may use an affidavit of self-adjudication.

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 also required under the Rule. Publication does not make an extrajudicial settlement binding on an heir or other person who did not participate and had no notice.

Rule 74 provides a two-year remedy against distributees, the bond, and estate property for certain omitted claims, with an additional period for specified disabilities. That two-year provision is not a safe basis for assuming that every omitted heir’s claim automatically disappears. Prescription can depend on fraud, notice, registration, possession, the remedy sought, minority or incapacity, and other facts.

Judicial settlement

Court proceedings are ordinarily appropriate when:

There is a will requiring probate;
The heirs dispute heirship, filiation, marriage validity, ownership, shares, or the will;
Debts or creditor claims remain;
An executor or administrator is needed;
Estate property must be preserved or sold under court authority;
A minor or incapacitated person’s interest requires protection; or
The heirs cannot agree on partition.

For a decedent who resided in the Philippines, proceedings are generally brought before the proper Regional Trial Court in the province or city of the decedent’s residence at death. For a nonresident decedent, venue may be based on the location of Philippine estate property. Jurisdiction and venue should be checked against the current law and the facts before filing.

Estate tax and transfer requirements

Inheritance rights and estate-tax compliance are separate but connected. An heir may be legally entitled to a share while being unable to transfer registered property until tax and registration requirements are completed.

For deaths covered by the TRAIN-era estate-tax rules:

The estate tax is generally 6% of the net taxable estate.
The estate-tax return is generally due within one year from death.
A reasonable filing extension of up to 30 days may be granted in meritorious cases.
Payment extensions may be available for undue hardship—up to five years for judicial settlement or two years for extrajudicial settlement—subject to BIR approval and conditions.
A return is required when the estate includes registered or registrable property requiring a Certificate Authorizing Registration, regardless of gross value.
A return with a gross estate exceeding ₱5 million must include the required CPA-certified statement.

A resident estate generally registers, files BIR Form 1801, and pays through the Revenue District Office with jurisdiction over the decedent’s domicile, using the applicable Authorized Agent Bank, RDO, or Revenue Collection Officer procedures. Nonresident estates follow special RDO rules. Current requirements and checklists should be confirmed through the BIR estate-tax page and the relevant RDO. The controlling post-TRAIN rules are in Revenue Regulations No. 12-2018.

The estate-tax amnesty application period authorized by Republic Act No. 11956 has closed. That law set the availment period through June 14, 2025. A 2026 BIR clarification addresses timely amnesty applications, proof of settlement, undeclared properties, and approved installment arrangements; it did not create a new general amnesty application period.

The law in force on the date of death normally determines the estate-tax rate, deductions, and substantive tax treatment. Older estates should not automatically be computed using rules applicable to a recent death.

Practical steps for heirs

Secure civil-status documents. Obtain the death certificate and relevant birth, marriage, adoption, annulment, legal-separation, and death records.
Locate and preserve the original will. Do not alter, staple, mark, tear, or rewrite it. Observe the 20-day delivery requirement.
Prepare a complete family tree. Include children from every relationship, adopted children, predeceased children and their descendants, parents, spouses, and prior marriages.
Inventory property and liabilities. Include land, condominium units, vehicles, shares, businesses, digital assets, receivables, bank accounts, loans, mortgages, unpaid taxes, and property held abroad.
Determine ownership before death. Obtain titles, tax declarations, deeds, marriage settlements, loan records, bank documents, corporate records, and proof of each person’s contribution.
Check beneficiary arrangements. Review insurance policies, retirement plans, employment benefits, trusts, and account contracts instead of assuming every payment belongs to the estate.
Preserve and account for estate income. Keep records of rent, harvests, dividends, withdrawals, repairs, taxes, and expenses received or paid after death.
Choose the lawful settlement route. Use probate or judicial settlement where required. Use an extrajudicial settlement only when Rule 74’s conditions are genuinely satisfied.
File estate-tax documents on time. Coordinate early with the proper BIR RDO, particularly when land, vehicles, shares, or bank assets require an eCAR.
Transfer and partition only after authority is established. Register deeds, court orders, eCARs, and transfers with the appropriate Registry of Deeds, bank, corporation, LTO, or other institution.

Evidence worth preserving

Keep originals or authenticated copies of:

PSA and local civil-registry certificates;
Adoption orders or certificates;
The original will and prior wills or codicils;
Land titles, tax declarations, deeds, surveys, and property-tax receipts;
Marriage settlements and property-regime records;
Bank statements and transaction histories around the date of death;
Insurance, pension, employment, and beneficiary documents;
Corporate stock records and business financial statements;
Loan agreements, mortgages, promissory notes, and creditor demands;
Proof of funeral, preservation, repair, tax, and administration expenses;
Records of lifetime donations or advances to heirs;
Rent, harvest, dividend, and sale records after death;
Messages or documents relevant to acknowledgment of filiation, concealment of heirs, undue influence, fraud, or unauthorized sales; and
Copies of every settlement deed, affidavit, publication, court filing, tax return, eCAR, and title annotation.

