Succession and Testament – Types of testaments (wills)
Art. 1574. Forms of testaments. There are two forms of testaments: olographic and notarial.
Succession and Testament
Succession and Testament – Testaments
Succession and Testament – Testaments
Art. 1570. Testaments; form. A disposition mortis causa may be made only in the form of a testament authorized by law.
Art. 1573. Formalities. The formalities prescribed for the execution of a testament must be observed or the testament is absolutely null.
Art. 1571. Testaments with others or by others prohibited. A testament may not be executed by a mandatary for the testator. Nor may more than one person execute a testament in the same instrument.
Succession and Testament – Types of legacies
Succession and Testament – Types of legacies
Art. 1585. Universal legacy. A universal legacy is a disposition of all of the estate, or the balance of the estate that remains after particular legacies. A universal legacy may be made jointly for the benefit of more than one legatee without changing its nature.
Art. 1586. General legacy. A general legacy is a disposition by which the testator bequeaths a fraction or a certain proportion of the estate, or a fraction or certain proportion of the balance of the estate that remains after particular legacies. In addition, a disposition of property expressly described by the testator as all, or a fraction or a certain proportion of one of the following categories of property, is also a general legacy: separate or community property, movable or immovable property, or corporeal or incorporeal property. This list of categories is exclusive.
Art. 1587. Particular legacy. A legacy that is neither general nor universal is a particular legacy.
Succession and Testament – Who can make a testament?
Succession and Testament – Who can make a testament?
Art. 1470. Persons capable of giving or receiving. All persons have capacity to make and receive donations inter vivos and mortis causa, except as expressly provided by law.
Art. 1476. Minors; incapacity to make donations, exceptions. A minor under the age of sixteen years does not have capacity to make a donation either inter vivos or morris causa, except in favor of his spouse or children. A minor who has attained the age of sixteen years has capacity to make a donation, but only morris causa. He may make a donation inter vivas in favor of his spouse or children.
Art. 1477. Capacity to donate, mental condition of donor. To have capacity to make a donation inter vivos or morris causa, a person must also be able to comprehend generally the nature and consequences of the disposition that he is making.
Succession and Testament – Testate succession
Succession and Testament – Testate succession
Art. 1469. Donation mortis causa, definition. A donation mortis causa is an act to take effect at the death of the donor by which he disposes of the whole or a part of his property. A donation mortis causa is revocable during the lifetime of the donor.
Art. 1573. Formalities. The formalities prescribed for the execution of a testament must be observed or the testament is absolutely null.
Succession and Testament – Unworthy successors
Succession and Testament – Unworthy successors
Art. 941. Declaration of unworthiness. A successor shall be declared unworthy if he is convicted of a crime involving the intentional killing, or attempted killing, of the decedent or is judicially determined to have participated in the intentional, unjustified killing, or attempted killing, of the decedent. An action to declare a successor unworthy shall be brought in the succession proceedings of the decedent. An executive pardon or pardon by operation of law does not affect the unworthiness of a successor.
Art. 943. Reconciliation or forgiveness. A successor shall not be declared unworthy if he proves reconciliation with or forgiveness by the decedent.
Art. 945. Effects of declaration of unworthiness. A judicial declaration that a person is unworthy has the following consequences:
(I) The successor is deprived of his right to the succession to which he had been called.
(2) If the successor has possession of any property of the decedent, he must return it, along with all fruits and products he has derived from it. He must also account for an impairment in value caused by his encumbering it or failing to preserve it as a prudent administrator.
(3) If the successor no longer has possession because of a transfer or other loss of possession due to his fault, he must account for the value of the property at the time of the transfer or other loss of possession, along with all fruits and products he has derived from it. He must also account for any impairment in value caused by his encumbering the property or failing to preserve it as a prudent administrator before he lost possession.
(4) If the successor has alienated, encumbered, or leased the property by onerous title, and there is no fraud on the part of the other party, the validity of the transaction is not affected by the declaration of unworthiness. But if he has donated the property and it remains in the hands of the donee or the donee’s successors by gratuitous title, the donation may be annulled.
(5) The successor shall not serve as an executor, trustee, attorney or other fiduciary pursuant to a designation as such in the testament or any codicils thereto. Neither shall he serve as administrator, attorney, or other fiduciary in an intestate succession.
Art. 946. Devolution of succession rights of successor declared unworthy. A. If the decedent died intestate, when a successor is declared unworthy his succession rights devolve as if he had predeceased the decedent; but if the decedent died testate, then the succession rights devolve in accordance with the provisions for testamentary accretion as if the unworthy successor had predeceased the testator.
B. “When the succession rights devolve upon a child of the successor who is declared unworthy, the unworthy successor and the other parent of the child cannot claim a legal usufruct upon the property inherited by their child.
