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SUCCESSION PROVISIONS

Article 774. Succession is a mode of acquisition by virtue of which the property, rights and
obligations to the extent of the value of the inheritance, of a person are transmitted through his
death to another or others either by his will or by operation of law.

Art. 776. The inheritance includes all the property, rights and obligations of a person which are
not extinguished by his death.

Art. 777. The rights to the succession are transmitted from the moment of the death of the
decedent.

Art. 778. Succession may be:

(1) Testamentary;
(2) Legal or intestate; or
(3) Mixed.

Art. 779. Testamentary succession is that which results from the designation of an heir, made in
a will executed in the form prescribed by law.

Art. 780. Mixed succession is that effected partly by will and partly by operation of law.

Art. 781. The inheritance of a person includes not only the property and the transmissible rights
and obligations existing at the time of his death, but also those which have accrued thereto since
the opening of the succession.
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Art. 782. An heir is a person called to the succession either by the provision of a will or by
operation of law. Devisees and legatees are persons to whom gifts of real and personal property
are respectively given by virtue of a will.

Art. 783. A will is an act whereby a person is permitted, with the formalities prescribed by law, to
control to a certain degree the disposition of his estate, to take effect after his death.

Art. 804. Every will must be in writing and executed in a language or dialect known to the
testator.

Art. 805. Every will, other than a holographic will, must be subscribed at the end thereof by the
testator himself or by the testator’s name written by some other person in his presence, and by
his express direction, and attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the
presence of the testator and of one another. The testator or the person requested by him to write
his name and the instrumental witnesses of the will, shall also sign, as aforesaid, each and every
page thereof, except the last, on the left margin, and all the pages shall be numbered
correlatively in letters placed on the upper part of each page. The attestation shall state the
number of pages used upon which the will is written, and the fact that the testator signed the will
and every page thereof, or caused some other person to write his name, under his express
direction, in the presence of the instrumental witnesses, and that the latter witnessed and signed
the will and all the pages thereof in the presence of the testator and of one another. If the
attestation clause is in a language not known to the witnesses, it shall be interpreted to them.

Art. 806. Every will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the
witnesses. The notary public shall not be required to retain a copy of the will, or file another with
the office of the Clerk of Court.
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Art. 807. If the testator be deaf, or a deaf-mute, he must personally read the will, if able to do so;
otherwise, he shall designate two persons to read it and communicate to him, in some
practicable manner, the contents thereof.

Art. 808. If the testator is blind, the will shall be read to him twice; once, by one of the
subscribing witnesses, and again, by the notary public before whom the will is acknowledged.

Art. 810. A person may execute a holographic will which must be entirely written, dated, and
signed by the hand of the testator himself. It is subject to no other form, and may be made in or
out of the Philippines, and need not be witnessed.

Art. 811. In the probate of a holographic will, it shall be necessary that at least one witness who
knows the handwriting and signature of the testator explicitly declare that the will and the
signature are in the handwriting of the testator. If the will is contested, at least three of such
witnesses shall be required. In the absence of any competent witness referred to in the
preceding paragraph, and if the court deem it necessary, expert testimony may be resorted to.

Art. 812. In holographic wills, the dispositions of the testator written below his signature must be
dated and signed by him in order to make them valid as testamentary dispositions.

Art. 813. When a number of dispositions appearing in a holographic will are signed without
being dated, and the last disposition has a signature and date, such date validates the
dispositions preceding it, whatever be the time of prior dispositions.

Art. 814. In case of any insertion, cancellation, erasure or alteration in a holographic will, the
testator must authenticate the same by his full signature.
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Art. 815. When a Filipino is in a foreign country, he is authorized to make a will in any of the
forms established by the law of the country in which he may be. Such will may be probated in the
Philippines.

Art. 816. The will of an alien who is abroad produces effect in the Philippines if made with the
formalities prescribed by the law of the place in which he resides, or according to the formalities
observed in his country, or in conformity with those which this Code prescribes.

Art. 817. A will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of another country, which is
executed in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which
might be proved and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect as if
executed according to the laws of the Philippines.

Art. 818. Two or more persons cannot make a will jointly, or in the same instrument, either for
their reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of a third person.

Art. 819. Wills, prohibited by the preceding article, executed by Filipinos in a foreign country
shall not be valid in the Philippines, even though authorized by the laws of the country where
they may have been executed.

Art. 840. Institution of heir is an act by virtue of which a testator designates in his will the person
or persons who are to succeed him in his property and transmissible rights and obligations.

Art. 886. Legitime is that part of the testator’s property which he cannot dispose of because the
law has reserved it for certain heirs who are, therefore, called compulsory heirs.

Art. 887. The following are compulsory heirs:

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(1) Legitimate children and descendants, with respect to their legitimate parents and
ascendants;
(2) In default of the foregoing, legitimate parents and ascendants, with respect to their legitimate
children and descendants;
(3) The widow or widower;
(4) Acknowledged natural children, and natural children by legal fiction;
(5) Other illegitimate children referred to in Article 287.

Compulsory heirs mentioned in Nos. 3, 4 and 5 are not excluded by those in Nos. 1 and 2;
neither do they exclude one another.

In all cases of illegitimate children, their filiation must be duly proved.

The father or mother of illegitimate children of the three classes mentioned, shall inherit from
them in the manner and to the extent established by this Code.