Inheritance Rights of Children from a Prior Marriage in the Philippines: Estate Succession Rules

Updated to reflect the Civil Code of the Philippines and the Family Code regime. This is general information, not legal advice.

1) Why this topic matters

Second (or later) marriages and blended families are common. When a parent dies, children from a prior marriage stand shoulder-to-shoulder with children of the current marriage in the line of heirs—yet their exact shares depend on (a) who else survives, (b) the marital property regime, and (c) whether there is a will. Understanding these rules helps families plan and prevent disputes.

2) Foundations of Philippine succession

Governing law. Succession is primarily governed by the Civil Code (Book III, Title IV) as amended by the Family Code. As a rule, the national law of the decedent governs succession (for Filipinos: Philippine law), though property relations between spouses and certain real-property issues can add layers.

Kinds of succession.

Testate (with a will): A will may distribute property but cannot impair legitimes (the minimum shares reserved by law for compulsory heirs).
Intestate (no will, or will ineffective in whole/part): The Code supplies the takers and their shares.

Key vocabulary.

Legitime: The portion of the estate that must go to compulsory heirs.
Free portion: What remains after setting aside legitimes; the testator may freely dispose of this (by will or lifetime donations, subject to collation/reduction).
Representation (per stirpes): Descendants of a predeceased child take that child’s place and divide that child’s share among themselves.

3) Who are compulsory heirs?

Compulsory heirs (relevant to this topic) include:

Legitimate children and other legitimate descendants (e.g., grandchildren by representation).
- Children from a prior valid marriage are legitimate as to their parent and inherit equally with legitimate children of any subsequent marriage.
Illegitimate children (those not considered legitimate or legitimated/adopted). They are compulsory heirs but with a reduced legitime (traditionally one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child).
Surviving spouse (of the decedent’s final valid marriage).
Legitimate parents/ascendants (only if the decedent leaves no descendants).

Adopted children are treated as legitimate for succession. Stepchildren (children of the spouse from another relationship, not adopted by the decedent) are not compulsory heirs of the decedent.

4) The property that forms the estate

Before computing shares, determine what is actually in the decedent’s estate:

Exclusive/Separate property of the decedent (owned solely).
Share in the spouses’ property regime:
- Absolute Community of Property (ACP) (default for many couples married since the Family Code): divide the community in half first. The surviving spouse keeps their 1/2; only the decedent’s 1/2 enters the estate.
- Conjugal Partnership of Gains (CPG) (common for marriages under the Civil Code or by pre-nup): after settling charges and net gains, split conjugal net assets 50–50; only the decedent’s share goes to the estate.
- Complete Separation of Property: no preliminary split; each owns what is theirs.
Deduct debts, expenses, and charges (funeral, last illness, estate taxes in practice, etc.) from the estate before computing legitimes.

5) Testate succession: legitimes when there are children from a prior marriage

The presence of legitimate children (including those from a prior marriage) is decisive.

5.1 If legitimate children survive (with or without a spouse)

Legitime of legitimate children/descendants: 1/2 of the estate, equally among them (per capita; per stirpes for representation).
Legitime of the surviving spouse (if any): equal to the legitime of one legitimate child.
Legitime of each illegitimate child: 1/2 of the legitime of a legitimate child.

The free portion must be large enough to cover the spouse’s legitime and the illegitimate children’s legitimes when there are legitimate children. If the testator’s dispositions/donations exceed what’s available, they are reduced to protect legitimes.

5.2 If no legitimate children, but illegitimate children survive

Illegitimate children collectively receive 1/2 of the estate as their legitime (divided equally).
Surviving spouse gets 1/3 (if concurrent only with illegitimate children).
The remainder is free portion.

5.3 If no descendants (legitimate or illegitimate)

Legitimate parents/ascendants and the surviving spouse become compulsory heirs with specific legitimes set by the Code.

Children from a prior marriage who are legitimate will always participate as legitimate descendants—they are not downgraded by the parent’s later marriage.