Create a written inventory and avoid surrendering the only original document without receiving a proper acknowledgment.

Common mistakes

Dividing the entire family property without first separating the surviving spouse’s own share;
Treating possession of a house or title as proof of exclusive inheritance;
Omitting a nonmarital or adopted child;
Assuming that publication cures the deliberate exclusion of a known heir;
Signing a waiver, sale, or extrajudicial settlement without an inventory and share computation;
Using an affidavit of self-adjudication when more than one heir exists;
Distributing assets before paying valid debts and taxes;
Treating an informal letter, video, text message, or typed document as a valid will;
Ignoring prior donations that may affect legitimes;
Assuming a common-law partner is a legal spouse;
Using current estate-tax rules for a person who died under an older tax law;
Relying on the expired estate-tax amnesty; and
Waiting until property has been sold, transferred, mortgaged, or occupied adversely before seeking advice.

When legal help is urgent

Consult a Philippine succession lawyer promptly if:

Someone is withholding, destroying, or altering a will;
The 20-day will-delivery period is running;
The one-year estate-tax filing deadline is approaching;
An heir has been omitted from an extrajudicial settlement;
Someone executed a false affidavit of sole heirship;
Estate land is being sold, mortgaged, subdivided, or retitled without consent;
Money is being withdrawn or rental income concealed;
Filiation, adoption, or the validity of a marriage is disputed;
There are children from multiple relationships or marriages;
A compulsory heir was disinherited or completely omitted from a will;
The decedent or property has foreign connections;
The decedent was a Muslim whose succession may be governed by the Code of Muslim Personal Laws;
A creditor, government office, bank, or buyer has imposed a deadline; or
A court summons, notice, assessment, or adverse title annotation has been received.

Qualified indigent persons may ask the Public Attorney’s Office about free assistance. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines also maintains legal-aid contact information.

Frequently asked questions

Can a parent leave everything to only one child?

Not if doing so impairs another compulsory heir’s legitime. A preferred child may receive the disposable portion in addition to that child’s own legitime, but excessive testamentary gifts or lifetime donations may be reduced.

Can a parent give away property during life to defeat an heir?

A genuine lifetime transfer is not automatically invalid. However, donations are considered when computing legitimes and may be reduced after death if they exceed the disposable portion. Sham sales, simulated transfers, fraud, lack of capacity, and transfers of property the donor did not exclusively own may also be challenged on the proper evidence.

Does a nonmarital child inherit from the father?

Yes, if filiation is duly proved. The child is a compulsory heir of the father, although the share and proof requirements differ from those applicable to a legitimate or adopted child.

Does the eldest child receive a larger share?

No. Philippine succession law does not generally grant a larger share based on age, sex, residence in the family home, or being the family representative.

Can a common-law partner inherit?

Not automatically through intestacy as a surviving spouse. The partner may have an ownership claim over co-owned property, may be a contractual beneficiary, or may receive part of the disposable portion under a valid will, subject to legal prohibitions and compulsory heirs’ legitimes.

Does an heir inherit the deceased’s debts?

The inheritance includes transmissible obligations only to the extent of the value of the inheritance. Creditors are paid from the estate before distribution. Heirs should nevertheless avoid personally assuming or guaranteeing debts without understanding the document they are signing.

Can one heir sell the inherited house?

Before partition, one heir generally cannot sell the other heirs’ undivided interests. The heir may transfer only their own hereditary rights, subject to the rights of co-heirs and the consequences of selling to a stranger.

Can an heir refuse an inheritance?

Yes. Repudiation is voluntary but must be made in a public or authentic instrument or through a petition in the court handling the estate. A parent or guardian generally needs judicial authorization to repudiate an inheritance for a minor or ward. A renunciation “in favor of” a particular person may legally operate as an acceptance followed by a transfer and may have tax consequences.

Is there one deadline for claiming an inheritance?

No. Different deadlines may apply to probate duties, estate tax, Rule 74 remedies, filiation, rescission, fraud, reconveyance, incapacity, creditor claims, and other actions. The correct period depends on the remedy and when notice, possession, registration, fraud, or disability occurred.

Do Philippine rules apply when the decedent or property is abroad?

Not always exclusively. Under Article 16 of the Civil Code, the decedent’s national law generally governs the order and amount of succession and the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, while property location, will formalities, tax, probate, and recognition rules may involve another country’s law. Cross-border estates require coordinated advice in each relevant jurisdiction.

Official legal sources

This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific estate. Shares and remedies should be verified against the complete documents and facts by a Philippine lawyer and, where appropriate, the BIR or relevant court. Laws and official guidance were checked as of August 1, 2026.