Codal Succession.docx

CODAL PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art 779. Testamentary succession is that which results from:  

designation of an heir made in a will o executed in the form prescribed by law.

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

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

Art 775. Decedent: a general term applied to the person whose property is transmitted through succession, whether or not he left a will.

Art 782. Heir: a person called to the succession either by provision of a will or by operation of law.

Testator, if he left a will.

Devisee: a person to whom gifts of real property are given by virtue of a will.

Art 776. Inheritance includes:

Legatee: a person to whom gifts of personal property are given by virtue of a will.

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all property, rights and obligations of a person not extinguished by his death

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

Art 778. Succession may be:   

testamentary legal/intestate mixed

Art 781. Inheritance of a person, what it includes: 

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property and transmissible rights and obligations existing at the time of his death those which have accrued thereto since the opening of succession

CHAPTER 2: TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION

SECTION 1: WILLS

Art 788. If a testamentary disposition admits of different interpretations, IN CASE OF DOUBT, the interpretation by which disposition is operative shall be preferred.

SUBSECTION 1: WILLS IN GENERAL Art 783. Will: 

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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 784. The making of a will:   

strictly personal act cannot be left in whole or in part to the discretion of a third person cannot be accomplished through the instrumentality of an agent or attorney

Art 789. Imperfect description or when no person or property exactly answers the description; may be cured by:  

examining the will extrinsic evidence o EXC: oral declarations of the testator as to his intention

Uncertainty arises upon the face of the will, as to the application of its provisions; intention may be ascertained by:  

examining the words of the will circumstances under which it mas made o EXC: oral declarations of the accused as to his intention

Art 785. What cannot be left to the discretion of third persons:

Art 790. GR: The words of a will are to be taken in their ordinary and grammatical sense.

duration or efficacy of the designation of heirs, devises or legatees determination of the portions they are to take

EXC: clear intention to use them in another sense AND that other can be ascertained.

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Provided, that they were referred to by name.

Art 786. EXC to 784: What may be entrusted to third persons: 

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distribution of specific property or sums of money that he may leave to specified classes or causes the designation of the persons, institutions or establishments to which such property or sums are to be given or applied.

Art 787. Testamentary dispositions operative upon the discretion of another person cannot be made.

GR: Technical words in a will are to be taken in their technical sense. EXC:  

when the context clearly indicates a contrary intention; OR when the will was drawn solely by the testator, AND he was unacquainted with such technical sense

Art 791. The words of a will are to receive an interpretation which will give to every expression some effect, rather than one which will render any of the expressions inoperative. In two modes of interpreting a will, that which will prevent intestacy is preferred.

Art 792. GR: The invalidity of one of several dispositions does not result in the invalidity of other dispositions. EXC: testator would not have made such other dispositions if the first invalid disposition had not been made.

Art 793. GR: What are given in a will are only properties already possessed and owned by the testator at the time of the making of the will. EXC: If it expressly appears on the will that such was his intention.

Art 794. GR: Devise or legacy cover all interest which the testator could bequeath in the property disposed of. EXC: If it clearly appears that he intended to convey a less interest.

Art 795. The validity of the will as to its FORM: law in force at the time the will is made.

SUBSECTION 2. TESTAMENTARY CAPACITY AND INTENT Art 796. All persons may make a will. EXC: Persons expressly prohibited by law.

Art 797. Persons under eighteen cannot make a will.

Art 798. The testator needs to be of sound mind at the time of the execution of the will.

Art 799. Requisites of a sound mind: That the testator knows:   

the nature of the estate to be disposed of the proper objects of his bounty character of the testamentary act

It is not necessary that he be in full possession of his reasoning faculties or that his mind be wholly unbroken, impaired or unshattered by disease, injury or other cause.

Art 800. GR: The law presumes every person is of sound mind. EXC: Proof to the contrary. GR: Burden of proof is upon the person who is opposing the probate of the will. EXC: If the testator, one month or less from the making of his will, was publicly known to be insane, the person who maintains the validity of the will must prove that the same was made during the testator’s lucid interval.

Art 801. Supervening incapacity does not invalidate an effective will. Supervening capacity does not validate the will made by an incapable person.

Art 802. A married woman may make a will without the consent of her husband and without authority of the court.