6) Intestate succession (no valid will)

When there is no will (or its institution of heirs is void/ineffective), order of intestacy:

Legitimate children and their descendants take the entire estate (subject to the spouse’s share) in equal parts.
- The surviving spouse shares as if another legitimate child (i.e., gets a portion equal to one child’s share) when concurring with legitimate children.
If no legitimate descendants, the order moves to legitimate parents/ascendants, then to illegitimate children, then to collateral relatives, with the spouse always having a defined share.

Key point for prior-marriage children: In intestacy, all legitimate children—whether of a first or second marriage—share equally, and the spouse takes the share of one child.

7) Worked examples (simplified)

Assumptions: ACP regime; debts settled; numbers show final estate (after splitting the community and paying debts). “LC” = legitimate child; “IC” = illegitimate child; “SS” = surviving spouse.

Example A: Two LCs from a prior marriage (A & B), one LC from the current marriage (C), and SS. Estate = ₱12,000,000.

Legitimate children’s legitime (1/2) = ₱6,000,000 → A, B, C get ₱2,000,000 each from this component? Careful: The ₱6,000,000 is divided equally among legitimate children: ₱2,000,000 each (A, B, C).
Spouse’s legitime = equal to one LC’s legitime = ₱2,000,000.
No illegitimate children: nothing reserved for them.
Used so far: ₱6,000,000 (LCs) + ₱2,000,000 (SS) = ₱8,000,000 → Free portion = ₱4,000,000 (disposable by will; if intestate, typically accrues pro-rata to heirs under Code rules).

If intestate, many practitioners allocate the whole estate so that SS and each LC end up equal shares. With 3 LCs + SS (4 “heads”), that’s ₱3,000,000 each. (This matches testate outcomes if the free portion falls in line with equality.)

Example B: One LC from prior marriage (A), one IC (D), and SS. Estate = ₱9,000,000.

Testate framework:

LC legitime (1/2) = ₱4,500,000 → A gets ₱4,500,000.
Spouse’s legitime = equal to one LC’s legitime share within the legitime framework. In practice, compute one LC’s legitime here as ₱4,500,000 (because there is only one LC). The spouse’s legitime is ₱4,500,000? That would exceed the estate, so we must use the orthodox method:

A cleaner operational approach used in practice for mixed families:

Determine number of legitimate children (n). The legitime portion for legitimate children is 1/2 of the estate, split among n. Here, n = 1 → A’s legitime = ₱4,500,000.
The spouse’s legitime equals one LC’s legitime share (i.e., ₱4,500,000) but sourced from the free portion.
Illegitimate child’s legitime = 1/2 of a legitimate child’s legitime share = ₱2,250,000, also from the free portion.

Now check the free portion: ₱9,000,000 − ₱4,500,000 (A’s legitime) = ₱4,500,000. The free portion must cover SS’s ₱4,500,000 and D’s ₱2,250,000 → ₱6,750,000 needed, but only ₱4,500,000 available.

Result: Reduction (pro-rata) of the spouse’s and the IC’s claims to the free portion until the free portion is exactly exhausted. One common way:

Reserve A’s ₱4,500,000 intact (cannot be impaired).
Allocate the ₱4,500,000 free portion between SS and D pro-rata to their theoretical legitimes (4.5M : 2.25M = 2 : 1).
- SS gets ₱3,000,000 from the free portion.
- D gets ₱1,500,000 from the free portion.

Final: A = ₱4,500,000; SS = ₱3,000,000; D = ₱1,500,000. (With a will that tried to give more to SS or D, the excess would be reduced to these minimums.)

Takeaway: when legitimate children exist, illegitimate children and the spouse are paid from the free portion, which can force reductions if the free portion is insufficient.

8) Representation, preterition, disinheritance

Representation (per stirpes): If a legitimate child (say, a child from the first marriage) predeceases the parent, that child’s descendants (grandchildren) step into his/her shoes for both testate legitime and intestacy purposes.
Preterition: Total omission of a compulsory heir in the direct line (e.g., forgetting a child from a prior marriage) annuls the institution of heirs in the will to the extent of the preterited heir’s legitime, often reshaping the distribution.
Disinheritance: Children (legitimate or illegitimate) may be disinherited only for legal causes expressly stated in the Code, and these must be specifically set out in the will; otherwise, the disinheritance fails.