Succession and Testament – Accretion
Succession and Testament – Accretion
Art. 946. Devolution of succession rights of successor declared unworthy. A. If the decedent died intestate, when a successor is declared unworthy his succession rights devolve as if he had predeceased the decedent; but if die decedent died testate, then the succession rights devolve in accordance with the provisions for testamentary accretion as if the unworthy successor had predeceased the testator.
B. When the succession rights devolve upon a child of the successor who is declared unworthy, the unworthy successor and the other parent of the child cannot claim a legal usufruct upon the property inherited by their child.
Art. 964. Accretion upon renunciation in intestate successions. The rights of an intestate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the successor had predeceased the decedent.
Art. 965. Accretion upon renunciation in testate successions. In the absence of a governing testamentary disposition, the rights of a testate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the legatee had predeceased the decedent.
Art. 1590. Testamentary accretion. Testamentary accretion takes place when a legacy lapses. Accretion takes place according to the testament, or, in the absence of a governing testamentary provision, according to the following Articles.
Art. 1591. Accretion of particular and general legacies. When a particular or a general legacy lapses, accretion takes place in favor of the successor who, under the testament, would have received the thing if the legacy had not been made.
Art. 1592. Accretion among joint legatees. When a legacy to a joint legatee lapses, accretion takes place ratably in favor of the other joint legatees, except as provided in the following Article.
Art. 1593. Exception to rule of testamentary accretion. If a legatee, joint or otherwise, is a child or sibling of the testator, or a descendant of a child or sibling of the testator, then to the extent that the legatee’s interest in the legacy lapses, accretion takes place in favor of his descendants by roots who were in existence at the time of the decedent’s death. The provisions of this Article shall not apply to a legacy that is declared invalid or is declared null for fraud, duress, or undue influence.
Art. 1595. Accretion to universal legatee. All legacies that lapse, and are not disposed of under the preceding Articles, accrete ratably to the universal legatees.When a general legacy is phrased as a residue or balance’ of the estate without specifying that the residue or balance is the remaining fraction or a certain portion of the estate after the other general legacies, even though that is its effect, it shall be treated as a universal legacy for purposes of accretion under this Article.
Art. 1596. Accretion to intestate successors. Any portion of the estate not disposed of under the foregoing rules devolve by intestacy.
Succession and Testament – Renunciation
Succession and Testament – Renunciation
Art. 947. Right of successor to accept or renounce. A successor is not obligated to accept rights to succeed. He may accept some of those rights and renounce others.
Art. 948. Minor successor deemed to accept. A successor who is a minor is deemed to accept rights to succeed, but his legal representative may renounce on behalf of the minor when expressly authorized by the court.
Art. 949. Death of decedent as prerequisite to acceptance or renunciation A person may not accept or renounce rights to succeed before the death of the decedent.
Art. 951. Nullity of premature acceptance or renunciation. A premature acceptance or renunciation is absolutely null.
Art. 963. Requirement of formality. Renunciation must be express and in writing.
Art. 964. Accretion upon renunciation in intestate successions. The rights of an intestate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the successor had predeceased the decedent.
Art. 965. Accretion upon renunciation in testate successions. In the absence of a governing, testamentary disposition, the rights of a testate successor who renounces accrete to those persons who would have succeeded to them if the legatee had predeceased the decedent.
Succession and Testament – Escheat
Succession and Testament – Escheat
Art. 902. Rights of the state. In default of blood, adopted relations, or a spouse not judicially separated, the estate of the deceased belongs to the state.
Succession and Testament – Separate property of the deceased
Succession and Testament – Separate property of the deceased
Art. 891. Devolution of separate property; parents and brothers and sisters If the deceased leaves no descendants but is survived by a father, mother, or both, and by a brother or sister, or both, or descendants from them, the brothers and sisters or their descendants succeed to the separate property of the deceased subject to a usufruct in favor of the surviving parent or parents. If both parents survive the deceased, the usufruct shall be joint and successive.
Art. 894. Separate property; rights of surviving spouse. If the deceased leaves neither descendants, nor parents, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, his spouse not judicially separated from him shall succeed to his separate property to the exclusion of other ascendants and other collaterals.
Art. 895. Separate property; rights of other ascendants. If a deceased leaves neither descendants, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, nor parents, nor spouse not judicially separated, his other ascendants succeed to his separate property. If the ascendants in the paternal and maternal lines are in the same degree, the property is divided into two equal shares, one of which goes to the ascendants on the paternal side, and the other to the ascendants on the maternal side, whether the number of ascendants on each side be equal or not. In this case, the ascendants in each line inherit by heads.
Art. 896. Separate property; rights of other collaterals. If the deceased leaves neither descendants, nor brothers, sisters, or descendants from them, nor parents, nor spouse not judicially separated, nor other ascendants, his other collaterals succeed to his separate property. Among the collateral relations, the nearest in degree excludes all the others. If there are several in the same degree, they take equally and by heads.
