Inheritance Rights of Parents and Illegitimate Children in the Philippines
Everything a practitioner or heir needs to know, updated to 17 April 2025

Executive Summary

Under Philippine law, both parents and illegitimate children are compulsory heirs. Their shares are fixed by statute and may not be impaired by will, donation, or any other act inter vivos or mortis causa. The governing framework is found chiefly in:

Civil Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 386, in force 30 Aug 1950) – Arts. 960‑1105 on succession; Arts. 887‑904 & 970‑991 on legitimes.
Family Code of the Philippines (Executive Order 209, effective 03 Aug 1988) – Arts. 163‑182 (parents), 172‑175 (proof of filiation), 176 (status and legitime of illegitimate children).
Special statutes – e.g., RA 9858 (2009) on legitimation of children born to parents later married; RA 11222 (2019) on simulated birth rectification; TRAIN Law (RA 10963, 2018) on estate tax.
Rules of Court, Part II, Rules 73‑91 on settlement of estates.
2025 jurisprudence affirms the statutory scheme and repeatedly upholds the “Article 992 barrier” between legitimate and illegitimate relatives in collateral lines.

I. Basic Concepts in Philippine Succession

Term	Core idea
Compulsory heirs	Persons who cannot be deprived of their legitime (a reserved portion of the estate). They include legitimate children & descendants, legitimate parents & ascendants, surviving spouse, acknowledged natural children and other illegitimate children, and, in some instances, the state.
Legitime	The fixed share set by law (Arts. 886‑905, Civil Code). If the estate is insufficient, voluntary heirs are reduced; if still insufficient, even compulsory heirs of subsequent order may be reduced or excluded.
Intestate succession	Succession without a will or to the free portion when the legitime has exhausted the estate (Arts. 961‑1016).
Representation	Legal fiction allowing descendants to inherit in the place of a pre‑deceased or incapacitated heir (Arts. 970‑984). Representation in the illegitimate line is highly restricted.

II. Illegitimate Children

1. Definition and classification

Since 03 Aug 1988 the Family Code abolished the old sub‑classes (natural, spurious, adulterous) and treats all illegitimate children the same. The only remaining subclass is the natural child by legal fiction (Arts. 167‑171), who is treated as legitimate for support and legitimation but not for succession.

2. Proof of filiation (Arts. 172‑175, Family Code)

An illegitimate child must establish filiation to inherit:

Voluntary acknowledgment – record of birth, baptismal certificate, notarized admission, or a child’s continuous and uncontradicted possession of status.
Judicial action – filed within the child’s lifetime and, if based on voluntary or written acknowledgment, within 10 years from the alleged parent’s death.
DNA evidence – accepted as “other means allowed by special laws” (Rule 128, Rules of Court; Herrera v. Alfonso, 2022).

3. Their legitime (Art. 895, Civil Code; Art. 176, Family Code)

“The legitime of each illegitimate child shall be one‑half of the share of a legitimate child.”

If the estate consists only of illegitimate children, they divide the estate equally.
If legitimate children exist, the aggregate share of all illegitimate children can never exceed that proportion, no matter how many there are.

4. Successory barriers

Article 992 barrier – An illegitimate child cannot inherit ab intestato from the legitimate relatives of his parents (grandparents, half‑sibling, uncle, etc.) and vice versa.
*The Supreme Court has reaffirmed this as late as Heirs of Malate v. Gamboa, G.R. 207870 (08 Sept 2021), holding that only Congress may liberalise the barrier.*
No right of representation beyond parents – An illegitimate grandchild may represent only another illegitimate child; he cannot represent a legitimate child.

5. Modes of converting or improving their status

Mode	Effect on succession
Legitimation (Arts. 177‑182, FC; RA 9858) – Parents marry each other after the child’s birth and have no legal impediment at time of birth	Child becomes legitimate ab initio; inherits as a legitimate child.
Adoption (RA 11642, 2022 Domestic Administrative Adoption Act)	Adopted child becomes legitimate for all intents, including succession. The relationship to his biological family remains for intestate succession unless expressly severed.
Recognition in will or public document	Enables child to claim his half‑share legitime but does not increase it.

III. Rights of Parents and Ascendants

1. Legitimate parents and grandparents (Arts. 887‑891, 906)

They are primary compulsory heirs only when the decedent leaves no legitimate descendant.
Legitime – ½ of the net estate, always in full ownership.
Concurrence with the surviving spouse – each gets ¼ legitime, leaving ½ as free portion.
They are excluded if there is at least one legitimate child or descendant (Art. 887).