SUBSECTION 3. FORMS OF WILLS Art 804. Every will must be:  

Art 803. A married woman may dispose by will of:  

all her separate property her share of the conjugal partnership or absolute community property

in writing executed in a language or dialect known to the testator.

NOTARIAL WILLS Art 805. Notarial wills must be: 

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subscribed AT THE END by the testator himself, or by some other person o in his presence, AND o by his express direction attested and subscribed by three or more credible witnesses in the presence of the testator and one another signed at every page, except the last page, on the left margin, by the testator and the instrumental witnesses numbered correlatively in letters in the upper part of the page

The attestation which must state: o o

o

the number of pages that the testator signed the will and every page thereof in the presence of the witnesses that the witnesses witnessed and signed the will and all its pages in the presence of the testator and one another

If the attestation clause is not known to the witness, it must be interpreted to them.

Art 806. A notarial will must be acknowledged before a notary public by the testator and the witnesses.

Art 807. GR: If the testator is deaf or deaf-mute, he must personally read the will. EXC: If unable to do so, he shall designate two persons to read and communicate the same to him the contents of the will.

Art 808. If the testator is blind, the will shall be read to him twice.  

Once by one of the subscribing witnesses Again, by the notary public before whom the will is acknowledged

Art 809. Defects or imperfections in the form of the attestation or language thereof shall not render the will invalid, if the will is proved to be executed in substantial compliance with all the requirements of 805. EXC: In cases of:    

bad faith forgery fraud undue and influence

improper

pressure

and

HOLOGRAPHIC WILLS Art 810. Holographic wills must be entirely written, dated and signed by the testator. It is:   

subject to no other form may be made in or out of the PH need not be witnessed

Art 811. In the probate of holographic wills: If uncontested: at least one witness who knows the handwriting and signature of the testator must explicitly declare that the will and signature are the handwriting of the testator. If contested: at least three of such witnesses. EXC: In the absence of witnesses, the court may resort to expert testimony.

Art 812. Dispositions of the testator written below his signature must be dated and signed by him for them to be valid testamentary dispositions.

Art 813. In cases of dispositions signed without being dated, and the last disposition is with signature and date, such date validates the dispositions preceding it, whatever the time of prior dispositions.

Art 814. The testator must authenticate by his full signature any:    

insertion cancellation erasure alteration

Art 815. Filipino making a will in a foreign county: will must follow the FORMALITIES established by the law of the country in which he may be.

Art 816. Alien who is abroad: must follow FORMALITIES prescribed by law:   

where he resides where he is a national in the New Civil Code.

Art 817. Citizen or subject of another country, making will in the PH: FORMALITIES:  

of law of his country that may be proved and allowed by the law of his country

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

Art 819. Wills in 818 executed by Filipinos in a foreign country shall not be valid in the PH even if authorized in such foreign country.

SUBSECTION 4: WITNESSES TO WILLS Art 820. Requisites of witnesses in notarial wills:    

of sound mind age of 18 years or more not blind, deaf or dumb able to read and write

SUBSECTION 5: CODICILS AND INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE Art 825. Codicil:    

supplement or addition to a will made after the execution of a will annexed to the same a part thereof by which disposition made in the original is explained, added to or altered.

Art 821. Who are disqualified from being witnesses:  

persons not domiciled in the PH convicted of : o falsification of a document o perjury o false testimony

Art 826. A codicil must be executed in the same case of a will.

Art 827. Requisites of a document or paper incorporated by a will into itself, to be considered part of the will:

Art 822. Subsequent incompetence of witnesses shall not prevent allowance of a will as long as they are competent at the time of witnessing.

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Art 823. A provision of the will is void if it gives legacy or devise to:

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a person attesting its execution his spouse his parent his child

EXC: If there are three other competent witnesses to such will. He shall still be admitted as witness, as if no such devise or legacy is given.

Art 824. A mere charge on the estate of the testator does not prevent his creditors from being competent witnesses to the will.

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document or paper must exist at the time of the execution of the will the will must clearly describe and identify it, stating among others the number of pages the document or paper must be identified by clear and satisfactory proof as that referred to in the will document or paper must be signed by the testator and the witnesses on each and every page o EXC: voluminous books or inventories

SUBSECTION 6: REVOCATION OF WILLS AND TESTAMENTARY DISPOSITIONS Art 828. A will may be revoked by the testator at any time before his death. Any waiver or restriction of this right is void.

