CAPACITY OF FOREIGNERS TO INHERIT PRIVATE LANDS IN THE

PHILIPPINES

Indeed, a foreigner can inherit Philippine land through intestate

succession.

Section 7 of the 1987 Constitution allows foreign citizens to own land

by way intestate succession. Specifically, the Constitution provides:

Section 7. Save in cases of hereditary succession,

no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed
except to individuals, corporations, or associations
qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public
domain.

Section 7 speaks of hereditary succession. Legally speaking, this means

that a foreigner can acquire land through intestate succession, i.e. the default
laws on inheritance which are not transfers of ownership by way of a last will
and testament.

The Supreme Court explained that the Constitutional provision which

enables aliens to acquire private lands does not extend to testamentary
succession for otherwise the prohibition will be for naught and meaningless.
Any alien would be able to circumvent the prohibition by paying money to a
Philippine landowner in exchange for a devise of a piece of land.1

Accordingly, Section 7, Article XII of the Constitution should be read in

relation with the Civil Code’s provisions on intestate succession.

The order of hereditary or intestate succession, if the deceased was a

legitimate child, is as follows:

1. Legitimate children or descendants;

2. Legitimate parents or ascendants;
3. Illegitimate children or descendants;
4. Surviving spouse;
5. Brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces;
6. Other collateral relatives within the fifth
degree; and,
7. The State.

1 Testate Estate of Jose Eugenio Ramirez vs. Vda. de Ramirez, et al., G.R. No. L-27952,
February 15, 1982
 Hence, how much a foreigner is entitled to inherit depends on what
his legal relation to the deceased Filipino is, and who the other relatives of
that deceased Filipino are.

Turning now on the procedural aspect of how the foreigner can get his
or her inheritance. First of all, the foreigner must have capacity to succeed in
accordance with the national law of the decedent. After this is complied with,
if there is only one heir, the said heir needs to execute an Affidavit of Self-
Adjudication.

In contrast, when there are more than one heir and they agree among
themselves to partition the estate of the deceased, they are required to execute
an Extrajudicial Settlement of Estate with Partition. In either case, it's
required that the decedent have no debts or, if he or she left debts, that they
be fully paid.

After which, either document (Affidavit of Self-Adjudication or

Extrajudicial Settlement) needs to be published once a week for three
consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the province or
city where the deceased last resided. Simultaneous with this requirement is
that the foreigner must submit a Notice of Death, and pay the required tax by
filing an Estate Tax Return, together with supporting documents, with the
Regional District Office of the BIR.