Legitime Table: Shares of Heirs in the Philippines
The legitime is the share a will cannot take away. Legitimate children get one-half of the estate; spouse, parents and other heirs get the shares below.
| Who survives the deceased | Legitime (the will cannot take it away) | Free portion (the will can give it to anyone) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legitimate children only | One-half of the estate, for all the legitimate children together (Art. 888) | One-half | Civil Code, Article 888, Supreme Court E-Library |
| One legitimate child and the surviving spouse | Child: one-half. Spouse: one-fourth, taken from the free portion (Arts. 888 and 892) | One-fourth | Civil Code, Articles 888 and 892, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Two or more legitimate children and the surviving spouse | Children: one-half, shared among them. Spouse: the same as the legitime of one child, taken from the free portion (Arts. 888 and 892) | One-half minus the spouse's share. With 2 children, the spouse gets one-fourth and one-fourth stays free; with 4 children, the spouse gets one-eighth and three-eighths stay free | Civil Code, Articles 888 and 892, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Legitimate children and illegitimate children (with or without a spouse) | Legitimate children: one-half. Each illegitimate child: one-half of the legitime of one legitimate child (Family Code Art. 176). The spouse, if any, gets the share in the rows above | What is left after all legitimes. The illegitimate children's legitime comes out of the free portion and can never exceed it; the spouse is paid first (Civil Code Art. 895, last paragraph) | Republic Act No. 9255 (Family Code, Article 176 as amended), Supreme Court E-Library |
| Legitimate parents only (no legitimate children) | One-half of the estate, divided equally between the father and the mother; if one parent is dead, the survivor takes it all (Arts. 889 and 890) | One-half | Civil Code, Articles 889 and 890, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Legitimate parents and the surviving spouse (no legitimate children) | Parents: one-half. Spouse: one-fourth, taken from the free portion (Arts. 889 and 893) | One-fourth | Civil Code, Articles 889 and 893, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Legitimate parents and illegitimate children | Parents: one-half. Illegitimate children: one-fourth together, taken from the free portion (Arts. 889 and 896) | One-fourth | Civil Code, Articles 889 and 896, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Legitimate parents, the surviving spouse and illegitimate children | Parents: one-half. Spouse: one-eighth. Illegitimate children: one-fourth together (Arts. 889 and 899) | One-eighth | Civil Code, Articles 889 and 899, Supreme Court E-Library |
| The surviving spouse and illegitimate children (no legitimate children or parents) | Spouse: one-third. Illegitimate children: one-third together (Art. 894) | One-third | Civil Code, Article 894, Supreme Court E-Library |
| Illegitimate children only | One-half of the estate, together (Art. 901) | One-half | Civil Code, Article 901, Supreme Court E-Library |
| The surviving spouse only | One-half of the estate (Art. 900, first paragraph) | One-half | Civil Code, Article 900, Supreme Court E-Library |
| The surviving spouse only, married in articulo mortis (at the point of death), when the deceased died within three months of the wedding | One-third of the estate. But if the couple had lived as husband and wife for more than five years, the spouse gets one-half (Art. 900, second paragraph) | Two-thirds (one-half if the five-year exception applies) | Civil Code, Article 900, Supreme Court E-Library |
Notes
- The legitime matters when the deceased left a will. A will can freely give away only the free portion. A compulsory heir who was left less than the legitime may demand that it be "fully satisfied" (Article 906), and compulsory heirs cannot be deprived of their legitime except in the cases the law allows (Article 904). See Legitime shares in the Philippines and Can parents disinherit a child?
- The compulsory heirs are listed in Article 887. The spouse and illegitimate children are not excluded by legitimate children or parents, and they do not exclude each other. The filiation of an illegitimate child "must be duly proved". See also legitime and compulsory heir in the glossary.
- Articles 887 and 895 still use the old 1950 classes of illegitimate children ("acknowledged natural children" and others). Today the rule is the one in Family Code Article 176, as amended by Republic Act No. 9255: "The legitime of each illegitimate child shall consist of one-half of the legitime of a legitimate child." See Inheritance rights of an illegitimate child.
- The fractions apply to the net estate. Under Article 908, debts and charges are deducted first, and donations the deceased made that are subject to collation are added back at their value when given. If the deceased was married, the couple's common property is liquidated first: only the deceased's share of it, with his or her own separate property, goes into the estate.
- Without a will, the shares come from the rules on intestate succession, which are different (for example, a spouse with legitimate children gets the same share as each child). See Inheritance without a will and Extrajudicial settlement of estate.
- On legal separation, Article 892 says: "In case of a legal separation, the surviving spouse may inherit if it was the deceased who had given cause for the same."
- Made-up example: Ana dies with a will that gives ₱100,000 to her daughter Dina and everything else to her son Ben. Her net estate is ₱1,200,000. She leaves her husband Carlo and two children, Ben and Dina. The children's legitime is one-half (₱600,000), so ₱300,000 each. Carlo's legitime is the same as one child's (₱300,000), taken from the free half. Only ₱300,000 of the free portion is left, and the will can give it to Ben. Dina was left less than her legitime, so she can demand that it be completed up to ₱300,000 (Article 906), and Carlo can claim his ₱300,000. Result: Ben ₱600,000, Dina ₱300,000, Carlo ₱300,000. If a will leaves out a child completely, other rules apply (preterition): that is a question for a lawyer.
- Made-up example: Pedro, a widower, dies with a will. His net estate is ₱1,200,000. He leaves two legitimate children and Liza, his child outside marriage, whose filiation is proved. The legitimate children share ₱600,000 (₱300,000 each). Liza's legitime is half of ₱300,000, or ₱150,000, taken from the free portion. The free portion left is ₱450,000.
- These are general rules. Real estates often involve a disputed will, a missing heir or unclear filiation. For help with your own situation, see Free legal help.
General information, not legal advice. For your case, ask a lawyer, the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) or the agency.
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