9) Lifetime transfers: collation and reduction

Collation: Gifts (donations inter vivos) to compulsory heirs are generally brought into the mass to compute legitimes, unless expressly exempted (and even then, cannot prejudice legitimes).
Reduction: If a will or lifetime gifts impair legitimes, the excessive dispositions are reduced in a statutory order of preference until compulsory shares are restored.

10) Special topics that often affect prior-marriage children

Reserva troncal (Art. 891): Property received by a descendant from an ascendant (or from a sibling by right of representation) by gratuitous title, and then passing back upon the descendant’s death without issue, may be reserved for relatives within the third degree of the line from which the property came. This can divert assets away from the general pool.
Status of children
- Legitimated (by subsequent valid marriage of the parents) and adopted children are treated as legitimate for succession.
- Children born during a valid marriage are presumed legitimate.
- Children of a void marriage are generally illegitimate, subject to specific statutory presumptions and jurisprudential nuances. Proof of filiation matters.
Half-blood vs full-blood: Distinctions apply to collateral relatives (e.g., siblings) in intestacy; among descendants, all legitimate children share equally regardless of being half-siblings from different marriages.
Foreign elements: If the decedent or assets have a foreign connection (nationality, domicile, foreign realty), conflict-of-laws rules and mandatory Philippine provisions (e.g., legitimes for Filipino decedents) may interact in complex ways.

11) Practical checklist for families and counsel

Confirm marital property regime (ACP, CPG, separation) and carve out the surviving spouse’s property-regime share before anything else.
Assemble the family tree: list all children (prior and current marriages), note who survived, and identify any representatives (grandchildren of a predeceased child).
Categorize heirs: legitimate, illegitimate, adopted, spouse.
Identify lifetime gifts to heirs and third parties for collation.
Compute legitimes → check if the free portion covers the spouse and any illegitimate children; if not, apply reduction.
Scan for preterition/disinheritance issues in any will.
Document proofs of filiation (civil registry records, acknowledgment, adoption decrees).
Consider tax and compliance (estate tax returns, BIR deadlines and requirements, valuations).
Anticipate special rules (e.g., reserva troncal) that may ring-fence certain assets.

12) Frequently asked questions

Q1: Do children from a prior marriage get less than children of the current marriage? No. If they are legitimate as to the decedent, they are equals—same legitime and the same intestate share.

Q2: Can a will disinherit a child from a prior marriage simply because the parent remarried? No. Disinheritance requires statutory grounds expressly stated in the will. Otherwise, the child’s legitime must still be given.

Q3: Where do illegitimate children fit when there are legitimate children? They are compulsory heirs with reduced legitimes (commonly expressed as ½ of a legitimate child’s legitime) and are satisfied from the free portion, which can cause proportional reductions if the free portion is insufficient.

Q4: What if the prior marriage was annulled or void? Are the children illegitimate? Annulment does not affect the legitimacy of children conceived/born during a valid marriage. For void marriages, children are generally illegitimate (with nuances), unless otherwise legitimated/adopted; always examine the facts and documents.

Q5: If a child from a prior marriage dies before the parent, do that child’s kids inherit? Yes. They represent their parent per stirpes and take the parent’s share collectively.

13) Planning pointers (to reduce conflict)

Make a will that respects legitime arithmetic and clearly lists heirs (including prior-marriage children).
Avoid lopsided lifetime donations that might later be collated and reduced, igniting disputes.
Use insurance, trusts, or usufruct arrangements (where appropriate and valid under Philippine law) to meet obligations to a current spouse while still respecting legitimes of prior-marriage children.
Keep records (titles, receipts for improvements, donation deeds, adoption decrees, birth and marriage certificates).
When blended families are involved, model the numbers early with counsel.

14) Bottom line

Children from a prior marriage, if legitimate, have the same standing and equal shares with legitimate children of any later marriage. The surviving spouse and any illegitimate children also have mandatory minimums, but when legitimate children exist, the spouse and illegitimate children are usually satisfied from the free portion, sometimes requiring pro-rata reductions. Correctly identifying what’s in the estate, who the heirs are, and how legitimes interact prevents costly conflicts.

If you want, share your family setup and rough asset figures (and the marriage property regime). I can walk through your exact scenario and produce a clean distribution table you can discuss with counsel.