Art 829. Revocation of a will done outside the PH, by a person not domiciled in the PH: must be done in accordance with:  

law of the place where the will is made law of the place where the testator had his domicile at the time of revocation

If done in the PH, then it must follow the New Civil Code.

Art 830. How may a will be revoked (exclusive):   

by implication of law by some will, codicil or other writing executed in case of wills by burning, tearing, cancelling or obliterating the will o with intention of revoking it o by testator himself or some other person in his presence and by his express direction

If the burning, tearing, cancellation or obliteration was made without the express direction of the testator: the will may still be established and the estate distributed in accordance therewith if the following is established according to the Rules of Court:   

contents of the will its due execution the fact of its unauthorized destruction, cancellation or cancellation

Art 831. Subsequent wills which do not revoke previous ones in an express manner annul only such dispositions inconsistent with or contrary to it.

Art 832. Revocation by a new will is effective even if the new will be inoperative due to:  

incapacity of the heirs, devisees or legatees designated therein renunciation by the heirs

Art 833. Revocation based on a false cause or illegal cause: null and void.

Art 834. The recognition of an illegitimate child in a will shall remain effective even though the same will is revoked.

SUBSECTION 7: REPUBLICATION AND REVIVAL OF WILLS

SUBSECTION 8. ALLOWANCE DISALLOWANCE OF WILLS

Art 835. The testator cannot republish dispositions contained in a previous will which is void to its form.

Art 838. No will shall pass real or personal property unless proved in accordance with the Rules of Court.

It must be reproduced in a subsequent will.

The testator may petition the court for the allowance of the will. The same procedure as allowance of wills after the testator’s death shall govern.

Art 836. The execution of a codicil referring to a previous will shall have the effect of republishing the will as modified by the codicial.

Art 837. If a second will revoked the first, the revocation of the second does not revive the first. It can only be revived by another will or codicil.

AND

Allowance of a will shall be conclusive as to its due execution, subject to appeal.

Art 839. The will shall be disallowed when:  

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the formalities required by law are not complied with testator was insane or otherwise mentally incapable of making a will at the time of execution executed through force, duress, or under the influence of fear or threats procured by undue and improper pressure and influence on the part of the beneficiary or some other person signature of the testator was procured by fraud testator acted by mistake or did not intend that the instrument be his will at the time he affixed his signature thereto

SECTION 2. INSTITUTION OF HEIR Art 840. Institution of heir: 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 844. An error in the name, surname or circumstances of the heir shall not vitiate institution when it is possible to know with certainty the person instituted. If two persons have the same name and circumstances in such a way that the person instituted cannot be identified, none of them shall be an heir.

Art 841. A will shall be valid even if:   

it does not contain an institution of an heir such institution did not comprise the entire estate the persons instituted did not accept the inheritance or are incapacitated to succeed

Testamentary disposition shall be complied with and the remainder shall pass to the legal heirs.

Art 842. One who has no compulsory heirs may dispose by will of all his estate. One who has compulsory heirs may dispose of his estate to the extent that it does not contravene the provisions of the Civil Code with regard to the legitime of the heirs.

Art 843. The testator shall designate the heir by name and surname. EXC: 

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two persons having the same names: the testator shall indicate some circumstance by which the instituted heir shall be known in the omission of the name of the heir, designation of the testator in such manner that there can be no doubt as to who is instituted shall be sufficient.

Art 845. GR: Every disposition in favor of an unknown person shall be void. EXC:  

by some event or circumstance his identity becomes certain disposition in favor of a definite class or group of persons is valid

Art 846. Heirs instituted without designation of shares shall inherit in equal parts.

Art 847. When the testators institute some heirs individually and some collectively, those collectively designated shall be considered as individually instituted. EXC: clear intention of the testator was otherwise.

Art 848. If the testator institutes his brothers and sisters, some full blood and some half blood, the inheritance shall be distributed equally. EXC: a different intention appears.

Art 849. When a testator calls to the succession a person and his children, they are all deemed to have been instituted simultaneously and not successively.

Art 850. GR: The statement of a false cause for the institution of the heir shall be considered not written. EXC: It appears from the will that the testator would not have made such institution had he known the falsity of such cause.