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.