2. Illegitimate parents (Arts. 903‑904, Civil Code)

Scenario	Share of surviving parent(s)
Only one illegitimate parent survives	½ of the estate; the other half goes to illegitimate children (if any) or escheats to the State.
Both illegitimate parents survive	They inherit in equal portions, per stirpes.
Illegitimate child is survived by spouse/legitimate descendants	Illegitimate parents are excluded (Art. 903).

Note: Parents who abandoned or were convicted of specified crimes against the child may be disqualified under Arts. 1027‑1032.

3. The Article 992 barrier applies in reverse

Legitimate grandparents cannot succeed illegitimate grandchildren and vice versa. The only vertical path open is between the illegitimate child and his own parent(s).

IV. Concurrence Scenarios

Situation	Distribution of legitimes
Decedent leaves: spouse + 1 legitimate child + 2 illegitimate children	Legitimate child = ½ estate; Spouse = ¼; Two illegitimate children share ¼ (⅛ each).
Decedent (illegitimate) leaves: both parents	Father = ½; Mother = ½.
Decedent leaves: legitimate parents + 3 illegitimate children (no spouse)	Parents take ½; Illegitimate children share ½ (1/6 each).
Decedent leaves: spouse + legitimate parents + illegitimate parents	Legitimate parents and spouse concur; illegitimate parents are excluded.

V. Procedural & Practical Considerations

Settlement avenue –
- Extrajudicial: allowed if no will and all heirs are of age or represented (Rule 74).
- Judicial: compulsory if a will is involved, a minor heir exists, or heirs cannot agree.
Notice to BIR – Estate tax return within one year from death (Sec. 90, NIRC as amended by TRAIN). A flat 6 % estate tax now applies to the net estate; the legitime is not taxed separately but affects the valuation.
Action to claim legitime – prescribes 10 years from settlement of estate (Art. 1144, Civil Code) or 4 years from discovery of preterition (Art. 1391 on rescission).
Preservation of right during settlement – File a Notice of Claim or move for intervention; failure may bar the heir by laches, not statute, but courts are liberal for compulsory heirs.
Guardian ad litem – Minors’ shares must be protected; their omission voids the project of partition.

VI. Recent Jurisprudence Snapshot (2013–2024)

Case	G.R. No. / Date	Key Holding
Heirs of Malate v. Gamboa	207870, 08 Sep 2021	Re‑affirmed Article 992 barrier; equal‑protection argument rejected—political, not judicial, remedy.
Herrera v. Alfonso	218376, 17 Mar 2022	DNA testing may establish voluntary recognition; action must still be filed within the child’s lifetime.
Sps. Reginio v. Court of Appeals	233659, 19 Apr 2023	Estate tax clearance does not cure absence of indispensable heirs in extrajudicial settlement.
Estate of D. Chiang	251110, 27 Jun 2024	Adopted child may inherit from both biological and adoptive parents unless adoption decree expressly states otherwise.

VII. Practice Points & Common Pitfalls

Never waive an illegitimate child’s share. Any renunciation without court approval is void if made before partition; if after, it is a donation subject to donor’s tax.
Verify filiation early. Hospital records, baptismal certificates, and public admissions are often easier to secure before disputes erupt.
Look for legitimation possibilities. A valid subsequent marriage upgrades the child and eliminates the half‑share limitation retroactively.
Respect the barrier. Attempted distribution to “half‑blood” relatives across legitimacy lines is invariably struck down.
Mind estate tax deadlines. Compulsory heirs are solidarily liable for deficiency taxes even if they already spent their shares.

VIII. Conclusion

The Philippine system balances blood relationships, marital policy, and social justice by guaranteeing parents and illegitimate children a fixed portion of every estate while still giving primacy to the legitimate family line. Although reforms have tempered past discrimination (e.g., equal shares among all kinds of illegitimate children and the availability of legitimation), the Article 992 barrier endures; until Congress amends the Civil Code, illegitimate children remain strangers to the legitimate relatives of their parents beyond the immediate vertical line.

For advisers and heirs alike, the keys are:

Identify the compulsory heirs immediately.
Establish or contest filiation within the time limits.
Compute legitimes correctly under Arts. 888‑906 and Art. 176.
Settle the estate in a form that respects these rules—otherwise the partition can be annulled, sometimes decades later.

A meticulous understanding of these rules—and their latest judicial interpretation—is indispensable to protect rights and avoid costly litigation.