Who Inherits If There Is No Will in the Philippines?

Article 960 says intestate succession applies, among other cases:

It also applies to property that a will does not give to anyone (Article 960(2)). The basic rule of the order is in Article 962:

In simple terms, each group below inherits only if there is no one in the groups before it, except the spouse and children born outside marriage, who inherit together with others.

1. Legitimate children and their descendants. They inherit "without distinction as to sex or age, and even if they should come from different marriages" (Art. 979), in equal shares (Art. 980). A grandchild whose parent died first takes that parent's share by right of representation (Arts. 981 and 982).
2. Legitimate parents and ascendants, if there are no legitimate descendants. They exclude brothers, sisters and other collateral relatives (Art. 985). Father and mother share equally; if only one survives, he or she takes the whole share (Art. 986).
3. Illegitimate children. If there are no legitimate descendants or ascendants, they take the entire estate (Art. 988). With legitimate parents of the deceased, they take one-half (Art. 991).
4. The surviving spouse. The spouse inherits together with the groups above (see the next section). If no descendants, ascendants or illegitimate children survive, the spouse takes the entire estate, subject to the rights of brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces (Art. 995).
5. Brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, and then other collateral relatives (Arts. 1003 to 1009).
6. The State, when no one else is entitled to succeed (Art. 1011).

Collateral relatives cannot inherit without limit. Article 1010 says:

It depends on who else survives:

Article 996 is the rule most families meet:

When the spouse survives with only one legitimate child, these articles do not spell out the split in so many words; ask a lawyer. A spouse who gave cause for a legal separation loses these rights (Art. 1002).

What a married person leaves is not the whole family property. The marriage's property regime is settled first. Under the absolute community, the net assets are "divided equally between husband and wife", unless the marriage settlements say otherwise (Family Code Art. 102(4)); the conjugal partnership has a similar rule for its net profits (Art. 129(7)). Only the deceased's share goes to the heirs.

The Family Code also sets a deadline when no court case for the estate is filed. For the absolute community:

For the conjugal partnership the period is six months (Art. 130). In both cases, if no liquidation is made in time, any disposition or encumbrance of that property (for example a sale or a mortgage) is void.

These are made-up examples to show how the rule works. They are not advice for any real case.

Jose and Maria were married under the absolute community. When Jose dies without a will, their net community property is PHP 2,400,000 and neither has exclusive property. Maria first gets her half, PHP 1,200,000 (FC Art. 102). Jose's half, PHP 1,200,000, is his estate. He leaves Maria and three legitimate children, so the estate is divided into four equal shares of PHP 300,000 (Art. 996).

Lito never married and had no children; his parents and grandparents died before him. He leaves a sister, Ana, with the same father and mother, and a half-brother, Ben. His net estate is PHP 900,000. Siblings of the full blood get double the share of half-blood siblings (Art. 1006): Ana PHP 600,000, Ben PHP 300,000.

Carmen dies without a will, with no children. Her husband and her mother survive her. Under Article 997, her husband takes one-half and her mother the other half.

They are heirs of their parent if their filiation is proved (Art. 887). When they inherit together with legitimate children, Article 983 refers to the proportions of the legitime, and each illegitimate child's legitime is half of a legitimate child's (Family Code Art. 176). How the rest of an estate is split in that mixed case is a question for a lawyer. Article 992 also limits inheritance between an illegitimate child and the legitimate relatives of the parent; the Supreme Court has re-read that rule for a grandchild who represents a parent who died first. See Can an illegitimate child inherit?

If there are no debts and all heirs are adults or properly represented, they may divide the estate by a public instrument without a court case. This is extrajudicial settlement. If they disagree, they go to court. Until the division, the heirs own the estate in common (Art. 1078), and the rules on selling a share of co-owned land apply.

The shares above are for estates without a will. If there is a will, the legitimes still protect the compulsory heirs: see Legitime shares, the legitime shares table and Inheritance in the Philippines.

Ask a lawyer when the heirs disagree, when a child born outside marriage, an adopted child or a second family is involved, when the deceased had debts, or when a property was sold or mortgaged after the death. A lawyer can also check whether the marital property was liquidated within the Family Code deadlines.

If you cannot afford a lawyer, see Free legal help in the Philippines for the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) and other options.